Latest / Audiobooks & Scary Stories / Eleonora by Edgar Allan Poe

Transcript

Eleonora by Edgar Allan Poe · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: work in the public domain Eleonora Edgar Allan Poe. I
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: am come of a race noted for vigor of fancy
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and ardor of passion. Men have called me mad, But
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the question is not yet settled whether madness is or
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: is not the loftiest intelligence, Whether much that is glorious,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: whether all that is profound does not spring from disease
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of thought, from moods of mind exalted at the expense
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of the general intellect. They who dream by day are
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: by night. In their grave visions, they obtain glimpses of eternity,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and thrill in awakening to find that they have been
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches they
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: more of the mere knowledge, which is of evil. They penetrate,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: however rudderless or compassless, into the vast ocean of the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: light ineffable, and again, like the adventures of the Nubian geogra,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for AGGRESSI sunt mare tenebrem quit in eo st exploratory.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: We will say then that I am mad, I grant
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: at least that there are two distinct conditions of my
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: mental existence, the condition of a lucid reason not to
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: be disputed and belonging to the memory of events forming
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the first epoch of my life, and a condition of
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: shadow and doubt appertaining to the present and to the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: recollection of what constitutes the second great era of my being. Therefore,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: what I shall tell of the earlier period, believe, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to what I may relate of the later time, gave
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: only such credit as may seem due, or doubt it altogether,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: or if doubted, ye cannot then play unto its riddle.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: The Oedipus, she whom I loved in youth, and of
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: whom I now pen calmly and distinctly these remembrances, was
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the sole daughter of the only sister of my mother
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: long departed. Eleonora was the name of my cousin. We
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: had always dwelled together beneath a tropical sun in the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: valley of the many colored grass. No unguided footstep ever
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: came upon that vale, for it lay away up among
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: a range of giant hills that hung beetling around about it,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: shutting out the sunlight from its sweetest recesses. No path
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: was trodden in its vicinity, and to reach our happy
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: home there was need of putting back with force the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: foliage of many thousands of forest trees, and of crushing
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to death the glories of many millions of fragrant flowers.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Thus it was that we lived all alone, knowing nothing
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: of the world without the valley, I and my cousin
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and her mother. From the dim regions beyond the mountains,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: at the upper end of our encircled domain, there crept
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: out a narrow and deep river, brighter than all save
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the eyes of Eleonora, and winding stealthily about in mazy courses,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it passed away at length through a shadowy gorge, among
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: called it the river of Silence, for there seemed to
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: be a hushing influence in its flow. No murmur rose
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: from its bed, and so gently it wandered along that
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze far
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: in a motionless content, each in its own old station,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: shining on gloriously forever the margin of the river, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: of the many dazzling rivulets that glided through devious ways
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: into its channel, as well as the spaces that extended
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: from the margins away down into the depths of the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: streams until they reached the bed of pebbles at the bottom.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: These spots, not less than the whole surface of the valley,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: from the river to the mountains that girdled it in
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: were carpeted all by a soft green grass, thick, short,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: perfectly even and vanilla perfumed, but so besprinkled throughout with
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the purple violet, and
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the ruby red asphodel, that its exceeding beauty spoke to
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: our hearts in loud tones of the love and of
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the glory of God. And here and there in groves
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: about this grass like wildernesses of dreams sprang up fantastic trees,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: whose tall, slender stems stood not upright, but slanted gracefully
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: toward the light that peered at noonday into the center
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of the valley. Their mark was speckled with the vivid
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: alternate splendor of ebony and silver, and was smoother than
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: all save the cheeks of Eleanora, so that but for
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the brilliant green of the huge leaves that spread from
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: their summits in long tremulous lines, dallying with the zephyrs,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: one might have fancied them giant serpents of Syria, doing
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: homage to their sovereign the Sun. Hand in hand about
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: this valley for fifteen years roamed I with Eleonora, before
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: love entered within our hearts. It was one evening, at
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the close of the third lustrum of her life and
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of the fourth of my own, that we sat locked
