i^^ tiv Tf o; J ■v^-'^ i / ■:-'v?.V;.^ '<^Ai5 . »T U; Q^i./.' i/> ^ -. .;;5c^' .isr, February, 1852 (reproduced in part by Woodberry, II, pp. 311 f.). xxvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE remainder of his stay in Virginia. He lectured in Richmond and in Norfolk during this visit, the returns from at least one of "his lectures being very gratifying to him ; and he also visited and became engaged, for a second time, to his early inamorata, Sarah Elmira Royster, now the widow Shelton and well-to-do. Plans were made for their wedding, and early on the morning of Sep- tember 27 he started for the North to attend to certain business matters and to bring Mrs. Clemm to Richmond preparatory to celebrating the marriage. He got only so far as Baltimore, however. At what time he reached Baltimore or what occurred after his arrival there, is not known. According to one story, which seems not unplausible, he met while waiting for his train for Philadelphia an old West Point friend, who induced him to take a glass of wine with him at an inn. According to another story, long current, he ultimately fell into the hands of some political gangsters, who drugged him and then used him as a " repeater " in an election being held in Baltimore on October 3. This much at least is clear: that he became intoxicated, and that he suffered, in consequence, an attack similar to the one that had well-nigh brought him to his death in Philadelphia in the preceding July.-^ On October 3 he was found unconscious in a saloon that had lately been used as a polling-place, and his friend Dr. J. E. Snodgrass being 1 This has been denied by some ; see A Defense of Edgar Allan Poe, by John J. Moran, M. D., the physician who attended Poe at the time of his death, and the article of E. Spencer in the A'eio Yot-k Hej-ald of March 27, iSSi (quoted in part by Harrison, I, pp. 32S f.). But circumstantial evidence is entirely in favor of the contrary view. And there is also direct evidence in favor of the darker view; see, in particular, an earlier statement by Dr. Moran in a letter to Mrs. Clemm (Woodberr)% II, pp. 345 f.) ; an article by Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, " The Facts of Poe's Death and Burial," in Beadle's Mojitkly, March, 1867 (III, pp. 283 f.) ; and the statement of his lifelong friend, J. P. Kennedy, that he died "from the effects of a debauch" (Woodberrjs II, p. 349). A letter of his cousin, Neilson Poe, to Rufus W'. Griswold (published in part by Woodberry, II, p. 447) also tends to confirm this view. INTRODUCTION xxvii advised of his condition, he was removed to a local hospital. There, on Sunday, October 7, 1849, he died. He was buried on the following day in the churchyard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. II. THE CANON OF POE'S POEMS Poe's poems, as first collected in book form, appeared originally in five successive volumes, extending over a period of twenty-three years.^ The first of these volumes — Tamerlane and Other Poeins — was published at Boston in 1827; the second — Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems — at Baltimore in 1829; the third — entitled simply Toe?ns — at New York in 1831 ; the fourth — The Raven and Other Foetns — at New York in 1845 ; and the fifth — a collective edition- — at New York in 1850 a few months after the poet's death. The first four volumes were pub- lished under Poe's immediate oversight ; the fifth is the edition of Rufus W. Griswold, Poe's literary executor.^ There appeared in these five volumes (hereafter referred to as 1827, 1829, 1831, 1845, and 1850, respectively) a total of forty- eight poems. Ten of these — the first ten in the present edition — made their initial appearance in 1827 ; seven were first collected in 1829; six in 1831; fourteen in 1845; and eleven in 1850. Of the eleven poems first brought together by Griswold (1850), nine had previously been published by Poe's authorization and with his name, while the remaining two — The Bells and Amiabel Lee — are ^ Most of the poems were first published in magazines and newspapers before being collected in book form ; see the bibliographical list prefixed to each of the poems in the Notes. For a bibliography of the poems, giving only the place of first publication (together with a similar bibliog- raphy of the tales and of the most important essays, with a partial list of the books and articles about Poe), the reader is referred to the forthcoming Cambridge History of American Literature. 2 Published, together with certain essays and tales, in the second volume of Griswold's edition of Poe's works. Further particulars as to these several editions are given in the Appendix. xxviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE preserv'ed in manuscript copies in the poet's handwriting and are further authenticated by references to them in his letters. In addition to these forty-eight poems, there are four others — each of them brief and of little value — that are definitely known to be the work of Poe's hand. These are : Lati?i Hymn (a translation) and So7ig of Triu?jiph, both embodied in the tale Four Beasts in One\ and two juvenile skits, Elizabeth and An Acrostic, written by the poet in the alburn of his cousin, Elizabeth Herring. There are also several scraps of verse scattered among Poe's critical essays ; ^ and fragments of a poem entitled The Beautiful Physician have survived.^ Much of Poe's abortive drama FoHtian, it should be added, still remains in manuscript. Besides these fully authenticated items — fifty-two in all — there are fourteen other poems that have been ascribed to Poe on grounds that are more or less plausible, though none of them have as yet been completely authenticated as his. These are : (i) Oh Temporal Oh Mores! some very commonplace verses, said to have been composed by Poe while a young man in Rich- mond ; ^ (2) AIo?ie, a. fragment found in an autograph album in Baltimore and strongly resembling Poe's early style; (3) A West ^ These include a free paraphrase of a passage from Drake's Culprit Fay (Harrison, VIII, p. 294) ; a translation of two lines from Corneille {ibid., XIV, p. 44) ; and three lines by way of burlesquing the meter of Evangeline {ibid., XIV, p. 264). Here also may be mentioned some scattering lines composed by Poe in connection with the criticism and revision of Mrs. S. A. Lewis's poems (cf. an article by J. H. Ingram, in the Albany Revie^v, July, 1907), and certain improvements suggested by him in one of Mrs. Browning's poems (Harrison, XIII, p. 201). - See the article contributed to the New York Bookman for January 1909 (XXVIII, pp. 453 f.), by J. H. Ingram. ^ First published in the N'o A'ame Magazine of October, 1S89 (I, p. i), by E. L. Didier, who later claimed (see Whitty, p. 165) that the manuscript of the poem had been given to him by John R. Thompson. The prefatory- statement accompanying the poem as first printed by Didier is untrust- worthy as to dates : the assertion is there made that the lines were writ- ten by Poe "at the age of seventeen" — then, in 1S26 — and that they had been in the hands of John W. MacKenzie of Richmond " for more than half a century" before coming into the hands of Thompson — but Thompson died in 1S73. INTRODUCTION xxix Point Lampoo?}, directed against one of the minor officers at the United States Military Academy who had aroused the poet's dis- pleasure ; (4) Lines to Louisa, some crude verses perhaps inspired by the poet's scorn of the second Mrs. Allan ; (5) Spiritual Song, a skit of three lines discovered in manuscript in the desk used by Poe while editing the Southern IJterary Messefiger ; ^ (6) The Great Mail, likewise found in Poe's desk in a manuscript believed to be in his handwriting, but extremely crude and halting ; ^ (7) To Sarah, a poem which appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger in August, 1835, above the pseudonym '' Sylvio " ; (8) Ballad, published anonymously in the Southern Literary Messenger for the same month; (9) a fragment of a campaign song said to have been written by Poe during a visit to New York in 1843 <^'' 1844 ; (10) Lmpromptu: To ICate Carol, four lines printed in the Broadway Journal in March, 1845, ^^'i inspired by Mrs. Osgood; (11) The Departed, printed in the Broadway Journal for July 12, 1845;^ (12) The Diviiie Right oj Kings, printed in Graham^ s Magazine for October, 1845 ; (13) Stanzas, published in Grahaiii's Magazine for December, 1845 ; and (14) a poem subscribed with Poe's initials and published in an obscure periodical, The Symposia, at Provi- dence, in 1848.* Three other poems that have been attributed to Poe, but on evi- dence that is extremely slender, are: (i) Enigma, first published in the Philadelphia Casket in May, 1827, and later copied, with minor changes, in Buiion's Gentleman^ s Magazine in May, 1840 ; (2) The Skeleton LLand, published in the Yankee and Boston Liter- ary Gazette in August, 1829 ; and (3) The ALagician, published in the same magazine in December, 1829.^ 1 vSee Whitty, pp. 13S, 283 f. 2 ji,ij_^ ^^ j^^^ 28^ f_ 8 Attributed to Poe by Thomas Ilolley Chivers (see the Wavcrley Maga- zine, July 30, 1853). * For further particulars as to these items see the Notes. ^ See, for a statement of the grounds for doubting the genuineness of these items, an article by the present editor, entitled " The Poe Canon," in Pithllcatioiis of the Afode?