Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “To — —” (Comparative Text - TAOP and Wilmer-MS)


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Texts Represented:


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


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.

}}


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


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.


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To — — (Comparative Text - TAOP and Wilmer-MS)