Altered Words – Thy Slumb’ring Soul

One of my favourite series of posts on my blogs is Altered Words, where I “find” a poem hiding within another text (i.e. Blackout Poetry). The source material could be a short story, a book, or another poem.

I’ve previously found hidden prose in:

• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• The Body by Stephen King
• The Complete Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I’ve even found poems in works by some of my fellow authors:

• The Liminal Man by Todd Keisling
• Amunet by Rhiannon Frater
• Soundtrack to the End of the World by Anthony Rapino

And guess what…I’ve found another!

Nothing gets me into the Halloween spirit better than reading a little Poe. His writing is well-celebrated for its dark & macabre subject matter, so it didn’t surprise me when I found this little gem in his poem The Sleeper.

THY SLUMB’RING SOUL
_{Found in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe}

The mystic moon exhales
and nods upon the grave.
The fog moulders into rest.
The wanton airs flit so fitfully,
so fearfully above thy slumb’ring soul,
like ghosts.

Oh strange is thy pallor,
strange this solemn silentness,
enduring in melancholy,
triumphant o’er the dead who groaned within.

If you enjoyed this poem and want to read more, just have a look at my other Altered Word posts.

Thanks for visiting!

Don’t forget, there is still time to enter my awesome October Frights Blog Hop Giveaway, with daily ebook prizes and one massive Grand Prize! Head over to the Hop post to enter!