-n Laiigtiage Association of America, September, 1912 (XXVII, pp. 325-353)- XXX THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE The list of poems given to Poe in error include the following : (i) several short pieces signed "Edgar" contained in a volume of miscellaneous articles in prose and verse edited by Elizabeth Chase and published at Baltimore in 182 1 ; (2) Hymn in Honor of Harmodius and Aristogiton, a translation published in the Southern Literary Messenger for December, 1835 (II> P- 3^)) ^^^ attributed to Poe by several of his editors, but claimed by Lucian Minor in the Messenger iox March, 1848 (XIV, p. 185); (3) Hood's sonnet, Silence, published by Poe in Burton^ s Magazine (V, p. 144) above his own initial ; ^ (4) four short poems by A. M. Ide ten- tatively attributed to Poe on the theory that " Ide" was perhaps a pseudonym vised by Poe ; (5) The Manmioth Squash, a hoax at Poe's expense, published in the Philadelphia Aristidean for Octo- ber, 1845 ; C*^) Lai'ante, a satire in verse, attributed to Poe in the belief that it was the critical treatise on American writers on which Poe was at work in the forties, but which was never published as such ; "^ (7) a parody of The Raven by Harriet Winslow ; (8) a fragment of Mrs. Lewis's poem, The Forsaken ; (9) Lilitha, in imi- tation of Ulalume, written by F. G. Fairfield ; ( i o) The Fire-Fiend, an imitation at once of The Bells and of The Raven, composed by C. D. Gardette ; (11) Leonainie, an early poem of James Whitcomb Riley's; and (12) Rupert and Madelon, 2l fragment of Mrs. Osgood's Wotnan's Trust, a Dramatic Sketch? It is possible that other poems besides those now ascribed to Poe will ultimately be brought to light, but it is not likely that 1 See the New York Nation for December 30, 1909, and January 20, 1910. - See p. xxiv, above. 3 See the Publications of the Modern Lanpiage Association of America, XXVII, pp. 329 f.. for further particulars as to most of these items. The fragment from Mrs. Osgood was included by J. P. Kennedy in Auiog^-af/i Leaves of our Cojintry^s Aiittiors, Baltimore, 1S64. Among other items that have been ascribed to Poe are two pieces of doggerel, Kelah and The Mn?- derer, variously attributed to Poe in American periodical publications about 1890, and a not unclever hoax, My Soul, composed by a student of the University of Virginia (see the Richmond Times-Dispatch for January 17, 1909). INTRODUCTION xxxi they will include anything of importance. There is a tradition that Poe exhibited to a Richmond schoolmaster, in 1823, a manu- script volume of verses,^ which he wished Mr. Allan to have pub- lished ; but these — granting the tradition to be true — were probably either worked over for the volume of 1827 or dis- carded. He is said to have delivered an ode of his own com- position on the retirement of Master Clarke as principal of his school in Richmond in 1823 ;^ and there is mention of a youthful satire on the members of a debating society in Richmond with which he was connected,'^ and of some lines To Mary, published in a Baltimore newspaper early in the thirties.* III. THE TEXT OF POE'S POEMS The problem of text is one of the most perplexing with which the editor of Poe is confronted. The poet was constantly repub- lishing his verses, and as constantly revising and altering them.'^ In some instances it is difficult to determine which of two texts ' is the later one ; and even where this is not the case, we cannot always be sure which of two texts Poe would ultimately have preferred. The problem is further complicated by numerous typographical errors — or apparent typographical errors — and by something of editorial carelessness on the part of Griswold, and by uncertainty as to the date of the manuscript correction? made in the so-called Lorimer Graham copy of 1845.^ It would 1 Didier, p. 31 ; Mrs. Weiss, pp. 45 f. - Didier, p. 33. 3 Ingram, p. 24. * Harper's Monthly Magazine, March, 1889 (LXXVIII, pp. 634 f.). See also Woodberry, II, p. 414, and Piihlicatio>ts of the Modern Language Association, XXVII, pp. 349 f. ^ See, for particulars, the next section of this Introduction, on Poe's Passion for Revising his Text. ® This important volume was among the materials to which Griswold had access as literary executor of Poe (Woodberry, II, p. 451); it subse- quently passed into the hands of J. Lorimer Graham, a gentleman of New York ; and it is now the property of the Century Club of New York City. It contains penciled corrections in Poe's handwriting of ten of the poems, xxxii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • seem reasonable, however, to follow the text exhibiting the poet's latest revisal ; and this policy has, accordingly, been adhered to, so far as possible, in the present edition. Wherever any departure has been made from this policy — as happens in the case of three poems of which the latest texts are covered by copyright,-^ and in the case of two poems of which the final text is obviously corrupt ^ — this fact has been pointed out in the Notes. Where there is room for doubt as to which of two texts is the final one, this fact also has been noted. The main source of the text is the edition of 1845, in which Poe brought together, four years before his death, thirty of his poems. .. This, supplemented by the Lorimer Graham copy of the same edi- tion and the text of Griswold (1850), furnishes the ultimate text of more than half of the poems. Other important sources are the edition of 1827, in which appeared four poems that were never republished by the poet ; the Broadway Journal, in which he published in 1845 twenty -four of his poems; the Flag of Our Union, in which he published in the last year of his life five poems ; and the Richmond Examiner, in which were published what are apparently the latest texts of The Raven and Dream- Land, and in which he had arranged to publish several other poems, the proofs for which have been preserved.^ The chief textual imperfections appear in the volume of 1827. Here, besides numerous errors in punctuation, there are sun- dry verbal omissions and substitutions and a score or more of made presumably with a view to adoption in a new edition. These correc- tions were apparently noted down in 1849 (^i"- Whitty has adduced evi- dence tending to show that the revisions made in Leiiore came after April, 1S49 {Poems, p. 214)); most of them probably belong to the summer of 1849, ^^<^ it is at least conceivable that some of them were made in the autumn of 1849 shortly before Poe left Richmond on his fateful journey to Baltimore. 1 The Haunted Palace, The Bells, and For Annie. Happily the verbal variations between the copyrighted text and the next latest revision affect but a single word in the case of each of these. 2 See the notes on A Dream zvithm a Dream and Dream-Land. ^ See Whitty, pp. viii f. INTRODUCTION xxxiii misprints, — one of them, in Dreams, line i6, quite robbing the context of its meaning. There are also a number of misprints in 1829, though mainly in the notes, and a few, likewise, in 1831. The text of 1845 is comparatively free from error. But Griswold's text is marred by several apparently unauthorized omissions of minor importance and by a number of typographical errors, among the latter the unfortunate readings " kinsman " for " kinsmen " in Annabel Lee, line 17, and "mortals" for "mortal" in The Raveti, line 26. And some of the newspaper texts, as the Flag text of For Amiie and the Providence Journal text of Ulalume, are rad- ically faulty in this respect, the poet having had no opportunity, doubtless, to consult a proof. Errors in punctuation, which abound in 1827, are also fairly numerous in some of the later texts. Poe is traditionally supposed to have been extremely careful about his pointing ; but in reality, though he had certain mannerisms (as the use, in his early years, of the dash as a point of all work,^ and, in later years, of the comma for rhetorical emphasis ^), he was both inconsistent and at times ex- ceedingly reckless with his pointing. To be convinced of this, one has only to compare the various texts of The Raven, or to place side by side the texts of The Haunted Palace as printed in the 1845 edition of the Tales and in the volume of poems published in the same year (1845).'' In the present edition obvious errors in punctu- ation have been corrected. The punctuation has also been changed where it was plainly at variance with universally accepted usage at the present time or, in particular, where it obscured the poet's mean- ing. The spelling, too, has been corrected and normalized ; and an attempt has been made to give consistency to the capitalization.* 1 See the note on Tamerlane, 1. 2. 2 Cf. The Haunted Palace, 1. 41, and For Annie, II. 14, 86, 90. 8 Other evidence in plenty is adduced in the Notes. * But in the footnote variants the pointing, spelHng, and capitaHzation of the original texts have been retained. This results in some exceed- ingly slipshod pointing and sundry grotesque spellings ; but it has the advantage of making graphic some of the eccentricities of the poet (or of his printers) in these matters. xxxiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE In the arrangement of his poems, Poe observed no fixed order. In 1827 he placed the longest poem (Tamerlane) at the beginning of the volume ; and he adopted the same policy in 1829, giving the initial place in that volume to Al Aaraaf. But in 1831 the long poems are thrown to the end of the volume. In 1845 The Raven is given first place, and is followed by some poems of the earlier, and some of the middle, period, — arranged, however, in no easily discoverable sequence, — while eleven of the earlier pieces are printed in a separate section at the end under the caption " Poems Written in Youth." Griswold, in his edition, also assigns first place to The Raven, but the rest of the poems he arranges arbitrarily and seemingly without any system. In the present edition an attempt has been made to follow the chronological order.-"^ This arrangement has the obvious advantage of indicating, in a meas- ure, the development of the poet's art and the change that he underwent in his attitude to the world about him ; though it has the obvious disadvantage of bringing to the fore the poet's feebler work. That the correct chronology has not been hit upon in some instances may be taken for granted. It is not unlikely, for example, that Spirits of the Dead was written before Tamerlane, and that Romance was written before Al Aaraaf \ in the case of the earlier poems it is impossible to settle such questions absolutely, and the order adopted by Poe in the first publication of these poems has accordingly been adhered to. The relative chronology of the later poems, on the other hand, — especially of those belonging to the decade ending with 1845, — may be determined in most instances without much difficulty.