Poe's descriptive language presents both a source of wonder and a stumbling block for readers. He employs baroque sentences, piled on phrases, prodigious vocabulary, obscure allusions. The challenge for readers is to determine what these descriptions convey beyond the impressive-sounding words. His lengthy celebration of her appearance places Ligeia in the context of antique beauty; by referring to myths and art works of the Greeks and Moslems, Poe seeks to link Ligeia to age-old definitions of perfection and thus to take her out of time.

She becomes an enduring emblem both of feminine beauty and human aspiration.

Her eyes inspire in the narrator an awe which he feels when observing a falling meteor or a lively vine or a catalog of scenes which reflect natural power. Ligeia is like, therefore, a force of nature. Timeless and powerful, Ligeia may be a human who could battle death and succeed...