Edgar Allan Poe

To My Mother

Summary


"To My Mother" is a sonnet by Edgar Allan Poe in which the poet addresses his mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, with a depth of devotion he places above even the love of angels. Poe reflects on the death of his wife Virginia and how Clemm, by mothering the woman he loved beyond all else, has become dearer to him than his own birth mother. The poem moves through grief and gratitude with quiet intensity, building to a final declaration of love that feels both personal and absolute.

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Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of “Mother,”
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you—
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia’s spirit free.
My mother—my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.

Credits

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American writer celebrated for his Gothic tales and poetry, including "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee." "To My Mother" is one of his most personal poems, written in honor of Maria Clemm, the mother of his wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, who died of tuberculosis in 1847. Poe dedicated the poem to Clemm in 1849, the same year he died.
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