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in each other's embrace beneath the serpent like trees, and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: looked down within the water of the River of Silence
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: at our images therein. We spoke no words during the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: rest of that sweet day, and our words even upon
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the morrow were tremulous and few. We had drawn the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: God arrows from that wave, and now we felt that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: He had enkindled within us the fiery souls of our forefathers.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: The passions which had for centuries distinguished our race came
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: thronging with the fancies for which they had been equally noted,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and together breathed the delirious bliss over the valley of
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the many colored grass, a change fell upon all things. Strange,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: brilliant flowers, star shaped, burn out upon the trees where
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: no flowers had been known before. The tints of the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: green carpet deepened, And when one by one the white
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: daisies shrank away, there sprang up in place of them,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: ten by ten of the ruby red asphodel and life
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: arose in our paths. For the tall flamingo, hitherto unseen
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: with all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet plumage before us.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: The golden and silver fish haunted the river out of
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the bosom of which issued little by little a murmur
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that swelled at length into a lulling melody more divine
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: than that of the harp of Eelus, sweeter than all
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: save the of Eleanora. And now too, of voluminous cloud
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: which we had long watched in the regions of Hesper
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: floated out. Thence, all gorgeous in crimson and gold, and
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: settling in peace above us, sank day by day lower
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and lower, until its edges rested upon the tops of
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the mountains, turning all their dimness into magnificence, and shutting
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: us up, as if forever within a magic prison house
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: of grandeur and of glory. The loveliness of Eleanora was
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: that of the seraphim. But she was a maiden, artless
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and innocent as the brief life she had led among
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the flowers. No guile disguised the fervor of love which
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: animated her heart, and she examined with me its inmost
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: recesses as we walked together in the valley of the
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: many colored grass, and discoursed of the mighty changes which
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: had lately taken place therein At length, having spoken one
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: day in tears of the last sad change which must
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: befall humanity, she thenceforward dwelt only upon this one sorrowful theme,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: interweaving it into all our converse. As in the songs
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: of the Bard of Skyrass, the same images are found
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: occurring again and again in every impressive variation of phrase.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: She had seen that the finger of death was upon
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: her bosom, that like the Ephemeron, she had been made
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: perfect and loveliness, only to die. But the terrors of
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the grave to her lay solely in a consideration which
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: she revealed to me one evening at twilight by the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: banks of the river of silence. She grieved to think that,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: having entombed her in the valley of the many colored grass,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I would quit forever its happy recesses, transferring the love
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: which now was so passionately her own to some maiden
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: of the outer and everyday world. And then and there
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I threw myself hurriedly at the feet of Eleonora, and
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: offered up a vow to herself and to Heaven, that
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I would never bind myself in marriage to any daughter
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of Earth, that I would in no manner prove recreant
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: to her dear memory, or to the memory of the
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: devout affection with which she had blessed me. And I
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: called the Mighty Ruler of the universe to witness the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: pious solemnity of myne I vow, and the curse which
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I invoked of him and of her a saint in illusion.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Should I prove traitorous to that promise involved a penalty,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the exceeding great horror of which will not permit me
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to make record of it. Here. And the bright eyes
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of Elinora grew brighter at my words, and she sighed
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: as if a deadly burthen had been taken from her breast.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And she trembled, and very bitterly wept, But she made
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: acceptance of the vow, for what was she but a child,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and it made easy to her the bed of her death.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: And she said to me not many days afterward, Tranquility dying,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: that because of what I had done for the comfort
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: of her spirits, she would watch over me in that
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: spirit when departed, and if so it were permitted, her
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: return to me visibly in the watches of the night.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: But if this thing were indeed beyond the power of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the souls in paradise, that she would at least give
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: me frequent indications of her presence, sighing upon me in
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the evening winds, or filling the air which I breathed
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: with perfume from the censers of the angels. And with