^ After each of the poems (save the uncollected and doubtful items) the date of first publication has been given. 1 Except that the poems not collected by Poe or by his literary executor have been placed by themselves at the end of the text. - The chronology of the poems belonging to Poe's final year has been much clarified by the discovery a few years ago of a file of the Flag of Our Union (see the New York Nation for December 31, 1909). Before this discovery, Eldorado had usually been assumed to be Poe's last poem. INTRODUCTION xxxv The variant readings, which constitute in the case, of some of the poems a body of text as large as the poems themselves and which are plainly of much importance in the study of Poe, have been given in this edition in footnotes.-^ In the case of six of the poems, which underwent very radical revision, one or more of the earlier texts have been reproduced in the footnotes in their entirety. All variants — • that is, all readings that do not appear in the final text — are set in italics (unless the original reading was in italics, in which case a heavy-faced type has been used). The nature and the rationale of the textual changes are discussed in the next section. IV. POE'S PASSION FOR REVISING HIS TEXT Nothing was more characteristic of Poe than his fondness for revising his verses. " No poet," says Stoddard, " who wrote so little ever re-wrote that little so often, and so successfully."^ And Professor Woodberry declares : ^ " There is no such exam- ple in literature of poetic elaboration as is contained in the suc- cessive issues of [Poe's] poems." Certainly no other American poet ever recast his work so freely or republished it so often after once it had found its way into print. Not even Wordsworth, for whom Dowden has claimed the distinction of furnishing the most instructive example among English poets of the value of revision, has supplied us with a more formidable array of rejected readings.* Of the forty-eight poems collected by Poe or by his literary executor, no fewer than forty-two were republished or were 1 As a rule, only the variants for the printed versions have been given ; but for a number of the poems, especially those revised in the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845, the poet's autographic revisions have also been taken account of. 2 The Works of Edgar Allaii Poe, I, p. viii. ^ II, p. 411 ; see also Stedman and Woodberry, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, X, p. v. * See Dowden's edition of Wordsworth's Poems, Athenaeum Press Serieg (Boston, 189S), p.lxxxv. xxxvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE authorized to be republished at least once ; and of these all but one {So/iuef — To Zante) were subjected to some sort of verbal re- vision upon republication. Six of the poems appeared in two dif- ferent forms, thirteen in three different forms, nine in four different forms, eleven in five different forms, one (Lenore) in eight differ- ent forms, and one (The Raven) in fifteen different forms. Three of the six poems that were published only once, survive in manuscript versions that differ in some respect from the pub- lished versions. Twenty of the poems underwent a change of title, and five changed title twice. Among the earlier poems one {A Dream zcnt/iin a Dreani) emerged from its several reca stings an entirely different poem, no single line, no part of a line, of the original being retained in the final draft. Some of the poems were much enlarged on republication ; and others were as radically condensed. The Bells as first offered for publication was a poem of only i8 lines. In its final form it numbered 113 lines. Tamerlane was published originally in 406 lines, was condensed in 1829 to 243 lines, enlarged in 1831 to 268 lines, and finally reduced in 1845 fo 243 lines. Roma?ice, which in 1829 numbered 21 lines, was expanded in 1831 to 66 lines, and in 1845 was condensed again to 21 lines. Fairy-Land had a similar history, appearing first (1829) in 46 lines, then (1831) in 64 lines, and later (1845) in the original 46 lines. The lines To ("I heed not that my earthly lot ") were first printed in five stanzas totaling 20 lines, but were reduced in 1845 to 8 lines.^ Striking also are sundry changes in stanza-form and in length of line. A conspicuous example is furnished by Le?iore, which was first printed in a simple ballad stanza (a quatrain made up of tetrameter and trimeter), later in an ode-like stanza of uneven line-length and running to thirteen or more lines, and later still in a long-line stanza approximating that of The Raven. Both The Raven and Lenore were also published (with Poe's approval) in a 1 Condensation was more frequently resorted to than amplification, though in the text of 1831 ampUfication was the rule. INTRODUCTION xxxvii short-line stanza in which each of the longer lines was broken in two at the caesura. An evening of stanza length occurs in Israfel and The City in the Sea. Two early poems, Spirits of the Dead and TJie Lake: To , originally printed without stanza divi- sion, were broken up into stanzas in the edition of 1829, while Fairy-Land and To (''' I heed not," etc.), originally divided into stanzas, were printed in 1845 without stanza division. And there are a multitude of changes in sequence. These affect, as a rule, only a single line or a single word ; but in some instances — as in The Sleeper^ Lefiore, To F- , and For Annie — passages of a half-dozen lines or more are interchanged or are transferred from one part of the poem to another. In two instances entire poems were inserted in a larger poem,^ and in other instances passages appearing in one poem are repeated in a later poem.^ But the most frequent and, in the sum-total, naturally, the most important revisions are those made in the phrasing. These range all the way from a mere change of tense or of number to the substitution of an entirely new line. How multifarious such changes are becomes apparent on reference to the footnotes. They are less numerous with the later poems — with The Raven, for instance, there are verbal changes in only 2 1 out of a total of 1 08 lines — but with some of the earlier poems, quite as much of the text is canceled as is allowed to stand.^ The grounds for making these changes are in most cases fairly evident. The rigorous pruning to which some of the earlier poems were ultimately subjected was dictated, obviously, by the desire to curtail, so far as practicable, the element of the personal. This will explain the omission in 1845 of the opening and closing lines (1-6, 27-40) of A Dream zvithin a Dream as printed in 1829; ^ Both A Dream 7iound). The closest parallel with Shelley that I have obsei-ved is that existing between a passage in Bream-Land (11. 21-25, 27): By the lakes that thus outspread Their lone waters, lone and dead, — Their sad waters, sad and chilly With the snows of the lolling lily, — By the mountains — near the river By the grey woods, — by the swamp. 1 See the article of Professor James Routh in Modern Language Notes, XXIX, pp. 72-73, and the communication of Mr. H. T. Baker in the same journal, XXV, pp. 94-95. INTRODUCTION xlix and four lines from the second act of Proi7ietheus Unbound (so. i, 11. 203-206) : By the forests, lakes, and fountains Thro' the many-folded mountains ; To the rents, and gulphs, and chasms. Where the Earth reposed from spasms.^ To Wordsworth, with whom he professed to have scant sym- pathy, Poe seems to have owed but little. There is an evident resemblance between two lines in The Valley of Unrest: That palpitate like the chill seas Around the misty Hebrides, and Wordsworth's magic lines in The Solitary Reaper: Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides ; a line in an early version of Romance, Gone are the glory and the gloom, suggests a couplet from the Ode on Intimations of Immoiiality : Whither is fled the visionary gleam ? Where is it now, the glory and the dream ? — and \\'ordsworth's " clouds of glory " appears in a rejected version of the lines To (" Not long ago," etc.). But each of these resemblances may be accidental. A more suspicious 1 Certain lines in Tamerlane seem to affect the Shelleyan manner, as The bodiless spirits of the storms, and As perfume of strange summer flowers ; and the following couplet in an early text of At Aaraaf: On the sweetest air doth float The most sad and solemn note, is possibly a reminiscence of Shelley's line in the ode To a Skylark, Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought 1 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE parallel with Wordsworth occurs in the lines To Sarah (among the poems attributed to Poe), the opening stanza of which: When melancholy and alone, I sit on some moss-covered stone Beside a murm'ring stream ; I think I hear thy voice's sound In every tuneful thing around, Oh ! what a pleasant dream, seems to have been written under the influence of the initial stanza of Wordsworth's Expostulation atid Reply : Why, William, on that old grey stone, Thus for the length of half a day. Why, William, sit you thus alone. And dream your time away ? It is clear that Keats furnished the immediate suggestion of the Sonnet — To Science, the second half of which parallels fairly closely the opening lines of Lamia ; and he may have suggested to Poe the identification of silence with the music of the spheres in Al Aaraa/ (Part I, 11. 124-125) : A sound of silence on the startled ear Which dreamy poets name " the music of the sphere," — which obviously resembles Keats.'s Silence was music from the holy spheres.