{
 "id": "edgar-allan-poe/spirits-of-the-dead",
 "title": "Spirits of the Dead",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Edgar Allan Poe",
 "poet_slug": "edgar-allan-poe",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Tamerlane and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "tamerlane-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1827,
  "venue": "Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_fLcDAAAAQAAJ"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/edgar-allan-poe_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2151",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Acrostic",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elizabeth_(Poe)",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Serenade_(Poe)",
   "https://archive.org/details/worksedgarallan00unkngoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cu31924019520810",
   "https://archive.org/details/jstor-2915307"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 28,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Thy soul shall find itself alone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not one, of all the crowd, to pry",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into thine hour of secrecy.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be silent in that solitude",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which is not loneliness⁠—for then",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The spirits of the dead who stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In life before thee are again",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In death around thee⁠—and their will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall then overshadow thee: be still.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the night⁠—tho’ clear⁠—shall frown⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the stars shall not look down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From their high thrones in the Heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With light like Hope to mortals given⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But their red orbs, without beam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To thy weariness shall seem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As a burning and a fever",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which would cling to thee forever.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now are visions ne’er to vanish⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From thy spirit shall they pass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No more⁠—like dew-drops from the grass.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The breeze⁠—the breath of God⁠—is still⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the mist upon the hill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shadowy⁠—shadowy⁠—yet unbroken,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is a symbol and a token⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How it hangs upon the trees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A mystery of mysteries!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}