When I first heard “Belladonna” over ten years ago my first thought was of Poe.  I sat back in my chair, closed my eyes and let the haunting melody wash over me - all the while imaging Poe, if he were sitting next to me, would be exclaiming that he just found his new mood music.   For this reason I chose two songs from Legendary Pink Dots, as I think Edgar would have found himself a kindred spirit in Edward.  As Caitlin said of Poe, “Poe perpetuates the style of the romantics by engaging in a mystical but potentially possible scenario that leaves him doing battle with the products of his forceful imagination” (Burns, “Romanticism in Poe”), the same can be said of Edward and The Silverman’s song writing.  In the romantic imagery of Poe’s “Annabel Lee” when he writes of his lost love, “And this maiden she lived with no other thought / Than to love and be loved by me” (ll. 5-6), so too does Edward sing of his love, “Whisper only the word and she would wash the day away... And as I faded through the years, she found an answer to the tears ((LPD, 1991, track 6). 

Both artists use distinct natural descriptions and border on, if not step fully into, Gothicism, but I think they’re wholly fused together within these two works by a mutual “sentimental melancholy” (“On American Romanticism”) invoked in their words.  It is in the closing of their mournful phrases that show us the strongest links to romanticism that they share.  In his last stanza, Poe mourns for the loss of his love, indicating that routine occurrences such as the moon and the stars in the night sky do not pass by without his loss being felt.  In his misery, he is able to do the impossible – the horrific, in fact – “And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side / Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride” (ll. 38-39).  Much in the same way, Edward sings of his own love in the supernatural, and gothically-enhanced, call from beyond when he sings “Belladonna.  Starburst - shouts from the grave I'll remember our dawn" (LPD, 1991, track 6).  Both men are able to accomplish great, if not romantically terrifying, feats for the object of their affection.  The hearts of broken men are able to reach across the veil of death and steal a chance with their hearts desire once more.  Nothing says creating “the romantic mood [of] a psychological desire to escape from unpleasant realities” (“On American Romanticism”) like Edward and Edgar. 

I also think Poe would have loved the irony that such a beautiful and melancholy song about love lost also shares the namesake of both a beautiful lady and a deadly nightshade (“Wikipedia”). 

In “Faded Photograph” Legendary Pink Dots continue their use of Apostrophe, in which “the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead” (Creel); likewise, in “The Raven,” Poe continues his own use of this practice, though it is left for the reader to determine whether they believe the raven to be an “entity [or] something inhuman” (Creel).  In the two works, both men have been abandoned yet continue to long for the love they once had.  No mention is made as to why the loves have vanished, though both carry a supernatural and ultimately hopeless feeling to their conclusions.  In “The Raven,” Poe says “And his eyes have all the seeming of a Demon that is dreaming, / And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; / And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor / Shall be lifted – nevermore” (The Raven).  The sentimental melancholy is also, once again, repeated with Poe.  But Edward is not to be outdone for in his conclusion he is the one who appears to be his own supernatural experience.  Edward is not just looking at his spirit, he appears to be the spirit - knowing it will never in the presence of love again - Edward sings that “It’s night and I’ll come to your once more, I’ll forget to use the door… Did I startle you?  Oh no… Not me.  For you see through me… It hurts” (LPD, 2008, track 5).  Throughout these two songs, Poe and The Legendary Pink Dots share many similarities in their story-telling; Romanticism, Gothicism, imagery, apostrophe, longing, lost love, melancholy, the use of natural descriptions, metaphors…  I believe beyond reason that Poe would have had many of their albums on his ipod.

I “get” the dark, disturbed and potentially crazy – it’s when The Crazy hides behind the mask of self-righteous indignation that my feathers get a little ruffled.  Mary Rowlandson is a cause of such ruffling.  And if she were alive today I think she would be definitely be one of the terrifyingly irrational (small representation of actual) tea partiers, perhaps even standing in the place of Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman.  As Ann Brady pointed out in Week Four, Rowlandson’s “captivity narrative operates as an effective piece of propaganda to justify the Puritans’ negative treatment and racist views of the Native Americans … She begins her narrative by describing their attack on her village as unprovoked” (Brady, “Puritan Propaganda”).  I completely agree with Ann that Rowlandon’s tale was complete propaganda, created to provoke and incite violence toward the Native Americans.  Like Rowlandson’s narrative, the extreme right-wing talking heads like to remind us that on 9-11 we were faced with an unprovoked attack on our country.  And as such, after 9-11 the attacks have continued to be used as excuses for discrimination toward races across the globe.  9-11 also prompted the resurgence of a popular Gulf War song, “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood.  When I read Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, this song played on continuous loop in the back of my mind.  Rowlandson was a woman so devoted to her new country and to proving her worthiness to god, that after her attack she accepted her captivity without struggle.  It took very little to imagine Mary walking along the hills with her Native Americans captures, blasting “God Bless the USA,” through the headphones, her spine erect, her pride slapping the ground with each step – knowing she would soon end her journey and write a wonderful narrative about the joys of faith in a power higher than herself.  “Yet I see, when God calls a person to anything, and through never so many difficulties, yet He is fully able to carry them through and make them see, and say they have been gainers thereby” (The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson) , is what she will say.  And a whole sect of early American settlers will believe .

While “God Bless the USA” would be a propagandic companion to Mary’s narrative, Tom Wait’s shares Mary’s motivation to have their respective oppressors dealt with by god.  In The Narrative of the Capativity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Mary laments “I then remembered how careless I had been of God's holy time … how evilly I had walked in God's sight … it was easy for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the thread of my life and cast me out of His presence forever” (The Narrative of the Capativity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson).  Like Mary, Wait’s describes a God that likely has taken a hard, inquiring look at his keep.  Unlike Mary, however, Wait’s does not offer the listener his, or humanities, redemption, he merely lets us know the state of things right off the bat when he sings “If you're looking for someone to pull you out of that ditch, You're out of luck, you're out of luck” (Waits, 2002, track 5).  Even so, when I hear this song I think of a motivated Mary, stomping through the woods, determined to survive the fate god has dealt her.  I think Mary would listen to this song during moments when she is feeling weak in her spiritual center and needs an uplifting song that will make her want to kick some devilish ass.