Text: John H. Ingram, “Edgar Poe's ‘Raven’,” Athenaeum (London, UK), August 17, 1878, p. 210, cols. 2-3

[page 210, column 2:]

THE original suggestion of Edgar Poe's renowned poem has been so frequently “discovered” and “rediscovered” that any further theories on the subject are likely to be listened to with incredulity, if listened to at all. Feeling, however, that I have something more tangible to proffer the public than anything yet advanced by my many predecessors, I now attempt to fulfil the promise made two years ago (vide Athenæum, No. 2547, August 19th, 1876) by giving the following data.

In 1843 Poe was writing for the New York New Mirror, then edited by G. P. Morris and N. P. Willis. The number for October 14th contained some verses entitled, “Isadore,” by Mr. Albert Pike, a well-known American littérateur. Amongst some introductory remarks by Willis are these words: — “We do not understand why we should not tell what we chance to know — that these lines were written after sitting up late at study — the thought of losing her who slept near him at his toil having suddenly crossed his mind in the stillness of midnight.” This really establishes the first coincidence between the poems of Poe and Pike; both write a poem lamenting a lost love when, in point of fact, neither one had lost. either Isadore or Lenore, save in imagination. In the ‘Philosophy of Composition’ Poe states that the theme adopted for his projected poem was “a lover lamenting his deceased mistress.” Far more important than the subject of his verse, however, so he suggests, was the effect to be obtained from the refrain, and in Mr. Pike's [column 3:] poem the most distinctive — the only salient feature — is the refrain of “ forever,” with which each stanza concludes. A still more remarkable coincidence follows. In his search for a suitable refrain Poe would have his to-be-mystified readers believe he was irresistibly impelled to select the word “Nevermore.” Evidently there are plenty of equally eligible words in the English language — words embodying the long sonorous o in connexion with r as the most producible consonant - but a perusal of Mr. Pike's poem rendered research needless, for not only does the refrain contain the antithetic word to never and end with the -öre syllable, but in one line are found the words “never “ and “more,” and in others the words “no more,” “evermore,” and “forevermore,” — quite

sufficient, all must admit, for the analytic mind of Poe. Thus far the subject, the refrain, and the

word selected for the refrain have been easily paralleled, and over the transmutation of the heroine's name from Isadore into Lenore no words need be wasted. In concluding this section of the argument, it is but just that some specimen of Mr. Pike's work should be shown; we cite, therefore, two stanzas of his poem, which is six stanzas shorter than Poe's: —

But ‘Isadore’ contains no allusion to the “ghastly grim and ancient raven,” unless its “melancholy burden” be shadowed forth by the “melancholy strain” of “the mocking bird.” Whence, then, did Poe import his sable auxiliary, the pretext, as he tells us, for the natural repetition of the refrain? A favourite work with Poe was Gresset's chef-d’œuvre, and it is not improbable that long cogitation over “Ver-Vert” — not “Vert- Vert,” as many persist in miscalling the immortal bird — may have first given him a hint, but that it was in ‘Barnaby Rudge’ he finally found the needed fowl seems clear to us. When that story was concluded, Poe, referring to a prospective review he had formerly published of it, called attention to certain points he deemed Dickens had failed to make: the raven, for instance, he deemed, “might have been made more than we now see it, a portion of the conception of the fantastic Barnaby. Its croakings might have been prophetically heard in the course of the drama, Its character might have performed, in regard to that of the idiot, much the same part as does, in music, the accompaniment in respect to the air.” Here, almost beyond question, is seen shadowed forth the poet's own raven and its duty.

A few additional links in the chain may be added. The story following Mr. Pike's verses contains, many times repeated, the unoften heard name of “Eulalie.” Till ‘The Raven’ appeared Poe had not published any new poem for some years, but a few months after publication of that appeared ‘Eulalie’ which in many passages closely resembles ‘Isadore.’ Thus : — Mr. Pike speaks of “Thy sweet eyes radiant,” and Poe, in ‘Eulalie,’ says, “the eyes of the radiant girl.” Mr. Pike speaks of

and Poe says, “dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye”; and, be it noted, the gaze of both is upturned to the moon. There are other points of resemblance between the two poems needless to advert to here, as the genesis of ‘The Raven’ only is under examination, ‘Eulalie’ being merely alluded to collateral evidence.

JOHN H. INGRAM.