Gothic BJD Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bridal Ballad"

The ring is on my hand, 
   

And the wreath is on my brow; 


Satin and jewels grand 


Are all at my command, 
   

And I am happy now

And my lord he loves me well; 
   

But, when first he breathed his vow, 


I felt my bosom swell— 


For the words rang as a knell, 
   

And the voice seemed his who fell 


In the battle down the dell, 
   

And who is happy now

But he spoke to re-assure me, 
    

And he kissed my pallid brow, 


While a reverie came o'er me, 


And to the church-yard bore me, 


And I sighed to him before me, 


Thinking him dead D'Elormie, 


"Oh, I am happy now!"

And thus the words were spoken, 
    

And this the plighted vow, 


And, though my faith be broken, 


And, though my heart be broken, 


Here is a ring, as token 
    

That I am happy now

Would God I could awaken! 


For I dream I know not how! 


And my soul is sorely shaken 


Lest an evil step be taken,— 


Lest the dead who is forsaken 
    

May not be happy now

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Notes:  This is my interpretation of theme IV of the Edgar Allan Poe photography challenge that I mentioned in my last entry.  I hadn't planned to illustrate the whole poem, but once I uploaded my pictures, a photostory seemed the best way to show the movement from superficial safety to real or imagined danger.   

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I am stretched on your grave and will lie there forever

If your hands were in mine
I'd be sure they could not sever

My apple tree, my brightness
It's time we were together 

For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safely in my bed

From morn until night
I am stretched out at your head 

Calling out to the earth
With tears hot and wild

My grief for the girl
That I loved as a child

Do you remember the night we were lost
In the shade of the blackthorn
And the chill of frost 

And thanks be to Jesus
We did all that was right 

And your maiden head still
Is your pillar of light

The priests and the friars
They approach me in dread
Because I still love you
My love and you're dead

I still would be your shelter
Through rain and through storm 

And with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

So I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever 

If your hands were in mine
I'd be sure they could not sever 

My apple tree, my brightness
It's time we were together 

For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather

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 Notes: I first discovered "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" through the Abney Park song a number of years ago.  More recently, I have also discovered Sinéad O'Connor's older, but no less gorgeous rendition.  Upon having my socks knocked off, I learned that the lyrics are taken from a 17th century Irish poem.  Since then, I have wanted to do a BJD photostory as tribute.

What finally made me start the photostory was an enormous amount aggravation around my attempts to make another Edgar Allan Poe tribute.  As I mentioned in my last post, this Poe project is a collaboration, so there is some extra pressure.  I had started shooting and found that practically everything was garbage. 

Then, we had some rare snow in Vancouver, and to blow off some steam and do a less complicated project, I decided to try an interpretation of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave."  Since this is a poem, I wanted to keep things a little more abstract.  In "Ligeia," I tried to honour Poe's ambiguity.  Here, I wanted to push the ambiguity of what is real and imagined a little further. 

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Tea Time

* * *

Hello, dear and lovely readers!  After a long hiatus, I am back with some new pictures.  Eric and Emilia decided to have tea outside yesterday.  If you will observe carefully, they now have croissants and macarons.   

I have two or three things that I shall be quite excited to share here-- so, while this is a short post with casual pictures, meant to ease us out of hiatus, there will be more to come, hopefully before the end of the month.  :0)

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Soom, Dollmore, and Iplehouse

Well now, I thought I would do something a little different.  My three favourite ABJD companies have all turned some truly gorgeous resin ladies this month.  Let us now take a look at my three favourite things for March 2013.  And if anything more spectacular comes out before the end of the month, I will post an appropriate reaction gif.

1. Iplehouse releases the updated EID woman body

I have the old Iplehouse EID body, and from what I can see, the updated elbows, knees, and thigh joints are much needed improvements.  "The Addiction" is the name of the new series, and Doria and Aaliyah are the first limited girls.  Iplehouse has finally succumbed to the Gothic side and is offering a vampire and a dark elf.  They seem to be set in a Vampire Hunter D sort of world, where aristocratic glamour meets modern, post-human excess. 


2.  Dollmore releases Trinity Doll Elysia

I never really liked the look of the Lusion girls, nor of Trinity Doll Jude.  Certainly, I have seen collectors do beautiful things with the Lusion girls, and Jude was conceptually ambitious enough to earn my admiration-- but Elysia, Violet Letter Knife, is the only one of these exceptionally large dolls to actually strike me as beautiful.  Her 1830s-inpsired dress is unusually elegant and lady-like, and I think that Gu mi-jeong did a fantastic job of making a large-scale head that is interesting but not too uncanny.

3.  Soom releases Garnet No. 0320

As far as I know, this is Soom's first attempt to make a cyborgian BJD.  There have been many other successful versions of cyborgs from other companies, and I have generally found the cyborg aesthetic to work naturally with the ball-jointed doll aesthetic.  Soom's contribution to this type of doll is no exception.  Garnet's artificiality is styled in a subtle manner.  The lines of her body are mainly clean (aside from the nonfunctional pins near her hips and elbows) and Soom has made the minimalist choice of barely blushing these lines.  The result is sleek, sophisticated, and leaves ample room for the imagination of customizers.

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