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


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Texts Represented:

  • 1849-01 - PPA 10th edition (imprint date is 1850, but available about December 15, 1849)
  • 1850-02 - WORKS (1850)

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Title: FOR ANNIE.

{{1849-01: —— //1850-02: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ }}

Line-01-001: THANK Heaven! the crisis —

Line-01-002: [[indent]] The danger {{1849-01: , }} 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 {{1849-01: conquer’d //1850-02: 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 {{1849-01: , //1850-02:}}

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,

Line-01-021: Are quieted now,

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

Line-01-023: At heart: — ah 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 {{1849-01: madden’d //1850-02: maddened }} my brain —

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

Line-01-030: [[indent]] That {{1849-01: burn’d //1850-02: burned }} in my brain.

Line-01-031: And oh! of all tortures {{1849-01: , }}

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: {{1850-02:}}

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: [[indent]] Of myrtles and roses:

Line-01-059: For now, while so quietly

Line-01-060: [[indent]] Lying, it fancies

Line-01-061: A holier {{1849-01: odour //1850-02: odor }}

Line-01-062: [[indent]] About it, of pansies —

Line-01-063: A rosemary {{1849-01: odour //1850-02: odor }} ,

Line-01-064: [[indent]] Commingled with pansies —

Line-01-065: With rue and the beautiful

Line-01-066: [[indent]] Puritan pansies.

Line-01-067: And so it lies happily,

Line-01-068: [[indent]] Bathing in many

Line-01-069: A dream of the truth

Line-01-070: [[indent]] And the beauty of Annie —

Line-01-071: {{1849-01: Drown’d //1850-02: Drowned }} in a bath

Line-01-072: [[indent]] Of the tresses of Annie.

Line-01-073: She tenderly {{1849-01: kiss’d //1850-02: kissed }} me,

Line-01-074: [[indent]] She fondly {{1849-01: caress’d //1850-02: caressed }} ,

Line-01-075: And then I fell gently

Line-01-076: [[indent]] To sleep on her breast —

Line-01-077: Deeply to sleep

Line-01-078: [[indent]] From the heaven of her breast.

Line-01-079: When the light was {{1849-01: extinguish’d //1850-02: extinguished }} ,

Line-01-080: [[indent]] She {{1849-01: cover’d //1850-02: covered }} me warm,

Line-01-081: And she {{1849-01: pray’d //1850-02: prayed }} to the angels

Line-01-082: [[indent]] To keep me from harm —

Line-01-083: To the queen of the angels

Line-01-084: [[indent]] To shield me from harm.

Line-01-085: And I lie so composedly,

Line-01-086: [[indent]] Now, in my bed,

Line-01-087: (Knowing her love {{1849-01: , }} )

Line-01-088: [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-089: And I rest so contentedly,

Line-01-090: [[indent]] Now {{1849-01: , }} in my bed,

Line-01-091: (With her love at my breast {{1849-01: , }} )

Line-01-092: [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-093: That you shudder to look at me,

Line-01-094: [[indent]] Thinking me dead: —

Line-01-095: But my heart it is brighter

Line-01-096: [[indent]] Than all of the many

Line-01-097: Stars in the sky,

Line-01-098: [[indent]] For it sparkles with Annie —

Line-01-099: It glows with the light

Line-01-100: [[indent]] Of the love of my Annie —

Line-01-101: With the thought of the light

Line-01-102: [[indent]] Of the eyes of my Annie.

 


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


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 byline was omitted from the various printings because it was not necessary in those contexts, where Poe's authorship was already evident.

Such contracted forms as “pray’d” were probably not in Poe's manuscript and were instead imposed by Griswold, as the editor, or the typesetter for Carey & Hart, the publishers of the anthology.

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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