Ligeia | Ligeia

At a glance:

Author: Edgar Allan Poe
First Published: 1838
Type of Work: Short fiction
Type of Plot: Gothic
Time of Work: Early nineteenth century
Setting: Germany and England
Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy, Gothic fiction
Subjects: Wives, Memory, Love or romance, Immortality, Supernatural, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Obsession, Substance abuse, England or English people, Death or dying, Drug addiction or addicts, Remarriage, Bereavement or grief, Germany or German people, Opium, Moths
Locales: England, Germany

The Narrator, a learned man enslaved to the memory of a woman whose powerful will once triumphed over death itself to return to him. Half insane through grief after Ligeia’s death, and addicted to opium, he nevertheless remarries. Forgetful of Ligeia for a month, he abandons himself to Lady Rowena; but memory returns, and love turns to hatred and loathing. He witnesses (or so he believes) the dropping of poison into some wine he gives Rowena when she is ill. After Rowena’s death, he is awed by the rising of her corpse, which he recognizes not as that of...

Ligeia | Ligeia

At a glance:

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