Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “For Annie” (Comparative Text)


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Title: FOR ANNIE.

{{1850-02: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ }}

Line-01-001 THANK Heaven! the crisis —

Line-01-002 [[indent]] The danger is past,

Line-01-003 And the lingering illness

Line-01-004 [[indent]] Is over at last —

Line-01-005 And the fever called “Living”

Line-01-006 [[indent]] Is conquered at last.

Line-01-007 Sadly, I know

Line-01-008 [[indent]] I am shorn of my strength,

Line-01-009 And no muscle I move

Line-01-010 [[indent]] As I lie at full length —

Line-01-011 But no matter! — I feel

Line-01-012 [[indent]] I am better at length.

Line-01-013 And I rest so composedly,

Line-01-014 [[indent]] Now, in my bed,

Line-01-015 That any beholder

Line-01-016 [[indent]] Might fancy me dead —

Line-01-017 Might start at beholding me,

Line-01-018 [[indent]] Thinking me dead.

Line-01-019 The moaning and groaning,

Line-01-020 [[indent]] The sighing and sobbing {{1849-01: [[,]] //1850-02: , }}

Line-01-021 Are quieted now,

Line-01-022 [[indent]] With that horrible throbbing

Line-01-023 At heart: — ah {{1850-02: , }} that horrible,

Line-01-024 [[indent]] Horrible throbbing!

Line-01-025 The sickness — the nausea —

Line-01-026 [[indent]] The pitiless pain —

Line-01-027 Have ceased, with the fever

Line-01-028 [[indent]] That maddened my brain —

Line-01-029 With the fever called “Living”

Line-01-030 [[indent]] That burned in my brain.

Line-01-031 And oh! of all tortures

Line-01-032 [[indent]] That torture the worst

Line-01-033 Has abated — the terrible

Line-01-034 [[indent]] Torture of thirst

Line-01-035 For the naphthaline river

Line-01-036 [[indent]] Of Passion accurst: —

Line-01-037 I have drank of a water

Line-01-038 [[indent]] That quenches all thirst: —

Line-01-039 Of a water that flows,

Line-01-040 [[indent]] With a lullaby sound,

Line-01-041 From a spring but a very few

Line-01-042 [[indent]] Feet under ground —

Line-01-043 From a cavern not very far

Line-01-044 [[indent]] Down under ground.

Line-01-045 And ah! let it never

Line-01-046 [[indent]] Be foolishly said

Line-01-047 That my room it is gloomy

Line-01-048 [[indent]] And narrow my bed;

Line-01-049 For man never slept

Line-01-050 [[indent]] In a different bed —

Line-01-051 And, {{1849-01: to //1850-02: to }} sleep, you must slumber

Line-01-052 [[indent]] In just such a bed.

Line-01-053 My tantalized spirit

Line-01-054 [[indent]] Here blandly reposes,

Line-01-055 Forgetting, or never

Line-01-056 [[indent]] Regretting {{1849-01: , }} its roses —

Line-01-057 Its old agitations

Line-01-058 For now, while so quietly

Line-01-059 [[indent]] Lying, it fancies

Line-01-060 A holier odor

Line-01-061 [[indent]] About it, of pansies —

Line-01-062 A rosemary odor,

Line-01-063 [[indent]] Commingled with pansies —

Line-01-064 With rue and the beautiful

Line-01-065 [[indent]] Puritan pansies.

Line-01-066 And so it lies, happily,

Line-01-067 [[indent]] Bathing in many

Line-01-068 A dream of the truth

Line-01-069 [[indent]] And the beauty of Annie —

Line-01-070 Drowned in a bath

Line-01-071 [[indent]] Of the tresses of Annie.

Line-01-072 She tenderly kissed me,

Line-01-073 [[indent]] She fondly caressed,

Line-01-074 And then I fell gently

Line-01-075 [[indent]] To sleep on her breast —

Line-01-076 Deeply to sleep

Line-01-077 [[indent]] From the heaven of her breast.

Line-01-078 When the light was extinguished,

Line-01-079 [[indent]] She covered me warm,

Line-01-080 And she prayed to the angels

Line-01-081 [[indent]] To keep me from harm —

Line-01-082 To the queen of the angels

Line-01-083 [[indent]] To shield me from harm.

Line-01-084 And I lie so composedly,

Line-01-085 [[indent]] Now, in my bed,

Line-01-086 (Knowing her love)

Line-01-087 [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-088 And I rest so contentedly

Line-01-089 [[indent]] Now {{1849-01: , }} in my bed,

Line-01-090 (With her love at my breast)

Line-01-091 [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-092 That you shudder to look at me,

Line-01-093 [[indent]] Thinking me dead: —

Line-01-094 But my heart it is brighter

Line-01-095 [[indent]] Than all of the many

Line-01-096 Stars {{1849-01: of //1850-02: in }} the sky,

Line-01-097 [[indent]] For it sparkles with Annie —

Line-01-098 It glows with the light

Line-01-099 [[indent]] Of the love of my Annie —

Line-01-100 With the thought of the light

Line-01-101 [[indent]] Of the eyes of my Annie.

 


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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.

 

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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - For Annie (Comparative Text - HJ and WORKS)