Silence – A Sonnet

by Edgar Allan Poe

Written 1839


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There are some qualities—some incorporate things,
⁠That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of that twin entity which springs
⁠From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.
There is a two-fold Silence—sea and shore—
⁠Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,
⁠Newly with grass o’ergrown; some solemn graces,
Some human memories and tearful lore,
Render him terrorless: his name’s “No More.”
He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!
⁠No power hath he of evil in himself;
But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)
⁠Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod
No foot of man,) commend thyself to God!


Silence – A Sonnet,” one of many poems by Edgar Allan Poe, was written in 1839.