It is remarkable that, in this earlier version, instead of Lenore we have the name of Helen. The lines were afterwards greatly altered and improved in structure and expression, and the name of Lenore was introduced, apparently for its adaptation to rhythmical effect. Whatever may be the meaning that underlies this strange funeral anthem, it will always be admired for the triumphant music of its sorrow and for its sombre pomp of words. We may trust that the “Sabbath Song” did indeed
“Go up to God so solemnly the dead could feel no wrong.”
The ideas which haunted the brain of the young poet during his watch in the lonely church-yard—the shapeless fears and phantasms,
“Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!”
were the same which overwhelmed De Quincey at the burial of his sweet sister and playmate, as described by him in the “Suspiria De Profundis”—ideas of terror
