Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “Ulalume. A Ballad” (Comparative Text)


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Texts Represented:

  • 1847-01 - American Review (December 1847)
  • 1849-02 - Ingram manuscript (probably about July 1849)
  • 1849-03 - Richmond Examiner Proofsheets (about September 1849)

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Title:

{{1847-01:

TO — — —.

ULALUME: A BALLAD

//1849-02:

Ulalume — A Ballad.

By Edgar A. Poe.

//1849-03:

ULALUME — A BALLAD

}}

Line-01-001: {{1847-01: THE //1849-02: The //1849-03: THE }} skies they were ashen and sober;

Line-01-002: [indent] The leaves they were {{1847-01: crispèd //1849-02: crispéd //1849-03: crispèd }} and sere —

Line-01-003: [indent] The leaves they were withering and sere {{1847-01: ; //1849-02; 1849-03: : }}

Line-01-004: It was night {{1849-02; 1849-03: , }} in the lonesome October

Line-01-005: [indent] Of my most immemorial year {{1847-01: ; //1849-02; 1849-03: : }}

Line-01-006: It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

Line-01-007: [indent] In the misty mid region of Weir {{1849-02: : }}

Line-01-008: It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

Line-01-009: [indent] In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Line-01-010: Here once, through an alley Titanic,

Line-01-011: [indent] Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul —

Line-01-012: [indent] Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.

Line-01-013: These were days when my heart was volcanic

Line-01-014: [indent] As the scoriac rivers that roll —

Line-01-015: [indent] As the lavas that restlessly roll

Line-01-016: Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-017: [indent] In the ultimate climes of the {{1847-01: pole //1849-02; 1849-03: Pole }}

Line-01-018: That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-019: [indent] In the realms of the {{1847-01: boreal pole //1849-02; 1849-03: Boreal Pole }} .

Line-01-020: Our talk had been serious and sober,

Line-01-021: [indent] But our thoughts they were palsied and sere —

Line-01-022: [indent] Our memories were treacherous and sere {{1847-01://1849-02; 1849-03: ; }}

Line-01-023: For we knew not the month was October,

Line-01-024: [indent] And we marked not the night of the year —

Line-01-025: [indent] (Ah, night of all nights in the year!)

Line-01-026: We noted not the dim lake of Auber {{1847-01://1849-02; 1849-03: , }}

Line-01-027: [indent] (Though once we had journeyed down here) {{1847-01:}}

Line-01-028: We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,

Line-01-029: [indent] Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Line-01-030: And now, as the night was senescent {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-031: [indent] And star-dials pointed to morn —

Line-01-032: [indent] As the star-dials hinted of morn —

Line-01-033: At the end of our path a liquescent

Line-01-034: [indent] And nebulous lustre was born {{1847-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03: , }}

Line-01-035: Out of which a miraculous crescent

Line-01-036: [indent] Arose with a duplicate horn —

Line-01-037: Astarte's bediamonded crescent {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-038: [indent] Distinct with its duplicate horn.

Line-01-039: And I said — “She is warmer than Dian {{1847-01: : //1849-02; 1849-03: ; }}

Line-01-040: [indent] She rolls through an ether of sighs —

Line-01-041: [indent] She revels in a region of sighs {{1847-01: : //1849-02: . //1849-03:}}

Line-01-042: She has seen that the tears are not dry on

Line-01-043: [indent] These cheeks {{1847-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03: , }} where the worm never dies,

Line-01-044: And has come past the stars of the Lion {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-045: [indent] To point us the path to the skies —

Line-01-046: [indent] To the Lethean peace of the skies —

Line-01-047: Come up, in despite of the Lion,

Line-01-048: [indent] To shine on us with her bright eyes —

Line-01-049: Come up through the lair of the Lion {{1847-01: [[,]] //1849-02; 1849-03: , }}

Line-01-050: [indent] With Love in her luminous eyes. {{1847-01:  ” //1849-02: [[”]] //1849-03:  ” }}

Line-01-051: But Psyche, uplifting her finger,

Line-01-052: [indent] Said — “Sadly this star I mistrust —

Line-01-053: [indent] Her pallor I strangely mistrust {{1847-01: : }}

Line-01-054: {{1847-01: Oh //1849-02; 1849-03: Ah }} , hasten! — {{1847-01: oh //1849-02: ah //1849-03: Ah }} , let us not linger!

Line-01-055: [indent] {{1847-01: Oh //1849-02; 1849-03: Ah }} , fly! — let us fly! — for we must.”

