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Apocryphal, Doubtful and Rejected Essays & Sketches

Please note that this list is far from complete. As it is impractical to attempt a complete list of all items falsely attributed to Poe, any item omitted from the Accepted category should be considered as not by Poe, barring pursuasive evidence to the contrary. As the arguments for items on this page are refined, some may move from Doubtful to Rejected or the other way around. It is unlikely, however, that any of the items listed here will be moved to the Accepted category.

Apocryphal and Doubtful Items:

• Title: "[Review of J. K. Paulding's Slavery in the United States and William Drayton's The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanatacism of the Northern Abolitionists]" (Southern Literary Messenger, April 1836)

Status: Doubtful
Argument: Referred to as the Paulding-Drayton review, this item has been hotly debated for many years. It was included by James A. Harrison in his Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 1902. William Doyle Hull questioned the attribution to Poe in his 1941 study of the Poe canon, assigning instead Beverly Tucker as the likely author. Modern scholars seeking a "race studies" angle on Poe have adopted this item as a sort of holy grail, but their opponents are equally adamant that it is not by Poe. The chief argument seems to revolve around Poe's letter to Tucker from May 2, 1835 in which Poe comments, "I must also myself beg your pardon for making a few immaterial alterations in your article on Slavery. . . " (Ostrom, Letters, p. 90). (See Bernard Rosenthal, "Poe, Slavery, and the Southern Literary Messenger: A Reexamination," Poe Studies, 7, 1974, pp. 29-38, and J. V. Ridgely, "Review," Poe Studies Association (PSA) Newsletter, 20, no. 2, Fall, 1992, pp. 1-6.) (Mabbott accepts, without comment, the attribution to Tucker in a footnote "Annals," Poems, 1969, p. 546n9 and his letter of 1966, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. Mabbott's note says "By Tucker.")

• Title: "An Opinion on Dreams" (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, August 1839)

Status: Doubtful
Argument: Poe was first suggested as the author of this item by J. H. Whitty in his edition of Poe's Complete Poems, 1911 (p. lxiii). J. A. Harrison did not include the item in his 1902 collection of Poe's Complete Works. T. O. Mabbott ascribed it to Horace Binney Wallace in an article in Notes and Queries, 198, December 1953, p. 543. George V. Hatvary, reprints the text of the essay in question and argues again for attribution to Poe in "Poe's Possible Authorship of 'An Opinion on Dreams'," Poe Studies, XIV, No. 2, December 1981, pp. 21-22.

• Title: "[Review of Frances Anne Butler's Journal]," (SLM, May 1835. Harrison, VIII, 19-31.)

Status: Doubtful
Argument: Mabbott's letter of 1966 says not by Poe, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbot notes "Prob. by Heath.") W. D. Hull attributes to Poe.

• Title: "[Essay on ] Genius," (SLM. April 1836)

Status: Doubtful
Argument: Attributed by Alterton and J. W. Robertson. Campbell doubts that it is by Poe. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 216-217.)

• Title: "Verbal Criticisms," (SLM. May 1836)

Status: Apocryphal
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell says possibly by Poe but he has reservations. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 217-218.)

• Title: "Character of Coriolanus," (SLM. Nov. 1836)

Status: Doubtful
Argument: Attributed by Alterton as "unmistakeably Poe's." Campbell is less certain. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 218.)

Rejected Items:

Items from the Southern Literary Messenger

• Title: "[Review of Bryant's Poems]," (SLM. Jan. 1835. Harrison, VIII, 1-2)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (In Mabbott's original letter, but not included in the article, is his note "Too early.") Killis Campbell also dismisses as not by Poe because it is before February 1835 and for stylistic reasons. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 214.) A review of Bryant's Poems from the SLM of January 1837 is clearly by Poe.

• Title: "[Review of G. W. Featherstonhaugh's I Promessi Sponsi, or the Betrothed Lovers]," (SLM, May 1835. Harrison, VIII, 12-19)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (In Mabbott's original letter, but not included in the article, is his note of "No reason to ascribe".) A June 13, 1835 letter from T. H. White to Beverly Tucker (The Poe Log, p. 157) clearly shows Tucker as the author of this review.

• Title: "[Anecdote on Gibbon and Fox]," (SLM, 1836.)

