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of a child, the "queenliest dead that ever died so young," and "doubly dead that she died so young." The poem is told in two voices, the narrator and one Guy de Vere, who defends her against the narrator and his friends who loved her for her wealth, hated her for her pride, and "blessed her - that she died!" It seems strange to hate a mere child for her pride, but de Vere goes farther and condemns their "slanderous tongue that did to death the innocence that died, and died so young." Where might this slander be coming from? In "Morella" the narrator sees the uncanny maturation of his daughter and says, "is it to be wondered at that suspicions, of a nature fearful and exciting, crept in upon my spirit, or that my thoughts fell back aghast upon the wild tales and thrilling theories of the entombed Morella?" He would not be the only one to notice, since only after those suspicions arise does he snatch her "from the scrutiny of the world," when the daughter was growing strangely rapidly in bodily size, and the intelligence of the adult Morella could be heard in her speech and seen in her gaze. The slander that Guy de Vere accuses the narrator of would be from those in the world from whom he tried to protect her, who noticed not only the strange nature of the child but also her resemblance to her mother, Morella, and recoiled from her pride, and the thought that Guy de Vere would marry her. There are interesting references in the poem. Lenore is referred to as queenly, which implies maturity and power rather than innocence. Lenore is "doubly dead, in that she died so young," but which may also suggest that she died twice. The narrator tells Guy de Vere to weep now - "or never more," which anticipates "The Raven."

This poem is also interesting in that the two points of view, that of Guy de Vere and the narrator, have distinctly different attitudes. Guy is wracked with love and loss, but does not weep, and rants against the narrator who does not seem to be be very upset at her death. The narrator says that Lenore was "thy love", the "dear child that should have been thy bride." Within the context of the poem, it would seem that Guy de Vere was Lenore's fiance. Perhaps at the time it was acceptable to be betrothed to a child, but if the narrator recognized the reincarnation of Morella in the child, then the idea takes on a more ominous tone, that the child was already married to Guy de Vere once, and intended to marry him again when she was fully, and prematurely,

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