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: these words upon her lips, she yielded up her innocent life,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: putting an end to the first epoch of my own.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Thus far, I have faithfully said. But as I passed
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the barrier in time's path formed by the death of
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: my beloved, and proceed with the second era of my existence,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I feel that a shadow gathers over my brain, and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I mistrust the perfect sanity of the record, but let
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: me on dot years dragged themselves along heavily, and still
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I dwelled within the valley of the many colored grass.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: But a second change had come upon all things. The
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: star shaped flowers shrank into the stems of the trees
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and appeared no more. The tints of the green carpet faded,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and one by one the ruby red asphodels withered away,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and there sprang up in place of them, ten by ten,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: dark i like violets, that writhed uneasily, and were ever
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: encumbered with dew, and life departed from our paths. For
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the tall flamingo flaunted no longer his scarlet plumage before us,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: but flew sadly from the vale into the hills with
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: all the gay, glowing birds that had arrived in his company.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: And the golden and silver fish swam down through the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: gorge at the lower end of our domain, and bedecked
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the sweet river never again. And the lulling melody that
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: had been softer than the wind harp of Eolus, and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: more divine than all save the voice of Eleanora, it
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: died little by little away in murmurs, growing lower and lower,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: until the stream returned at length utterly into the solemnity
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: of its original silence. And then lastly the voluminous cloud uprose, and,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: abandoning the tops of the mountains to the dimness of old,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: fell back into the regions of hesper, and took away
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: all its manifold, golden and gorgeous glories from the valley
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: of the many colored grass. Yet the promises of Eleanora
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: were not forgotten. For I heard the sounds of the
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: swinging of the censers of the angels, and streams of
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: a holy perfume floated ever and ever about the valley,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: And at lone hours, when my heart beat heavily, the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: winds that bathe my brow came unto me, laden with
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: soft size and indistinct murmurs filled often the night air,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and once, oh but once only, I was awakened from
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a slumber like the slumber of death, by the pressing
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of spiritual lips upon my own. But the void within
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: my heart refused even thus to be filled. I longed
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: for the love which had before filled it to overflowing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: At length, the valley pained me through its memories of Eleanora,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and I left it forever for the vanities and the
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: turbulent triumphs of the world. I found myself within a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: strange city, where all things might have served a blot
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: from recollection. The sweet dreams I had dreamed so long
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: in the valley of the many colored grass. The pomps
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and pageantries of a stately court, and the mad clangor
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: of arms, and the radiant loveliness of women bewildered and
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: intoxicated my brain. But as yet my soul had proved
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: true to its vows, and the indications of the presence
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of Eleanora were still given me in the silent hours
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: of the night. Suddenly these manifest stations they ceased, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the world grew dark before mine eyes. And I stood
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: aghast at the burning thoughts which possessed at the terrible
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: temptations which beset me. For there came from some far,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: far distant and unknown land, into the gay court of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the king, I served a maiden to whose beauty my whole,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: recreant heart yielded at once, at whose footstool I bowed
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: down without a struggle, in the most ardent, in the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: most abject worship of love. What indeed was my passion
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: for the young girl of the valley in comparison with
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the fervor and the delirium and the spirit lifting ecstasy
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of adoration with which I poured out my whole soul
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in tears at the feet of the ethereal Ermengarde, Oh bright,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: was the seraph Ermengarde, And in that knowledge I had
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: room for none other. Oh divine was the angel Ermengarde.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: And as I looked down into the depths of her
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: memorial eyes, I thought only of them, and of her.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I wedded nor dreaded the curse I had invoked, and
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: its bitterness was not visited upon me. And once, but
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: once again, in the silence of the night, there came
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken me,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and they modeled themselves into familiar and sweet voice, saying
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: sleep in peace for the spirit of love riagnef and rolleth.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: And in taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: thou art absolved for reasons which shall be made known
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: to thee in heaven of thy vows. Unto Eleonora,