Lyric Poem · Nature

To One In Paradise

by Edgar Allan Poe

Reading room

1Thou wast that all to me, love,

2 For which my soul did pine —

3A green isle in the sea, love,

4 A fountain and a shrine,

5All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,

6And all the flowers were mine.

7Ah, dream too bright to last!

8 Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise

9But to be overcast!

10 A voice from out the Future cries,

11"On! on!" — but o'er the Past

12 (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies

13Mute, motionless, aghast!

14For, alas! alas! with me

15 The light of Life is o'er!

16"No more — no more — no more" —

17(Such language holds the solemn sea

18 To the sands upon the shore)

19Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,

20 Or the stricken eagle soar!

21And all my days are trances,

22 And all my nightly dreams

23Are where thy dark eye glances,

24 And where thy footstep gleams —

25In what ethereal dances,

26 By what eternal streams!

27Alas! for that accursed time

28 They bore thee o'er the billow,

29From love to titled age and crime,

30 And an unholy pillow!

31From me, and from our misty clime,

32 Where weeps the silver willow!

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“To One In Paradise” by Edgar Allan Poe — quilloak.com/poems/to-one-in-paradise

Quick facts

Poem: To One In Paradise
Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
Length: 32 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Sad, Love

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 32 lines · 5 stanzas of 6–7 lines
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849
Source record: PoetryDBTo One In Paradise by edgar-allan-poe, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 caea4b6c776e5b66…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Sad Love

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