^ And he surely owed to Mrs. Browning the suggestion of several lines in The Raven. The thirteenth line of The Raven — And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain — was plainly inspired by Mrs. Browning's With a murmurous stir uncertain, in the air the purple curtain ; ^ "^ Endymion, II, 1. 675. 2 Lady Geraldine's Courtship, 1. 381. INTRODUCTION li and two other lines : But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,^ and Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted,^ were evidently influenced by Mrs. Browning's Ever, evermore the while in a slow silence she kept smiling ^ and O'er the desolate sand-desert of my heart and life undone.^ Still other resemblances to Mrs. Browning's poem are pointed out in the notes on lines 33-34, 79-80, and 104-105 of The Raven\ and it is not unlikely that certain of the metrical peculiarities of The Raven were prompted by Mrs. Browning's example.^ Tennyson appears to have exerted little influence on Poe, though several abortive accusations of plagiarism from his early poems have been brought, at one time or another, against the American poet.^ Hood in his sonnet Silence probably set Poe about writ- ing his own sonnet on the same subject, — though this sonnet, as already noted, resembles also a passage in Prometheus Ujibound. Waller's Hne, My joy, my grief, my hope, my fear,'' is perhaps the ultimate source of a line in Israfel: Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love, and Professor Trent has called attention to a parallel between some lines in Lovelace's To Althea.from Prison and the fourth stanza of Tlie Haunted Palace? In Al Aaraaf the poet borrows a simile 1 The Raven, 1. 67. ^ Lady Geraldhie's Courtship, 1. 389. 2 Ibid., 1. 87. * Ibid., 1. 380. 5 See the note on The Raven, 11. i f. 6 See the Athenaum, March 20, 1875, P- 395 5 ^^e Spectator, January i, 1853 ; the London Foreign Quarterly Review, January, 1844 ; and the note prefixed to the " Poems Written in Youth " as republished in 1845. ■^ On a Girdle, 1. 7. ^ See the note on The Haunted Palace, 1. 32. lii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE from Marlowe, and a rhyme (confessedly) from Scott.^ From Shakespeare, Poe seems to have borrowed nothing, though there are allusions here and there to well-known passages in his plays.^ Quotations from Webster, and Peele, and Sir Thomas Wyatt are incorporated into the FoUtian^ and a line from Farquhar is imbedded in an early text of The Valley of Ujirest. To the French and other Continental writers, Poe apparently owed very little. The basic idea and one striking line of Israfel he probably borrowed from Beranger ; the two epithets applied to the island of Zante (first in Al Aaraaf and again in the Sonnet — To Zante) he apparently took from Chateaubriand ; * some of the material used in The Coliseum he perhaps found in Quevedo ; ^ and he may, in common with Coleridge and Wordsworth and Scott, have owed something to Biirger.^ From the Odyssey he borrowed three fine lines — perhaps translated by himself — • for insertion in his Politian? And he was but little influenced by the American poets, — though here and there he might have taken a hint from one or another of them. He probably owed something, though but little, to the Georgia poet, Thomas Holley Chivers.^ A line in The City in the Sea resembles one of N. P. Willis's early lines.^ For one of his stanzas in Ulaluffie he probably took certain hints from ^ See the note on X I Aaraaf, Part II, 11. 140-141. 2 See the notes on Politian, II, 1. 23 ; III, 1. 23 ; Al Aaraaf, Part II, 1. 60; For Annie, 11. 63 f.; and The Bells, 1. 50. 3 II, 11. 18-20; II, 11. 34-35 ; III, 11. 70 f. * Cf. the Stedman-Woodberry edition of Poe's works, X, pp. 176-177. And see also pp. 1S5-1S6 of the same volume for the suggestion that The Bells owed something to Chateaubriand. 6 See the note on lines 26-32 of The Coliseum. ^ See the notes on Lenore. The claim of an indebtedness to Lucian in Dream-Land, made by F. L. Fairfield in Scribner''s Monthly, X, p. 695, is plainly untenable ; and so with the suggestion of Hutton [Poe's Poe?ns, p. xlv) that he was indebted to Mangan (cf. C. A. Smith's Repetition and Pa7-allelism ifi English Verse, p. 55). T Politian, II, 11. 8-10. 8 See for this much-discussed question, the introductory note on The Raven. 9 Cf. the note on The City in the Sea, 1. 9. INTRODUCTION liii Thomas Buchanan Read's Chtistine} A line in the later To Helen may have been suggested by one of Mrs. Sarah J. Hale's lines in her Three Hours, and another line "in the same poem was possibly suggested by one of Henry B. Hirst's sonnets.^ A line in The Haunted Palace is perhaps an echo of the refrain of G. P. Morris's Near the Lake? And the title of The Conqueror Worm was ap- parently suggested, as Mr. Ingram has noted, by one of Spencer Wallace Cone's poems.* That Poe's imitations of Moore and Byron reflect no credit on him goes without saying. In one or two instances, indeed — as in the paraphrasing of Moore in the first part of Al Aaraaf and the copying of Byron in Spirits of the Dead — Poe would seem to have exceeded the bounds of propriety ; certainly he copied in these poems with an audacity such as he would not have permitted in another without vigorous protest.^ But it is on the work of his middle and later periods that Poe's claims to originality must rest ; and in these no indebtedness appears that is not amply repaid by him. There are few points on which Poe's critics are more com- pletely agreed than on his extraordinary originality as poet.^ 1 See the note on Ulaliime, 11. 56-60. 2 Cf. the notes on To Helen, 11. 34-35 and 65-66. 3 See the note on The Haii7ited Palace, 1. 12. * See the London Bibliophile, May, 1909, p. 135. 5 Cf. his series of papers attacking Longfellow in the so-called " Long- fellow War" (Harrison, XII, pp. 41 f.), which constitutes one of the most discreditable episodes in Poe's entire career. •^ See further, on this point, pp. Ivii-lviii, below. For Poe's influence on other poets and on his vogue, especially in foreign countries, see Edmund Gosse, Qicestions at Issue, p. 90 ; L. P. Betz, " Edgar Poe in der franzo- sischen Litteratur," Stiidien ziir z'ergleichenden Litterahi7-geschichte der neuerefi Zeit, 1902, pp. 16-82; C. H. Page, "Poe in France," the New York Nation, January 14, 1909 (LXXXVIII, pp. 32-34); Alcee Fortier, The Book of the Poe Ce7itena7y, ed. C. W. Kent and John S. Patton, pp. 41- 72; Arthur Ransome, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Stndy, pp. 219-237; Georg Edward, The Book of the Poe Centenary, pp. 73-99; Abraham Yarmolinsky, " The Russian View of American Literature," the New York Bookman, vSeptember, 1916 (XLIV, pp. 44-46); and John De Lancey Ferguson, American Literature in Spain, pp. 55-86. liv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE VI. THE CLASH OF THE CRITICS WITH RESPECT TO POE'S POEMS About the worth of Poe's poems there has been a wide differ- ence of opinion.^ Emerson in a memorable conversation with Mr. William Dean Howells once dubbed Poe contemptuously the " jingle man." ^ The late Henry James, in an even more famous deliverance, has described Poe's poems as " very valueless verses," and in the same connection has declared that " an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection." * Professor Barrett Wendell, in one of the earliest of his essays on American literature, pronounced Poe to be " fantastic and mere- tricious throughout";* and Professor Henry A. Beers, in a discussion of the romanticists of the nineteenth century, has placed Poe alongside of Baudelaire among the " false gods." ^ Mr. W. C. Brown ell, one of the subtlest of our critics, asserts with emphasis that Poe's writings, whether poems or tales, " lack the elements not only of great, but of real, literature," and that " as literature " they are " essentially valueless." ® But Professor George Saintsbuiy — one of the foremost of living English critics — gives it as his opinion that Poe belongs to the ^ The most important critical articles dealing with Poe as a poet are the chapter devoted to Poe by E. C. Stedman in his volume, The Poets of A))ierica, pp. 225-272 ; the essay by the same author prefixed to the tenth volume of the Stedman- Woodberry edition of Poe's works, pp. xiii-xxxv; the essay by Professor C. F. Richardson entitled " Edgar Allan Poe, World- Author," in iiis edition of the works of Poe, I, pp. ix-liii ; the chap- ter devoted to Poe by Mr. J. M. Robertson in his New Essays towards a Critical Method, pp. 55-130 ; and an article by Mr. W. C. Brownell, " The Distinction of Poe's Genius," first published in Scribnei's Magazine, January, 1909, and later in his volume, American Prose Writers, pp. 205- 267. Important critical matter is also contained in the biographies of Poe, especially in those of Woodberry and Ingram. ^ Howells, Literary Friends and Acqtiaintaftce, p. 63. 2 French Poets and Novelists (London, 1878), p. 76. ^ Stelligeri and Other Essays concerning America, p. 138. 5 A History of English Romatiticis7n in the Nineteenth Century, p. 300. ^ American Prose Masters, p. 231. INTRODUCTION Iv " first order of poets." ^ One of Mr. Saintsbury's colleagues, Pro- fessor William Minto, as if in set defiance of the anathema pro- nounced against Poe's admirers by Henry James, declares that Poe appeals to the feelings "with a force that has never been surpassed." "^ And Stoddard, also, one of Poe's chief detractors, declares (I, p. x) that " unlike many poets, he affects all who are capable of being touched by poetry." Mr. J. M. Robertson, dis- tinguished alike as statesman, philosopher, and critic, maintains that Poe " had a poetic quality of the highest kind." ^ Mr. Edmund Gosse, with something more of reserve, declares that Poe, had his range been less restricted, " must have been with the greatest poets " ; and he speaks of the " perennial charm " of Poe's verses.