Edgar Allan Poe Audiobook Collection 8: Ligeia/Eleonora recap

Two stories examine love that appears to continue after death. In “Ligeia,” a grieving widower remarries and settles with Lady Rowena in a remote abbey. Rowena dies after a strange illness, but her body repeatedly shows signs of returning life and finally rises transformed into the dark-haired Ligeia, the narrator's brilliant first wife. His opium use and hostility toward Rowena leave the event deliberately uncertain. In “Eleonora,” a man and his cousin grow up together in an isolated, beautiful valley and become lovers. As she dies, he vows never to love or marry another and accepts a curse if he breaks the promise. Years later he leaves the valley, meets Ermengarde, and marries her. Eleonora's voice then absolves him and says that the reason will be revealed after his own death.

In “Ligeia,” an unnamed narrator recalls his first wife as a woman of immense learning, striking dark beauty, and exceptional will. She becomes ill and fights desperately against death, but dies. The grieving narrator buys a remote English abbey, fills one chamber with elaborate and unsettling decoration, and marries the fair-haired Lady Rowena in a union without affection. Rowena grows fearful of movements and sounds in the chamber, then suffers a prolonged illness. While tending her, the opium-affected narrator sees a shadow and several red drops fall into her drink. She dies and is wrapped for burial. Through the night the body repeatedly seems to revive, only to relapse into death. At last it rises and walks into the room, appearing taller than Rowena. When the burial wrappings fall away, the figure has black hair and the distinctive eyes of Ligeia, suggesting that the first wife's will has overcome death through Rowena's body.

The collection first presented Ligeia's apparent return through the body of the narrator's second wife. In “Eleonora,” another narrator remembers growing up with his cousin Eleonora and her mother in the isolated Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. He and Eleonora fall in love as the valley itself seems to become more vivid. Eleonora senses that she will die young and fears that he will leave the valley and love another woman. He vows never to marry anyone else and calls down punishment on himself if he breaks the promise. After her death, he feels her presence in the valley for a time, but the signs gradually fade and loneliness drives him to a royal city. There he meets Ermengarde, falls in love, and marries her despite his vow. No punishment follows. Eleonora's voice speaks to him once more, releases him from the promise, and says that after death he will understand why he has been absolved.

The collection closes with the narrator of “Eleonora” leaving the valley where his cousin died and entering a royal city. There he falls in love with Ermengarde and marries her, despite the vow he made never to love or marry another woman after Eleonora. He expects the punishment he had invoked upon himself, but none comes. Instead, Eleonora's voice returns one final time and releases him from the promise, telling him that the reason for his absolution will be made known after death. The marriage remains intact and the tale ends on that assurance. This gentler release follows the disturbing close of “Ligeia,” in which Rowena's corpse repeatedly revives, rises, and assumes Ligeia's appearance, apparently fulfilling the first wife's determination to resist death while leaving the exact cause and reality of the transformation uncertain.