Poe addresses his mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, but calls her “mother” with deep affection. He imagines angels in heaven, searching their most fervent expressions, can find nothing as devoted as the word “Mother.” That’s why he’s always called her by that name — she has been more than a mother to him. When his young wife Virginia died, this woman’s presence filled the emptiness in his heart, as if death itself placed her there to set Virginia’s spirit free. His own mother died when he was a child and was only mother to him. But Maria was mother to the woman he loved so deeply, and that makes her even dearer. He measures her worth by the same boundless love he felt for his wife — a love his soul valued more than its own life. The poem holds a gentle, reverent sadness, mixing grief for what is lost with gratitude for the maternal love that remains.
To My Mother — Summary
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of "Mother," Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-- You who are more than mother unto me, And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you, In setting my Virginia's spirit free. My mother--my own mother, who died early, Was but the mother of myself; but you Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, And thus are dearer than the mother I knew By that infinity with which my wife Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.