* Swinburne wrote in 1872, in summing up the American achieve- ment in literature to date : " Once as yet, and once only, has there sounded out of it all [the literature of America] one pure note of original song — worth singing, and echoed from the singing of no other man ; a note of song neither wide nor deep, but utterly true, rich, clear, and native to the singer ; the short exqui- site music, subtle and simple and somber and sweet, of Edgar Poe."* In France, Gautier speaks of Poe as " ce singulier ge'nie d'une individualite si rare, si tranchee, si exceptionnelle." ® Jules Lemaitre, in a highly extravagant " dialogue of the dead," couples Poe's name with the names of Shakespeare and Plato 1 And Baude- laire's admiration of Poe extended almost to deification : it was one of the " everlasting rules " of his life, so he wrote shortly before his death, '^ to pray every morning to God, the Fountain of all strength and of all justice ; to my father, to Mariette, and to Poe." '' In Russia, according to a recent critic, Mr. A. Yarmolinsky, 1 See the Book of the Poe Centenary, ed. Kent and Patton, p. 203. "^ Encyclopasdia Britannica, 9th edition, article on Poe. ^ A^etv Essays towards a Critical Alethod, p. 81. * Questions at Issue, p. 89. ^ Under the Alicroscope, p. 53. ® " Notice " of Baudelaire prefixed to the latter's Fleurs du Mai, p. 48. ■^ Esme Stuart, " Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Poe : A Literary Affin- ity," Nineteenth Century, July, 1893, p. 78. Ivi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE Poe " has come to be popularly identified . . . with the American literary genius in its highest achievements."^ In America, Lowell pronounced Poe — even before the publication of The Raven — one of the few American geniuses.^ And Professor C. H. Page has recorded the belief that Poe is " the only American poet . . . who can justly be said, in any strict and narrow use of the word, to have had genius."^ A like diversity of opinion prevails as to Poe's place among American poets. Tennyson is said to have accounted Poe " the most original American genius," and " not unworthy to stand beside Catullus, the most melodious of the Latins, and Heine, the most tuneful of the Germans."^ According to Mr. Gosse (writing in 1893) : " The posy of his still fresh and fragrant poems is larger than that of any other deceased American writer."^ Mr. William Butler Yeats, in a letter to the celebrators of the Poe centenary at the University of Virginia, pronounces him "the greatest of American poets, and always and for all lands a great lyric poet." ^ Both Victor Hugo, a good many years ago, and the gifted Georg Brandes, in recent years, are also said to have claimed for him the foremost place among American poets.'^ Among American literary historians, Onderdonk holds that Poe is " unquestionably our greatest lyric poet" ;^ and Newcomer writes, in his History of American Literature : ® "If we had not come to demand so much of poetry, there could be little hesi- tation in ranking Poe's with the very greatest in any language." Mr. John Macy, speaks of our " tardy recognition of Poe's su- premacy among American poets." ^° Mr. Charles Leonard Moore 1 The New York Bookman, September, 1916 (XLIV, p. 44). 2 See Lowell's article on Poe in Graham's Magazine, Februar)', 1845. ^ The Chief American Poets, p. 663. * See the article of Professor Brander Matthews, on " Poe's Cosmo- politan Fame," in the Century Magazine, December, 1910 (LIX, p. 271). 5 Questions at Isstie, p. 8. 6 Book of the Poe Centenary, p; 207. ■^ See Richardson, I, p. xvi, and 77;;? Dial, June 16, 1914. ^ A History of America?t Literature, p. 23S. 9 P. 123. 10 Edgar Allan Poe, p. 28. INTRODUCTION Ivii boldly declares : " For myself, I have never doubted Poe's supremacy in American literature."^ French critics, too, have, as a rule, from the beginning, given Poe a place above other American poets, though they have not all been blind to his faults.^ Most American critics have been unwilling to concede to Poe so high a rating. " His narrowness of range, and the slender body of his poetic remains," says Stedman, " of themselves should make writers hesi- tate to pronounce him our greatest [poet]." ^ Richardson, in like manner, after granting that he is the " most broadly conspicuous of American writers," states that " to call him the greatest is impossible." * So, too, Professor W. P. Trent, though he holds that Poe is in some respects the first of American poets, main- tains, with Stedman, that because of the fewness of his poems he cannot be ranked with '' the greater poets." ^ And a similar view is taken by Professor Richard Burton.^ Mr. Brown ell, finally, declares that whatever greatness Poe may be allowed to possess as poet inheres in the quality of his verse ; and that " its quality is, in general, hardly such as to place him very high up on the fairly populous slopes of Parnassus." ^ In the matter of Poe's special qualities, there are, as must stand to reason, certain points on which the critics are substan- tially agreed. There is virtual agreement, first of all, that Poe displays in his poems extraordinary originality and individuality. "■ The utterance of Poe," writes Professor Wendell, " is as incon- testably, as triumphantly, itself, as is the note of a song bird." * " If Poe is not an original author," says Professor Richardson, " none ever lived." ^ " The poetry of Poe was a new creation," ^ T/ie Dial, November i6, 1909. 2 See, for instance, Hennequin, JScrivains francises, p. 14S, and G. D. Morris, Fenitnore Cooper ct Edgar Poe, pp. 87 f. and passhn. 8 Poets 0/ America, p. 227. * JVorks of Poe, I, p. xxii. 5 History of American Literature, p. 377. ® Literary Leaders of America, p. 72. ■^ American Prose Masters, p. 217. ^ Book of the Poe Centenary, p. 132. ^ Works of Poe, I, p. xxxvii. Iviii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE writes Churton Collins ; and then adds : " He stands absolutely alone." ^ According to Professor F. L. Pattee, "All that he wrote was distinctly his own, original in its melody and form, and per- meated through and through with his peculiar personality." ^ And Mr. Brownell, though he charges, with Griswold, that " Poe pil- laged and plagiarized freely," admits, nevertheless, that Poe was " extremely individual." ^ Henry James, too, in spite of his sweeping disparagement of Poe on other grounds, speaks of his " very original genius." * Newcomer hazards the opinion that Poe was perhaps the " least ' influenced ' of all melodious poets since Spenser." ^ There is little difference of opinion, also, as to Poe's superior gifts as melodist. " Without doubt," says Stedman, " a distinc- tive melody is the element in Poe's verse that first and last has told on every class of readers " ; ^ and to a correspondent in later years he described him as the " paragon of melodists." " " He possessed the two fundamental attributes of a poet, melody and imagination, in a supreme degree," writes Newcomer ; ^ and Mr. Gosse speaks of his " unparalleled gifts of melodious inven- tion."^ An English editor, Skipsey,^° declares: "In the specialty of melody, he excels Collins, and indeed all others except some two or three of the very greatest poets in the English tongue." Mr. Charles Leonard Moore claims that " in magic and melody he is overmatched among modem English poets by Coleridge, Keats, and Tennyson alone, and by them only in quantity, not in quality." ^^ 1 Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 44. 2 History of American Literature, p. 178. 3 American Prose Masters, pp. 207-208. * French Poets and Novelists, London, 1878 (p. 76). ^ Ame7-ican Literature, p. 117. 6 Works of Poe, ed. Stedman and Woodberry, X, p. xvi. '' Life and Letters of Stedman, II, p. 114. ^ American Literature, p. 124. 3 Questions at Lssue, p. 89. 10 Poetical Works of Poe, prefatory notice. 11 The Dial, November 16, 1909. INTRODUCTION lix There is essential agreement, too, as to Poe's excellence as artist, though it is conceded by all that he sometimes failed to conceal his art effectively. Professor ^^'oodberry, for instance, speaks of the " exquisite construction " shown in his poems, but notes, with reference particularly to the later poems, that " if any one presses the charge of artifice home, it must be allowed just." ^ Stedman praises without stint the craftsmanship displayed in some of the poems of Poe's middle period, but admits that " we . . . are halted often throughout his later lyrics by the persistence of their metrical devices.'' - Collins declares " an artist more con- summate never existed," but obser\-es in the same connection that in certain of his poems " he reveled in the display of mere mechanical craftsmanship." ^ Griswold admits that Poe's verses " are constructed with wonderful ingenuit)-, and finished with consummate art," but complains, with characteristic severit)', that there was in the construction of them " an absence of all im- pulse," an " absolute control of calculation and mechanism." * Mr. Brownell pronounces Poe '' the solitary artist of our elder literature," but adds that at times he shows himself to be " the artist rather than the poet and the technician rather than the artist." ^ Mr. Lewas E. Gates, after setting forth a fantastic '' inventor}- of Poe's workshop," remarks : " Masterly as is Poe's use of this poetical outfit, subtle as are his cadences and his sequences of tone-color, it is only rarely that he makes us forget the cleverness of his manipulation and wins us into accepting his moods and imager}' with that unconscious and almost hypnotic sub- jection to his will which the true poet secures from his readers." ® Mr. Robertson, in the midst of his praise of Poe, admits that both Lefwre and The Raveii, as well as The Bells, "' have a certain 1 Life of Poe, II, pp. 75, 170. 