Status: Rejected
Argument: First attributed to Poe by David K. Jackson in The Contribors and Contributions to the Southern Literary Messenger, 1936 and generally accepted until very recently. Terence Whalen's 1993 article reprints a March 1836 letter from Edward D. Ingraham to Beverly Tucker in which Tucker is clearly identified as the author of this item. (Terence Whalen, "Correcting the Poe Canon: Beverly Tucker's Anecdote on Gibbon and Fox," Nineteenth-Century Literature, XXXXIIX, No. 1, June 1993, pp. 89-92.)(Not in Harrisson.)

• Title: "[Review of Theodore Irving's The Conquest of Florida]," (SLM, July 1835. Harrison, VIII, 37-39)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "By Sparhawk.")

• Title: "[Review of Washington Irving's The Crayon Miscellany, No. 11]," (SLM, July 1835. Harrison, VIII, 40-41)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's letter of 1966 says not by Poe, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "By Sparhawk.")

• Title: "[Letter signed X. Y.]," (SLM. Jan. 1835)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell dismisses as unlikely (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 215.)

• Title: "Translation of an Ode by Horace," (SLM. Jan. 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell thinks by Lucian Minor. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219-220.)

• Title: "The Classics," (SLM. March 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell thinks by Lucian Minor. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219-220.)

• Title: "Some Ancient Greek Authors," (SLM. April 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell thinks by Lucian Minor. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219-220.)

• Title: "Chief Justice Marshall," (SLM. Feb. 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell thinks by Beverly Tucker (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 216.)

• Title: "The Philosophy of Antiquity," (SLM. Nov. 1836, Jan. 1837, Feb. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell sees no reason to ascribe to Poe. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 218-219.)

• Title: "Helen Defended," (SLM. Sept. 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell specifically notes this item as not by Poe in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10.

• Title: "[Review of] Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers," (SLM. Sept. 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell specifically notes this item as not by Poe in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell notes that Poe repudiated this review in his "Autography" article from Graham's, Nov. 1841 (Harrison, XV, pp. 195-196).

• Title: "[Review of] Motherwell's Poems," (SLM. August 1836)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell refers to this item as the only thing in the August issue that could possibly be by Poe in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell calls this notice "flimsy" and the reference is so mild that it can hardly be accepted as an attribution, particularly as Campbell retracted the other attributions made in this article in The Mind of Poe.

• Title: "[Review of N. C. Brooks' Scriptural Anthology," (SLM. Oct. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "[Review of The American Almanack for 1838," (SLM. Nov. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)(Also in the 1909 article, Campbell notes that Poe reviewed the American Almanack for 1837 in Oct. of1836. He does not retract this opinion in The Mind of Poe.)

• Title: "[Brief Comment on ] Eclipse of the Sun in 1838," (SLM. Nov. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "[Review of Miss Sedgwick's Live and Let Live," (SLM. Nov. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.) (In his 1909 article, Campbell notes that Poe had already reviewed several of Miss Sedgewick's books in the SLM. He does not retract this view in The Mind of Poe.

• Title: "[Review of Mrs. Ellet's Marco Visconti," (SLM. Feb. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "Notes to Our Readers," (SLM. Feb. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "[Review of R. M. Bird's Nick of the Woods," (SLM. April 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "To Our Readers," (SLM. April 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "Critical Notices," (SLM. April 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "Exploring Expedition to the South Seas," (SLM. Nov. 1837)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Campbell in his article "Poe and the Southern Literary Messenger in 1837," The Nation. July 1, 1909, pp. 9-10. Campbell later decided all of the reviews he listed were by someone else. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219.)

• Title: "New Views of the Solar System," (SLM. July and Dec. 1838)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell dismisses as no reason to ascribe. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219-220.)

• Title: "New Views of the Tides," (SLM. Dec. 1838)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell dismisses as no reason to ascribe. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 219-220.)

Items from Graham's Magazine

• Title: "[Review of James Fenimore Cooper's Mercedes of Castile, a Romance]," (SLM, Jan. 1841. Harrison, X, 96-99)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Too early.")

• Title: "[Mrs. Norton's The Dream and Other Poems]," (Graham's, Jan. 1841. Harrison, X, 100-105)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Too early.")

• Title: "[James McHenry's The Antediluvians, or the World Destroyed]," (Graham's, Feb. 1841. Harrison, X, 105-109)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says all reviews on pages 96-114 of volume X are not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57.(Mabbott's note says "Too early.")

• Title: "[Review of W. H. Ainsworth's The Tower of London: A Historical Romance]," (Graham's March 1841. Harrison, X, 110-111)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Too early.") Also dismissed by Killis Campbell (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 221-222.)

