The death of any loved one, especially a treasured wife, is certain to have an effect on the psyche of the widower who is left behind. Because of this inevitable psychological effect, we shouldn't be surprised to see a consequent change in behaviors or attitudes following such a loss. In the case of a poet, like Edgar Allen Poe, we should see clear evidence within the author's work of his feelings about the loss and towards the person who has departed. The death of Poe's wife had a noticeable effect on Poe, and especially his poetry. Examining both "Ulalume" and "Annabel Lee" we can see specific textual evidence of the influence that grief had on Poe's poetic productions. In these two poems Poe utilizes his classic gothic noir sensibilities, but imbues each poem with demonstrations of the void left by a lost love.

             In "Ulalume" Poe's darkness has not been affected much at all by the loss of his wife. As is common in many of Poe's works, there is an abundance of dark imagery to be found here. Poe sets a dark mood right from the start of the poem. He describes the setting in particular somber means. He writes that the "skies were ashen and sober" (Poe, "Ulalume" line 1). Poe spends the remainder of that first stanza setting this dark mood, relying on similar turns of phrase. Poe also repeatedly returns to dismal descriptions of the area, at one point explaining that his protagonist was walking through "ghoul haunted woodland" (Poe, "Ulalume" line 9). And yet, through it all, Poe is driving his character towards a particular dramatic moment in which we can see the effect of his wife's passing.

             For the protagonist, this moment comes when he realizes that in wandering through the woods he had inevitably stumbled upon the crypt of his beloved Ulalume, who had died exactly one year before. Upon discovering this fact, the protagonist laments, "On this very night, of last year [.