What is Ligeia, an idol God, a human or just an imagination?

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001

Answers

A nightmarish Beatrice? In both story and poem she refers to a female ideal, loved and revered beyond the bounds of ordinary love. She is a symbol of a soul so strong it not only can't be killed but comes back. This disturbing theme of the undying haunts Poe in particular. While he lacks the power or the inclination perhaps to penetrate fully the other world, the loves he has lost seem to have more power to come back and haunt him. A consummation and a terror all at once.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001