The Complete Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe Including Essays on Poetry

The Complete Poetical Works
                            of Edgar Allan Poe


                               edited by

                            John H. Ingram




PREFACE.


In placing before the public this collection of Edgar Poe's poetical
works, it is requisite to point out in what respects it differs from,
and is superior to, the numerous collections which have preceded it.
Until recently, all editions, whether American or English, of Poe's
poems have been 'verbatim' reprints of the first posthumous collection,
published at New York in 1850.

In 1874 I began drawing attention to the fact that unknown and
unreprinted poetry by Edgar Poe was in existence. Most, if not all, of
the specimens issued in my articles have since been reprinted by
different editors and publishers, but the present is the first occasion
on which all the pieces referred to have been garnered into one sheaf.
Besides the poems thus alluded to, this volume will be found to contain
many additional pieces and extra stanzas, nowhere else published or
included in Poe's works. Such verses have been gathered from printed or
manuscript sources during a research extending over many years.

In addition to the new poetical matter included in this volume,
attention should, also, be solicited on behalf of the notes, which will
be found to contain much matter, interesting both from biographical and
bibliographical points of view.

JOHN H. INGRAM.




CONTENTS.


MEMOIR

POEMS OF LATER LIFE:
  Dedication
  Preface
  The Raven
  The Bells
  Ulalume
  To Helen
  Annabel Lee
  A Valentine
  An Enigma
  To my Mother
  For Annie
  To F----
  To Frances S. Osgood
  Eldorado
  Eulalie
  A Dream within a Dream
  To Marie Louise (Shew)
  To the Same
  The City in the Sea
  The Sleeper,
  Bridal Ballad
Notes

POEMS OF MANHOOD:
  Lenore
  To one in Paradise
  The Coliseum
  The Haunted Palace
  The Conqueror Worm
  Silence
  Dreamland
  To Zante
  Hymn
Notes

SCENES FROM "POLITIAN"
Note

POEMS OF YOUTH:
  Introduction (1831)
  To Science
  Al Aaraaf
  Tamerlane
  To Helen
  The Valley of Unrest
  Israfel
  To----("I heed not that my earthly lot")
  To----("The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see")
  To the River----
  Song
  Spirits of the Dead
  A Dream
  Romance
  Fairyland
  The Lake
  Evening Star
  Imitation
  "The Happiest Day,"
  Hymn. Translation from the Greek
  Dreams
  "In Youth I have known one"
  A Pæan
Notes

DOUBTFUL POEMS:
  Alone
  To Isadore
  The Village Street
  The Forest Reverie
Notes

PROSE POEMS:
  The Island of the Fay
  The Power of Words
  The Colloquy of Monos and Una
  The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
  Shadow--A Parable
  Silence--A Fable

ESSAYS:
  The Poetic Principle
  The Philosophy of Composition
  Old English Poetry





MEMOIR OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.


During the last few years every incident in the life of Edgar Poe has
been subjected to microscopic investigation. The result has not been
altogether satisfactory. On the one hand, envy and prejudice have
magnified every blemish of his character into crime, whilst on the
other, blind admiration would depict him as far "too good for human
nature's daily food." Let us endeavor to judge him impartially, granting
that he was as a mortal subject to the ordinary weaknesses of mortality,
but that he was tempted sorely, treated badly, and suffered deeply.

The poet's ancestry and parentage are chiefly interesting as explaining
some of the complexities of his character. His father, David Poe, was of
Anglo-Irish extraction. Educated for the Bar, he elected to abandon it
for the stage. In one of his tours through the chief towns of the United
States he met and married a young actress, Elizabeth Arnold, member of
an English family distinguished for its musical talents. As an actress,
Elizabeth Poe acquired some reputation, but became even better known for
her domestic virtues. In those days the United States afforded little
scope for dramatic energy, so it is not surprising to find that when her
husband died, after a few years of married life, the young widow had a
vain struggle to maintain herself and three little ones, William Henry,
Edgar, and Rosalie. Before her premature death, in December, 1811, the
poet's mother had been reduced to the dire necessity of living on the
charity of her neighbors.

Edgar, the second child of David and Elizabeth Poe, was born at Boston,
in the United States, on the 19th of January, 1809. Upon his mother's
death at Richmond, Virginia, Edgar was adopted by a wealthy Scotch
merchant, John Allan. Mr. Allan, who had married an American lady and
settled in Virginia, was childless. He therefore took naturally to the
brilliant and beautiful little boy, treated him as his son, and made him
take his own surname. Edgar Allan, as he was now styled, after some
elementary tuition in Richmond, was taken to England by his adopted
parents, and, in 1816, placed at the Manor House School,
Stoke-Newington.

Under the Rev.