Line-01-056: In terror she spoke {{1847-01: , //1849-02: ; //1849-03: , }} letting sink her

Line-01-057: [indent] Wings till they trailed in the dust —

Line-01-058: In agony sobbed {{1847-01: , //1849-02; 1849-03: ; }} letting sink her

Line-01-059: [indent] Plumes till they trailed in the dust —

Line-01-060: [indent] Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

Line-01-061: I replied — “This is nothing but dreaming {{1847-01: : //1849-02: . //1849-03: : }}

Line-01-062: [indent] Let us on {{184-02: , }} by this tremulous light!

Line-01-063: [indent] Let us bathe in this crystalline light!

Line-01-064: Its Sybillic splendor is beaming

Line-01-065: [indent] With Hope and in Beauty to-night {{1847-01; 1849-03: : }}

Line-01-066: {{1849-03: [indent] }} See! {{1847-01; 1849-02:}} it flickers up the sky through the night!

Line-01-067: Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming {{1847-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03: , }}

Line-01-068: [indent] And be sure it will lead us aright —

Line-01-069: We {{1847-01: safely //1849-02; 1849-03: surely }} may trust to a gleaming {{1849-03: , }}

Line-01-070: [indent] That cannot but guide us aright {{1847-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03: , }}

Line-01-071: [indent] Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night.”

Line-01-072: Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,

Line-01-073: [indent] And tempted her out of her gloom —

Line-01-074: [indent] And conquered her scruples and gloom {{1847-01: : //1849-02; 1849-03: ; }}

Line-01-075: And we passed to the end of the vista {{1847-01: , //1849-02://1849-03: , }}

Line-01-076: [indent] {{1847-01: And //1849-02; 1849-03: But }} were stopped by the door of a tomb —

Line-01-077: [indent] By the door of a legended tomb {{1847-01: ; //1849-02: : — //1849-03: ; }}

Line-01-078: And I said — “What is written, sweet sister,

Line-01-079: [indent] On the door of this legended tomb?”

Line-01-080: {{1849-02; 1849-03: [indent] }} She replied — “Ulalume — Ulalume {{1849-02; 1849-03: ! }}

Line-01-081: {{1847-01: ’Tis //1849-02; 1849-03: [indent] ’T is }} the vault of thy lost Ulalume!”

Line-01-082: Then my heart it grew ashen and sober

Line-01-083: {{1847-01; 1849-02: [indent] }} As the leaves that were {{1847-01: crispèd //1849-02: crispéd //1849-03: crispèd }} and sere —

Line-01-084: [indent] As the leaves that were withering and sere {{1847-01: , //1849-02://1849-03: ; }}

Line-01-085: And I cried — “It was surely October {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-086: [indent] On this very night of last year {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-087: [indent] That I journeyed — I journeyed down here {{1849-02; 1849-03: ! }}

Line-01-088: [indent] That I brought a dread burden down here —

Line-01-089: [indent] On this night {{1849-02: , }} of all nights in the year,

Line-01-090: [indent] {{1847-01: Oh //1849-02: Ah, //1849-03: Ah! }} what demon has tempted me here?

Line-01-091: Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber —

Line-01-092: [indent] This misty mid region of Weir {{1849-02: , }}

Line-01-093: Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber {{1847-01: , //1849-02; 1849-03:}}

Line-01-094: [indent] {{1847-01: In the //1849-02; 1849-03: This }} ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.”

Line-01-095: Said we, then {{1849-02: , }} — the two, then {{1849-02: , }} — “Ah, can it

Line-01-096: [indent] Have been that the woodlandish ghouls —

Line-01-097: [indent] The pitiful, the merciful ghouls {{1847-01://1849-02: , //1849-03:}}

Line-01-098: To bar up our way and to ban it

Line-01-099: [indent] From the secret that lies in these wolds —

Line-01-100: [indent] From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds —

Line-01-101: {{1847-01: Had //1849-02; 1849-03: Have }} drawn up the spectre of a planet

Line-01-102: [indent] From the limbo of lunary souls {{1847-01; 1849-02://1849-03: , }}

Line-01-103: This sinfully scintillant planet

Line-01-104: [indent] From the Hell of the planetary souls?”

 


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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.

Whitty is the only source for the text of the Richmond Examiner Proofsheets. He renders the first word of the text of the poem as large and small capitals, matching the format of his texts but differing from that used for the two poems that were actually printed in the Richmond Examiner. This anomaly has been allowed to stand, as have a number of other inconsistencies, including some unusual indentation. Of these three texts, only the manuscript bears Poe's name, rendered as a byline.


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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Ulalume. A Ballad (Comparative Text - American Review, Ingram manuscript and Richmond Examiner Proofsheets)