2 Poe's Works, ed. Stedman and Woodberr)-, X, p. xxiv. * Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 43. * " Memoir," p. xlviii. ^ American Prose Masters, pp. 208, 217. * Studies and Appreciations, p. 1 10. Ix THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE smell of the lamp, an air of compilation, a suspicion of the in- organic." ^ And Mr. Stebbing, after dwelling on the artistic excel- lence of most of the poems, remarks, apropos of the suggestion of artifice in The Raven : " With himself confirming the suspicion, it becomes at least practicable to persuade ourselves that we smell the sawdust and oil of the workshop.'" - It is plain, too, that the volume of Poe's verse is small, and that the body of his verse of superior worth and significance is extremely small, amounting in all to scarcely more than a dozen poems and to not above fifteen hundred lines. It is equally plain that his range, whether of literary form or of subject-matter, is narrow, being confined, on the one hand, to the lyric, and, on the other, so far as his better poems are concerned, to a scant half dozen subjects. It is ob\aous, too, that most of his earlier poems and several of the later ones are either fragmentar)- or uneven, or both. And it is manifest that there is nothing of humor in Poe's verses. On these three or four points there is prett}" general agreement. But for the rest there is, again, the widest conflict of opinion. According to some of the critics, the poems of Poe are wanting both in substance and in depth. His verses are " empt}^ of thought," says Mr. John Burroughs.^ Mr. Bro\ATiell urges a similar objection.'* And Henr}' James, in a re\dsed edition of his essay on Baudelaire, in which he had originally spoken of Poe's verses as " valueless," substitutes for this phrase the almost equally astonishing epithet " superficial."^ But there have always been those who have stood ready to defend Poe on this count. Professor W. B. Cairns holds that " it is not true . . . that thought is absent " from Poe's verses, but that each of the poems, wdth the exception of 77ie Bells, " has a definite and sufficient content."® Mr. Charles Leonard Moore 1 Xew Essays, P- 77- - Chaucer to Tennyson, II, p. 205. 3 The Dial, October 16, 1893. * American Prose Masters, p. 231. 5 French Poets and Novelists (London, 1893), p. 60. ^ History of American Literature, p. 422. IXTRODUCTIOX Ixi declares that it is Poe's '"' superior weight of meaning which . . . enables him to ovemm the boundaries of his own countr)- and speech." ^ And Mr. Robertson, in commenting on Mr. James's charge of superficiality-, exclaims : " \Mien was verse so aspersed before .' '' - By some of the critics, again, it has been objected that the matter of Poe's verse is too far removed from the things of ordinan,^ life, that the poet dwelt too much in an ideal world ; and by still others that his poems are \\-ithout moral significance. " Poe wanted as a man," says Andrew Lang, '' what his poetry also lacks: he wanted humanit)-."^ ''Life as we know it he scarcely touches at all." says Newcomer.^ Duyckinck. a friend of Poe at one time, declared : " He lived entirely apart from the solidities and realities of life : was an abstraction : thought, wTote, and dealt solely in abstractions."^ Of his alleged lack of whole- someness and moralit\% Professor Brander Matthews ^\Tites : " There is no moral purpose, either explicit or implicit, to be discovered in his poetry," and, again: "His poems . . . lack not only moral purpose, but also spiritual meaning " : ® while Churton Collins declares that " of moralit}", or of an}-thing per- taining to moralit}-, he has nothing."' and adds that his verses " never kindled a generous emotion or a noble thought." * Pro- fessor Richardson, on the other hand, protests that " it is an error to call Poe soul-less, non-ethical, pagan, a man of morbid taste, unrelated to the great problems of source, life, and destinv."® And Mr. Robertson says, -n-ith reference to the complaint that " Poe's poetT}- conveys no moral teachings or descriptions of life 1 Tlie Dial, November i6, 1909. - Xew Essays, p. 76. ^ Poems of Poe, ed. Lang. p. xiv. * American Literature, p. 124. ' Literary World, Januar)- 26, 1850 (VI, p. 81). ® Century Magazine, December, 1910, p. 272. ' Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 42. s Ibid., p. 45. ® Poe''s Works, I, pp. 1-li. Ixii THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE and scenery," that this " objection need only be conceived to be dismissed."^ An anonymous contributor to the British Quarterly Review^ who writes with evident discrimination in most particulars, takes the extreme position that Poe's " ethical import is so unmis- takably a part of his art, that ... we must assert it is everywhere burdened by the ethos. '^ The critics have differed, too, as to the quality of Poe's imagi- nation and as to the sincerity and spontaneity of his emotion. Professor Wendell, as already noted, pronounces poems and tales alike to be melodramatic.^ Walt Whitman assigns to Poe an ultimate place " among the electric lights of imaginative literature, brilliant and dazzling, but with no heat." * Griswold objected that Poe's poems " evince litde genuine feeling " ; ^ and Lowell, in his famous characterization of the poet in his Fable for Critics, com- plained, — ^with evident allusion to the poems, — that "the heart somehow seems all squeezed out by the mind." Stoddard asserts that " there is nothing in Poe's poetry which indicates that it was written from the heart," that " there is a simulation of emotion in it, but the emotion is . . . imaginary-." ^ And of Ulalume, which has been laid hold of oftener than any of the rest of the poems to illustrate this alleged defect, he says : " I can perceive no trace of grief in it, no intellectual sincerity, but a diseased determination to create the strange, the remote, and the terrible, and to exhaust ingenuity in order to do so." " No healthy mind," he goes on, " was ever impressed " by it.'' But Professor Woodberry suggests that we pprhaps have in Ulalume " the most spontaneous, the most unmistakably genuine utterance of Poe " ; * and Mr. Robert- son asserts of The City in the Sea : " It cannot for a moment be 1 iVeu' Essays, p. 8i. 2 July, 1875 (LXII, p. 212). s Stelligeri, p. 138. * lV?iitman''s Complete Prose Works (Philadelphia, 1897), p. 157. ^ " Memoir," p. xlviii. 6 Works of Poe, I, p. viii. 7 Ibid., p. 149. 8 Lfe of Poe, II, p. 235. INTRODUCTION Ixiii pretended of these verses, even by the sciolists of criticism, that they lack 'inspiration' and spontaneity of movement."^ Churton Collins, after complaining of the excess of the mechanical in some of the poems, admits that " the fascination and witchery of much of Poe's poetry had its origin from mystic sources of genuine inspiration." ^ By others, finally, it has been held that Poe relied too much at times on musical effects in verse, that, like Lanier, he attempted in language " feats that only the gamut can make possible." This view has been put forward by Stoddard^ and by Professor W. C. Bronson* and Mr. Robertson,^ among others; and Ulalume, again, in particular, has been instanced as giving exemplification of this fault. But Theodore Watts-Dunton, in his essay on " Poetry," in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, singles out this very poem to illustrate the skillful and legitimate employment of musical devices for poetic ends, and has no word of dispraise for Poe in this connection.*^ This conflict of opinion, it may be added, is peculiar to no one period of the history of Poe criticism. During the poet's lifetime, ^ N'eii) Essays, p. 87. 2 Studies in Poetry and Criticism, p. 43. 8 Poe's Works, I, pp. ix, 149. * A ShoH History of Atnerican Litej-atiire, p. 167. ^ Neiv Essays, p- 87. 6 It is interesting to observe that there has also been much difference of opinion as to the relative excellence of single poems. Popular opinion inclines to give first place to The" Raven. But Poe, we can be sure, was well aware of the superior excellence, at least in the matter of poetic quality, of some of his early work. To a New England correspondent he wrote in 1848 that he considered The Sleeper "in the higher qualities" of poetry better than The Raven ; and to Mrs. Richmond he declared in 1849 that he believed For Annie "much the best" of all his poems. Few students of Poe have subscribed to the popular verdict in favor of The Raven. Mallarme preferred both Ulalume and For Anjiie to The Raven. Professor Page gives first place to Ulalume. Mr. Stebbing follows Poe in allotting first place to For Annie. Richardson holds that Poe never sur- passed his early lyric To Helen. John Nichol and Mr. Ingram give first place to Annabel Lee. And both Stedman and Professor Woodberry declare Israfel to be the most precious of all the lyrics that Poe wrote. Ixiv THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE certain of the critics, as Willis at the North and P. P. Cooke in the South, stood ever ready to sing his praises, while the New England school (with the exception of Lowell and a few others) were, on most points, arrayed against him. Since his death the pendulum has swung, slowly but steadily, towards a more favor- able estimate ; though there are still those who, with Mr. Brownell, can find little to commend in Poe beyond his artistry. Abroad, the estimate that has prevailed, especially in France, has been more favorable than that which has generally obtained in America. If an explanation be sought of this extraordinary diversity of opinion, it will be found mainly in the world-old difference among critics as to the province and aims of poetry, the traditional clash between those who insist on the inculcation of moral ideas as the chief business of poetry and those who adhere to the doctrine of art for art's sake.