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Title: {{1827-01: IMITATION. //1828-02: TO —— —— }}
{{1827-01:
Line-01-001: A dark unfathom’d tide
Line-01-002: Of interminable pride —
Line-01-003: A mystery, and a dream,
//1828-02:
Stanza: 1
}}
Line-01-004: Should my early life seem {{1827-01: ; //1828-02: , }}
{{1827-01:
Line-01-005: I say that dream was fraught
Line-01-006: With a wild, and waking thought
//1828-02:
Line-02-002: [As well it might] a dream —
Line-02-003: Yet I build no faith upon
Line-02-004: The King Napoleon —
Line-02-005: I look not up afar
Line-02-006: To my destiny in a star:
Stanza: 2
Line-02-007: In parting from you now
Line-02-008: Thus much I will avow —
}}
Line-01-007: {{1827-01: Of //1828-02: There are }} beings {{1827-01: that //1828-02: , and }} have been {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-008: {{1827-01: Which //1828-02: Whom }} my spirit hath not seen {{1827-01: , [[.]] }}
Line-01-009: Had I let them pass me by {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-010: With a dreaming eye{{1827-01: ! //1828-02: — }}
{{1827-01:
Line-01-011: Let none of earth inherit
Line-01-012: That vision on [[of]] my spirit;
Line-01-013: Those thoughts I would controul [[control]],
Line-01-014: As a spell upon his soul:
Line-01-015: For that bright hope at last
Line-01-016: And that light time have past,
Line-01-017: And my worldly rest hath gone
Line-01-018: With a sight [[sigh]] as it pass’d on,
Line-01-019: I care not tho’ it perish
Line-01-020: With a thought I then did cherish, [[.]]
//1828-02:
Line-02-013: If my peace hath fled away
Line-02-014: In a night — or in a day —
Line-02-015: In a vision — or in none —
Line-02-016: Is it the less gone?
Stanza: 3
Line-02-017: I am standing 'mid the roar
Line-02-018: Of a weather-beaten shore,
Line-02-019: And I hold within my hand
Line-02-020: Some particles of sand —
Line-02-021: How few! and how they creep
Line-02-022: Thro’ my fingers to the deep!
Line-02-023: My early hopes? no — they
Line-02-024: Went gloriously away,
Line-02-025: Like lightning from the sky
Line-02-026: At once — and so will I.
Stanza: 4
Line-02-027: So young? ah! no — not now —
Line-02-028: Thou hast not seen my brow,
Line-02-029: But they tell thee I am proud —
Line-02-030: They lie — they lie aloud —
Line-02-031: My bosom beats with shame
Line-02-032: At the paltriness of name
Line-02-033: With which they dare combine
Line-02-034: A feeling such as mine —
Line-02-035: Nor Stoic? I am not:
Line-02-036: In the terror of my lot
Line-02-037: I laugh to think how poor
Line-02-038: That pleasure “to endure!”
Line-02-039: What! shade of Zeno! — I!
Line-02-040: Endure! — no — no — defy.
}}
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Notes:
For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.
Because these changes reflect two different printed texts, pagination has been omitted in the present text. The base line numbers are given for the text as it was printed in 1827. The first line of the new version begins with what was the fourth line of the orignal version. The printed form of the Wilmer manuscript, in ATMP, includes stanza numbers.
The differences between these versions of the poem are so vast that a comparison is mostly useful merely to show the extent of the changes.
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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To — — (Comparative Text - TAOP and Wilmer-MS)