Ligeia / Lady Rowena Trevanion of Tremaine. 1838
Ligeia is an early short story written by the American author, poet, editor and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849). First published in 1838, the story tells of the death of the narrator’s wife Ligeia, a beautiful, passionate and intellectual woman, with raven-haired and dark-eyes. The narrator is unable to convey to the reader how they met, but speaks of her knowledgeable gifts in metaphysical and forbidden wisdom. After her death the narrator is grief stricken but enters into a loveless marriage with’ the fair-haired and blue-eyed Lady Rowena Trevanion, of Tremaine’. In the second month of the marriage, Rowena begins to fall sick and eventually dies. When her body is wrapped for burial, the narrator keeps vigil overnight, whereupon she revives to life to die once again. To his horror as dawn breaks the shrouded figure begins to stand, and removing the bandages the narrator sees the transformed face from Lady Rowena to that of Ligeia.