This story uses a similar approach to ISLAND OF THE FAY-- published in the same year-- in which the glories of bounteous nature give way to doleful death, ELEONORA is far more successful, in part because Poe includes one of his favorite themes: that of a beloved wife-- the narrator's cousin, once again-- who passes away early. Her passing coincides so nearly with the decline of the natural forest where she and the narrator lived that nature seems in sympathy with her spirit. Hence this one rates as "uncanny."
An odd development is that prior to the cousin's death, the narrator swears never to look at another woman. Time passes, and he re-marries, but nothing happens except that he dreams that the spirit of Eleonora forgives him his transgression. An interesting combination of motifs from both MORELLA and LIGEIA.
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