^ But it will be found in part in the fact that not a few of the critics — especially of the earlier critics — have allowed themselves to be influenced in their judgments by what they knew — or believed themselves to know — about the irregu- larities of Poe's life and character ; ^ and in part, also, by the fact that a number of the critics have based their judgments of Poe, as most laymen do to-day, on only a few of the poems, the better- known Raven and Bells and Annabel Lee, ignoring such poems as Israfel, Tlie City in the Sea, and The Sleeper, certainly as richly poetic as anything that Poe wrote. 1 With Poe believing as he did that the sole province of poetry is beauty (see the Letter to B and The Poetic Principle) and fitting his practice so consistently to his creed, it was inevitable that many of the critics should align themselves sharply against him, and equally inevitable that some should come strongly to his defense. 2 Some, too, as Baudelaire, may have been influenced in the opposite direction by what they believed to be the injustice done Poe by Griswold and other early biographers. ABBREVIATIONS 1827 : Tavte7-lane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian [Edgar A. Poe]. Boston, 1827. 1829 : Al Aaraaf, Tamerlatie, and Minor Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. Baltimore, 1829. 1831 : Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 1831. 1845 : The Raven and Other Poeins. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 1845. 1850 : Poe's Poems in Vol. II. of TJie Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Rufus W. Griswold, New York, 1850. A.W. R. : The Afnerican Whig Review (New York). B.G.M. : Burton's Gentleman's Magazine {Fhiladelphia). B. J. : The Broadway Journal (New York). B.M.: The Baltijnore Museum. Brownell : The chapter on Poe in W. C. Brownell's Ameiican Prose Masters., New York, 1909. Casket : The Philadelphia Casket. Critic : The Critic (London). Didier : The Life and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe., ed. E. L. Didier, revised edition, New York, 1879. E. M. : The Evening Mirror (New York). Examiner : The Rich)no7id Exa7niner. F. 0. U. : The Flag of Our Union (Boston). G.L.B. : Godefs Ladfs Book (Philadelphia). Graham's : Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia). Griswold : The Prose Writers of A/nerica, ed. Rufus W. Griswold, Philadelphia, 1847, 1849, etc. Harrison : The Complete Works of Edgar Allati Poe, ed. James A. Harrison, New York [1902]. H. J. : The Home Journal (New York). Ingram : Edgar Allati Poe: His Life, Letters, and Opinions. By John H. Ingram, revised and enlarged edition, London, 1891. Ixv Ixvi THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE L.E. : The Literary E»iporiu)n (New York). Letters : \(A. XVII of Harrison's edition of Poe's works. L.M. : Leaflets of Memory (Philadelphia). L.W.: The Literary /r^v-/,;' (New York). Markham : The essay by Edwin INIarkham on " The Art and Genius of Poe " in Vol. I of the Cameo Edition of Poe's works. New York [ 1 904]. M. M. : The Missionary Memorial (New York). Pioneer : The Pioneer (Boston). P. J. : The Daily Journal (Providence). P. P. A.: The Poets and Poetry of America, ed. Rufus ^^^ Griswold, Philadelphia, 1842, 1847, 1848, 1850, etc. Richardson : The Complete JVorks of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. C. F. Richardson, New York [1902]. Robertson : The chapter on Poe in J. M. Robertson's A V«' Essays to- wards a Critical Method, London, 1897. Sat. C. : The Saturday Courier (Philadelphia). S.E.P. : The Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia). S. L. M. : The Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond). S.M. : The Saturday Museum (Philadelphia). S. M. V. : The Saturday Morning Visiter (Baltimore). Stedman and Woodberry : The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. E. C. Stedman and George E. Woodberry, Chicago, 1 894-1 895; revised edition, New York, 1914. Stoddard : The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. R. H. Stoddard, New York. 1894. Tales (1840) : Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. By Edgar A. Poe. Philadelphia, 1S40. Tales (1845): Tales. By Edgar A. Poe. New York, 1S45. Tribune : The A'eiu York Tribune. U.M. : The Union Magasine (Philadelphia and New York). Weiss (Mrs.): The Home Life of Poe. By Mrs. S. A. Weiss. New York, 1907. Whig : The Richmond Whig. Whitty : The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston. 191 1. Woodberry : The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, revised edition. By George E. Woodberry, Boston, 1909. Yankee : The Boston Yankee and Literary Gazette THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE TEXT OF THE POEMS TAMERLANE Kind solace in a dying hour ! Such, father, is not (now) my theme — I will not madly deem that power Of Earth may shrive me of the sin Unearthly pride hath revell'd in — I have no time to dote or dream : The text of 1827, inasmuch as it exhibits radical variations from the text adopted here (that of ^845), is reproduced in the footnotes in its entirety. Following this the variants for the rest of the printed texts are given. Italics are used in the footnotes to indicate the verbal variations from the adopted text (except that in the case of variants already in italics, a heavy- faced type is used). A list of the different volumes and periodicals in which each of the poems originally appeared is given in the Notes at the end of the volume. Text of 1827 I. I have sent for thee, holy friar ; But 'twas not with the dninken hope, W/iich is but agony of desire To shun the fate, with which to cope Is more than crime may dare to dream, S That I have calPd thee at this hour : Such father is not my theme — Nor am I mad, to deem that power Of earth may shrive me of the sin Unearthly pride hath revell'd in — 10 3 deem: think (1831). THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE You call it hope — that fire of fire ! It is but agony of desire : If I can hope — oh, God ! I can — Its fount is holier — more divine — I would not call thee fool, old man, But such is not a gift of thine. Know thou the secret of a spirit Bow'd from its wild pride into shame. O yearning heart ! I did inherit Thy withering portion with the fame, The searing glory which hath shone Amid the jewels of my throne. Halo of Hell ! and with a pain Not Hell shall make me fear again — O craving heart, for the lost flowers And sunshine of my summer hours ! I would not call thee fool, old man, But hope is not a gift of thine ; If I can hope (O God ! I can) It falls from an eternal shrine. II. The gay wall of this gaudy tower Grows dim around me — death is near. I had not thought, until this hour When passi?tg from the earth, that ear Of any, were it not the shade Of one whom i7t life I m.ade All m,ystery but a simple name, Might know the secret of a spirit Bow'd down in sorrow, and in shame. — Shame said^st thou ? Aye I did inherit That hatred portion, with the fame, The worldly glory, which has shown A demon-light around my throne. Scorching my sear'd heart with a pain Not Hell shall make me fear again. 13 Know: i%a^{i83i). TAMERLANE 3 The undying voice of that dead time, With its interminable chime, Rings, in the spirit of a spell, 25 Upon thy emptiness — a knell. I have not always been as now : The fever'd diadem on my brow I claim'd and won usurpingly — Hath not the same fierce heirdom given 30 Rome to the Caesar — this to me ? The heritage of a kingly mind. And a proud spirit which hath striven Triumphantly with human kind. On mountain soil I first drew life : 35 The mists of the Taglay have shed Nightly their dews upon my head, And, I believe, the winged strife III. I have not always been as now — The fever'd diadem on my brow I claim'd and won usurpingly — Aye — the same heritage hath giv'n Rome to the Cssar — this to me ; The heirdom of a kingly mind — And a proud spirit, which hath striv'n Triumphantly with human kind. In mountain air I first drew life ; The mists of the Taglay have shed Nightly their dews on my yonng head ; And my brain drank their venom the?i, Wheti after day of perilous strife After this line, 1831 inserts : Despair, the fabled vampire bat. Hath long upon my bosom sat. And I -would rave, bnt that he flings A cabnfrom his unearthly wings. fierce : Omitted in 1831. THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE And tumult of the headlong air Have nestled in my very hair. 40 So late from Heaven — that dew — it fell ('Mid dreams of an unholy night) Upon me with the touch of Hell, While the red flashing of the light From clouds that hung, like banners, o'er, 45 xlppeared to my half-closing eye The pageantr}' of monarchy, And the deep trumpet-thunder's roar Came hurriedly upon me, telling Of human battle, where my voice, 50 My own voice, silly child ! was swelling (O ! how my spirit would rejoice, And leap within me at the cry) The battle-cry of Victory ! tfli/i chamois, I would seize kis den And slumber, in my pride ofpoiver, The infant monarch of the hour — For, with the mountain dew by night, My soul imbib'd unhallowed feelitig ; And I would feel its essence stealing In dreams upon me — while the Hght Flashing/ww cloud that hovered o'er. Would seem to my half closing eye The pageantT)' of monarchy ! And the deep thunder's echoing roar Came hurriedly upon me, telling Of 'tvar, and tumult, where my voice My own voice, silly child ! was swelling (O how would my wild heart rejoice And leap within me at the cry) The battle-cr}^ of victorj^ ! 40 Have: hath {.Yankee, 1831). 42 an: one (Yankee). 46 Appeared: Seemed then {Yankee). 50 where my voice : near me swelling ( Yankee). TAMERLANE 5 The rain came down upon my head 55 Unshelter'd — and the heavy wind Rendered me mad and deaf and blind. It was but man, I thought, who shed Laurels upon me : and the rush. The torrent of the chilly air 60 Gurgled within my ear the crush Of empires — with the captive's prayer — The hum of suitors — and the tone Of flattery round a sovereign's throne. My passions, from that hapless hour, 65 Usurp 'd a tyranny which men IV. The rain came down upon my head 60 But barely sheltered — and the wind Pass'd quickly o'er me — but my mind Was mad^ning — for 'twas man thai shed Laurels upon me — and the rush, The torrent of the chilly air 65 Gurgled in my pleas'd ear the c?