In Joy In Woe, in Good and Ill

Although he was not Catholic, Edgar Allen Poe (doesn't his very name send shivers up your spine?!) wrote this beautiful poem about Our Lady:

Hymn of the Angelus

At morn, at noon, at twilight dim,
Maria, thou has heard my hymn.
In joy and woe, in good and ill,
Mother of God, be with me still!

When the hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;

Now, when the storms of fate o'ercast
Darkly, my present and my past,
Let my future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine.

Edgar Allen Poe was born the child of two actors in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809. Upon publication of his most famous work, The Raven,he became wellknown and heralded. In 1847 his wife died young and tragically. He died a mere two years later of grief and insanity at the age of 40.

He was also know for his poem, Annabelle Lee.


Poe's Cottage in the Bronx. Apparently, (well according to Wikipedia which is only as reliable as the contributors) Poe enjoyed talking with the Jesuits at Fordham, which makes his failure to convert even more puzzling. He is the ghost story of poets and his macabre poetry and prose too much to my liking. I would be very surprised if Flannery O'Connor was not influenced by him.