• Title: "[Review of W. Howitt's Visits to Remarkable Places]," (Graham's, March 1841. Harrison, X, 112-114)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Too early.")

• Title: "[Review of G. P. R. James's The Ancient Regime]," (Graham's, June 1841, Harrison, X, 160-162)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Killis Campbell attributed to Poe in "Bibliographical Notes on Poe-I," The Nation, Dec. 23, 1909, pp. 623-624) partly because it refers back to another G. P. R. James review for June 1841. Campbell later retracted this claim, dimissing both items (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 222).Mabbott's letter of 1966 says may not be Poe's, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57.) (Mabbott notes "Cross ref to Oct.," suggesting that Mabbott dismisses both items. W. D. Hull attributes to Poe.

• Title: "[Review of G. P. R. James's Corse de Leon; or the Brigand]," (Graham's, June 1841, Harrison, X, 160-162)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Killis Campbell attributed to Poe in "Bibliographical Notes on Poe-I," The Nation, Dec. 23, 1909, pp. 623-624) partly because it is referred to by another G. P. R. James review for Oct. of 1841. Campbell later retracted this claim, noting that there is a footnote in Graham's specifically noting that none of the reviews in the June number are by Poe (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 222). Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says may not be Poe's, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57.) (Mabbott notes "Cross ref to Oct.," suggesting that Mabbott dismisses both items. W. D. Hull attributes to Poe.

• Title: "[Review of The Works of Lord Bolingbroke]," (Graham's, July 1841. Harrison, X, 171-174)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Repudiated by Poe.")

• Title: "[Review of Poets and Poetry of America]," (Graham's, June 1842. Harrison, X, 124-126)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 224-225.)

• Title: "[Review of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoi]," (Graham's, June 1842. Harrison, XI, 115-123)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "Repudiated by Poe.") Campbell also dismisses, based on Poe's letter to J. E. Snodgrass (June 4, 1842) denying authorship. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 224)

• Title: "[Review of The Poems of Alfred Tennyson]," (Graham's, Sept. 1842. Harrison, XI, 127-131)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter says not by Poe, reprinted by J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57. (Mabbott's note says "By Griswold.")

• Title: "[Review of Louisa Frances Poulter's Imagination]," (Graham's, March 1842)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Harrison in his bibliography, but not included in his text. Campbell notes that the table of contents for Graham's gives Park Benjamin as the author. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 224.)

Items from Burton's Gentleman's Magazine

• Title: "[Review of Capt. Marryates' Diary in America]," (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. Feb. 1840)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Harrison in his bibliography, but not included in his text. Campbell assumes that it was an oversight that it was left in the bibliography. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 220-221.)

• Title: "Half an Hour in the Academy of Fine Arts at Philadelphia," (BGM. Aug. 1839)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by Alterton. Campbell doubts that it is by Poe. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 220.)

Items from Blackwood's Magazine

• Title: "The Copyright Question," (Blackwood's Magazine. January 1842)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips (Phillips, Poe The Man, p. 288). Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.) Diana Quarles states that the article was written by Archibald Allison, reprinted in an edition of his Miscellaneous Essays. (Diana Quarles, "Poe ant International Copyright," The Southern Literary Messenger, Jan. 1941, p. 4.)

• Title: "Copyright," (Blackwood's Magazine. May 1842)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips. Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.)

• Title: "'Review of Dickens' American Notes by Q. Q. Q.]," (Blackwood's Magazine. Dec. 1842)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips (Phillips, Poe the Man, pp. 729-730), although she notes that it has been attributed to Samuel Warren. Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.)

• Title: "Maga in America," (Blackwood's Magazine. Oct. 1847)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips. Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.)

• Title: "The American Library," (Blackwood's Magazine. Nov. 1847)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips (Phillips, Poe the Man, pp. 1232-1234). Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.)

• Title: "Emerson," (Blackwood's Magazine. Dec. 1847)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed by M. E. Phillips. Campbell dismisses. (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 222-223.)

Items from Other Sources

• Title: "[Review of R. W. Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America]," (Philadelphia Saturday Museum, 1843. Harrison, XI, 220-243.)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Mabbott's letter of 1966 says it is by H. B. Hirst, J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies, pp. 57.) W. D. Hull does not mention this item.

• Title: English Notes [by Quickens] (Boston, 1842)

Status: Rejected
Argument: Attributed to Poe by M. E. Phillips (Poe the Man, pp. 718-722) and Mr. Joseph Jackson (who reprinted it). Campbell dismisses it as doggerel (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, pp. 225-226).