To My Mother

The motif of death is prominent in Lines 7-9, where Death is personified in reference to the speaker’s wife. The speaker’s mother’s death is also mentioned in stark language: “My mother—my own mother, who died early” (Line 9). The intertwining of the deaths of both the speaker’s wife and the speaker’s mother suggests the speaker’s deep loneliness and grief over the loss of these two women. It also shows why the speaker values the mother-in-law so much: She is the last nurturing figure in his life, and the speaker is eternally grateful to her despite his sadness over the loss of Virginia and his mother.

The poem begins with images of the afterlife in the heavenly motif and ends with imagery of the life of the soul via references to both Virginia’s “spirit” (Line 8) and the speaker’s “soul-life” (Line 14); this suggests that the soul survives after the body has died and that life triumphs over death. By referring to angels in the second line, Poe suggests the purity of his love for his mother-in-law. The symbolism of angels is not only of protection and divinity but also of an innocent and boundless love that exceeds what is possible on earth.