To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe

I saw thee once— once only— years ago:
I must not say how many — but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,
Upon the upturned faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe--
Fell on the upturn’d faces of these roses
That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death —
Fell on the upturn’d faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.

When I read the beginning of Poe's poem above, I feel surrounded by Spring. Yet, I look outside my window, and the skies are overcast. The air weeps.

I read:

Upon the upturned faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,

The "enchanted garden" has a thousand "upturned faces," and they're multicultural. They are the faces of humanity. Beautiful in their hue-arrays.

Despite the weather, I see Spring.

That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death

"[L]ove-light" shines in each of the "upturned" faces. Each is an odorous soul, and its fragrance remains long after its release.

Open this: Create flower power! And start clicking on the letters, then add clicks in blank areas.

Have fun. Create Spring!

Dana Press Blog: Vonneguit, Creativity and Depression

Edgar Allan Poe’s melancholic colors are seen in many other writers. An example is Kurt Vonnegut Jr., writer of Slaughterhouse-Five, who died on April 11, 2007.

On the Dana Press Blog, Nicky Penttila posts an interview with Nancy C. Andreasen, a long-time friend of Vonnegut. “He matched the pattern of having significant mood disorder,” said Andreasen, a neuroscientist.

Vonnegut suffered with depression throughout his life and attempted suicide in 1984. “I would say the general pattern, for him and for most creative people, is they are not very productive when they’re depressed,” said Andreasen. “They do most of their creating after they’ve emerged from feeling depressed.”

Poe described his wrestling with depression in his letters. Similarly, Vonnegut expressed his melancholy in his writing. “But, in a sense, he overcame the sadness, to write,” Andreasen said.

By writing about the ebbs and flows of depression and mania, writers increase knowledge to recognize these forces in us or others. Awareness is part of the cure.