Which Poe poem begins 'The skies they were ashen and sober'?

The Poe poem beginning “The skies they were ashen and sober” is “Ulalume.”

“Ulalume: A Ballad” opens in a bleak October landscape of withering leaves, the dim lake of Auber, and a “ghoul-haunted woodland.” The speaker wanders with Psyche, a figure described both as a companion and as his own soul, while failing to recognize where the path is leading.

The poem's central revelation comes when Psyche identifies a tomb as the vault of the lost Ulalume. The speaker realizes that he has returned to the burial place exactly one year after carrying Ulalume's body there, turning the eerie walk into a story of grief, memory, and unconscious repetition.

“Ulalume” was first published anonymously in the American Review in December 1847. Its unusual names, hypnotic repetitions, internal rhymes, and elaborate sound patterns can make it feel like a companion to “The Raven,” but the opening line belongs specifically to “Ulalume.”