-ask Of empires, with the captive's prayer, The hum of suitors, the niix'd tone Of fiatt'ry round a sov'reign's throne. The storm had ceas''d — and I awoke — 70 Its spirit cradled me to sleep, And as it passed me by, there broke Strange light upon me, tho' it were My soul in mystery' to sleep : For I was not as I had been ; 75 The child of Nature, without care, Or thought, save of the passing scene. — V. My passions, from that hapless hour, Usurp'd a tyranny, which men 57 Was giantlike — so thou, my mind! ( Yafikee, 1829, 1831). 64 sovereign's throne : sovereign-throne (^Yankee). THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE Have deem'd, since I have reach'd to power, My innate nature — be it so : But, father, there liv'd one who, then. Then — in my boyhood — when their fire 70 Burn'd with a still intenser glow (For passion must, with youth, expire) E'en then who knew this iron heart In woman's weakness had a part. I have no words — alas ! — to tell 75 The loveliness of loving well ! Have deem'd, since I have reach'd to power My innate nature — be it so : But, father, there hv'd one who, then — Then, in my boyhood, when their fire Burn'd with a still intenser glow ; (For passion must with youth expire) Ev'n then, who deem'd this iron heart In woman's weakness had a part. I have no words, alas ! to tell The lovliness of loving well ! 73 this iron heart : that as infinite (1831). 74 Aly sonl — so was the weakness in it (1831). After this Hne, 1831. inserts the following (subsequently used as a part of The Lake : To ) : For in those days it was my lot Yet that terror was not fright — To haunt of the wide world a spot But a tremtilous delight — The which I could not love the less. A feeling not the jewelVd mine So lovely was the loneliness Could ever bribe me to define, Of a wild lake with black rock bound, A^or love, Ada! tho' it were thine. Andthesulta7t-likepinesthattozver'daround! How could I from that water bring But when the night had thrown her pall Solace to my imagining? Upon that spot as upon all. My solitary sotil — how make And the black wind murmur' d by, An Edett of that dim lake ? In a dirge of melody ; My infant spirit would awake But then a gentler, calmer spell, To the terror of that lone lake. Like moonlight on my spirit fell. 75 A7id Oil have no words to tell (1831). TAMERLANE 7 Nor would I now attempt to trace The more than beauty of a face Whose lineaments, upon my mind, Are — shadows on th' unstable wind : 80 Thus I remember having dwelt Some page of early lore upon, With loitei-ing eye, till I have felt The letters — with their meaning — melt To fantasies — with none. 85 O, she was worthy of all love ! Love — as in infancy was mine — Nor would I dare attempt to trace The breathing beauty of a face, Which ev'n to my impassion'' d mind, Leaves not its tneinory behind. In spring of life have ye ne'er dwelt Some object of delight upon. With steadfast eye, till ye have felt The earth reel — a7id the vision gone ? Afid I have held to tnem'ry's eye One object — atid but one — tmtil Its vejy form hath passed me by, But left its influence with me still. VI. ' Tis not to thee that I should name — TTiou can'st ttot — would'' st not dare to think The magic empire of a flame Which ev'ft upon this perilous brink Hathfix'd ?ny soul, iho' unforgiv'n By what it lost for passion — Heavht. I lov'd — a7id 0, hoiu tenderly ! Yes ! she worthy of all love ! Such as in infancy was mine 77 Nor would I : I will not (1831). 82 Some page : Pages (1831). 81 Thus I : I well (1831). 86 O, she was : Was she not (1831). THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE 'T was such as angel minds above Might en\y ; her young heart the shrine On which my every hope and thought Were incense — then a goodly gift, For they were childish and upright — Pure — as her young example taught : WTiy did I leave it, and, adrift, Trust to the fire within, for light ? We grew in age — and love — together — Roaming the forest and the wild ; My breast her shield in -wintr)^ weather — And, when the friendly sunshine srtul'd, And she would mark the opening skies, / saw no Heaven — but in her eyes. Yovmg Love's first lesson is — ■ the heart : For 'mid that sunshine and those smiles. TTio'' then its passion could not be : 'Twas such as angel minds above Might en\y — her young heart the shrine On which my ev'ry hope and thought Were incense — then a goodly gift — For they were childish, without sin. Pure as her young examples taught ; Why did I leave it and adrift. Trust to xht. fickle star within VII. We grew in age, and love together, Roaming the forest and the wild ; My breast her shield in wintry weather. And when the friendly sunshine smil'd And she would mark the op'ning skies, I saw no Heav'n, but in her eyes — E-Jn childhood knows the human heart ; For -when, in sunshine and in smiles, TAMERLANE 9 \Mien, from our little cares apart, And laughing at her girlish wiles, 105 I 'd throw me on her throbbing breast. And pour my spirit out in tears — There was no need to speak the rest — No need to quiet any fears Of her — who ask'd no reason why, no But turned on me her quiet eye ! Yet more than worthy of the love My spirit struggled with, and strove, When, on the mountair^ peak, alone, Ambition lent it a new tone — 115 From all our little cares apart, Laughing at her half silly wiles, I 'd throw me on her throbbing breast, 130 And pour my spirit out in tears, She \i look up in viy ■wilder' d eye — There was no need to speak the rest — No need to quiet her kind {ears — She did not ash the reason why. 135 The hallo-iv'd mem'ry of those years Comes o^er me in these lonely hours, And, with sweet lovliness, appears As perfume of strange summer flow'rs ; Offlow'rs luhich we have known before 140 In infancy, -which seen, recall To mind — not flow'rs alone — but more Our earthly life, a/id love — and all. VIII. Yes / she was worthy of all love ! Ev'n such as from th' accursed time 145 My spirit with the tempest strove. When on the mountain peak alone, Ambition lent it a new tone, 106 throw me on her throbbing: lean upon h&r gentle (1831). 110 her : hers (1831). 112-115 Omitted in 1831. 10 THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE I had no being — but in thee : The world, and all it did contain In the earth — the air — the sea — Its joy — its litde lot of pain That was new pleasure — the ideal, Dim, vanities of dreams by night — And dimmer nothings which were real — (Shadows — and a more shado\\y light !) And bade it first to dream of crime, Aly phreiizy t» her bosom taught: We still were young : 710 purer thought Lhiiell in a seraph's breast than thine; For passionate love is still divine : I lov^d her as an angel might Jf^th ray of the all living light JlTiich blazes upon £i/is' shrine. It is not surely sin to name, Jllth such as mine — that mystic fiame, I had no being but in thee ! The -world with all its train of bright And happy beauty (for to me All was an undefined delight). The world — its joy — its sha>-c of pain Which I felt not — its bodied forms Of varied being, which cofitain The bodiless spirits of the storms. The sunshine, and the calm — the ideal And fleeting vanities of dreams, Fearfully beautiful '. the real Nothings of mid-day waking life — Of an enchanted life, which seems, Aow as I look back, the strife Of some ill demon, with a po^uer Which left me in an evil hour. All that I felt, or saw, or thought. 119 Of pleasure or of pain (18^1). 120 The good, the baJ, the ideal (1831). TAMERLANE 1 1 Parted upon their misty wings, And, so, confusedly, became 125 Thine image and — a name — a name ! Two separate — yet most intimate things. I was ambitious — have you known The passion, father ? You have not : Crowding, confused became {With thine unearthly beajity fraught) Thou — and the nothing of di name. IX. The passionate spirit which hath knozun, And deeply felt the silent tone 180 Of its own self supremacy, — {I speak thus opefily to thee, ^T were folly now to veil a thought With which this aching, breast is f -aught) The soul which feels its innate right — 185 The mystic empire and high power Giv'n by the energetic might Of Genius, at its natal hour; Which knows [believe me at this time. When falsehood wore a tenfold crime, 190 There is a potver in the high spirit To know the fate it will inherit] The soul, which knows such power, will still Find Pride the ruler of its will. Yes ! I was proud — and ye who know 195 The magic of that meaning word, So oft perverted, zvill bestow Your scorn, perhaps, when ye have heard That the proud spirit had been broken. The proud heart burst ifi agony 200 At one upbraiding word or token Of her that heart's idolatry — I was ambitious — have ye known Its fiery passion ? — ye have not — 128-138 Omitted in 1831. THE POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE A cottager, I mark'd a throne 130 Of half the world as all my own, And murmur'd at such lowly lot — But, just like any other dream, Upon the vapor of the dew My own had past, did not the beam 135 Of beauty which did while it thro' The minute — the hour — the day — oppress ISIy mind \\ath double loveliness. \^'e walk"d together on the crown Of a high mountain which look'd down 140 Afar from its proud natural towers Of rock and forest, on the hiUs — The dwindled hills ! begirt \\-ith bowers And shoutinar with a thousand rills. A cottager, I mark'd a throne Of half the world, as all my own, And murmur'd at such lowly lot ! But it had pass' d me as a dream UTiich, of light step, flies with the dew. That kindling thought — did not the beam Of Beaut\% which did guide it through The livelong summer day, oppress My mind with double loveliness — X. We walk'd together on the crown Of a high mountain, which look'd down Afar from its proud natural towers Of rock and forest, on the hills — The dwindled hills, whence amid bowers Her ou