Text: Edgar Allan Poe (ed. Killis Campbell), “The Coliseum,” The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Ginn and Company, 1917, pp. 75-76


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[page 75:]

THE COLISEUM   [[v]]

[[v]]

[[n]]

Type of the antique Rome! Rich reliquary

Of lofty contemplation left to Time

By buried centuries of pomp and power!

At length — at length — after so many days

5

[[n]]

Of weary pilgrimage and burning thirst,

[[v]]

(Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie,)

I kneel, an altered and an humble man,

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Amid thy shadows, and so drink within

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My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory!

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Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld!

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Silence! and Desolation! and dim Night!

I feel ye now — I feel ye in your strength —

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O spells more sure than e’er Judæan king

Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane!

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[[n]]

O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee

Ever drew down from out the quiet stars! [page 76:]

[[n]]

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls!

Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,

A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat!

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Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair

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[[n]]

Waved to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle!

Here, where on golden throne the monarch lolled,

Glides, spectre-like, unto his marble home,

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Lit by the wan light of the hornéd moon,

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The swift and silent lizard of the stones!

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[[n]]

But stay! these walls — these ivy-clad arcades —

These mouldering plinths — these sad and blackened shafts —

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These vague entablatures — this crumbling frieze —

These shattered cornices — this wreck — this ruin —

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These stones — alas! these gray stones — are they all —

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All of the famed, and the colossal left

By the corrosive Hours to Fate and me?

“Not all” — the Echoes answer me — “not all!

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Prophetic sounds and loud, arise forever

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From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise,

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As melody from Memnon to the Sun.

We rule the hearts of mightiest men — we rule

With a despotic sway all giant minds.

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We are not impotent — we pallid stones.

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Not all our power is gone — not all our fame —

Not all the magic of our high renown —

Not all the wonder that encircles us —

Not all the mysteries that in us lie —

Not all the memories that hang upon

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And cling around about us as a garment,

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Clothing us in a robe of more than glory.”

(1833)

 


[[Variants]]

[The following variants appear at the bottom of page 75:]

Title The Coliseum. A Prize Poem (S.L.M., S.E.P.), Coliseum (P.P.A.).

1 B.S.V. prefixes the line Lone amphitheatre! Grey Coliseum!

6 lore: love (B.S.V.).

8 Amid: Within (P.P.A.).

11 B.S.V. and S.L.M. insert after this line:

Gaunt vestibules! and phantompeopled aisles!

20 gilded: yellow (B.S.V., S.L.M.).

21 B.S.V. and S.L.M. insert after this line the following:

Here, where on ivory couch the Cesar sate,

On bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder.

So also P.P.A., save that it reads golden throne instead of ivory couch.

[The following variants appear at the bottom of page 76:]

26 These crumbling walls; these tottering arcades (B.S.V., S.L.M.); But hold! — these dark, these perishing arcades (P.P.A.).

28 crumbling: broken (B.S.V., S.L.M., P.P.A.).

31 famed: great (B.S.V., S.L.M.), grand (S.E.P.), proud (P.P.A.).

35 unto: to (P.P.A.).

36 melody: in old days (B.S.V., S.L.M.).

39 impotent: desolate (B.S.V., S.L.M.).

45 as a garment: now and ever (B.S.V.).

46 Clothing: And clothe (B.S.V.).

 


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Notes:

None.

 

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[S:0 - KCP, 1917] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - The Coliseum (ed. K. Campbell, 1917)