Edgar Allan Poe — “May Queen Ode”

Reading copy:

• “May Queen Ode” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “[Queen of May Ode]” — about April 1836 — [There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition.]
• Text-02 — “[Queen of May Ode]” — about April 1836 — [The only known stanza of this version is recorded by J. H. Whitty and presented here. According to J. H. Whitty, “He [[Poe]] readily complied, and sent her [[Miss Scott]] the lines the following day. The manuscript was preserved for some time, but finally went astray.”]
• Text-03 — “[Queen of May Ode]” — about April 1836 — [No printed copy is known to exist (but according to J. H. Whitty, the poem was printed in a pamphlet or periodical, in conjunction with the ceremonies.]

Reprints:

• “Queen of May Ode” — 1995 — Daughters of The Republic of Texas, vol. 1, p. 274 (the lines are quoted, from the 1917 Whitty edition of the poems, along with some biographical information about Mrs. Thomson)
• “May Queen Ode” — 1997 — The Poe Encyclopedia, Frederick S. Frank and Anthony Magistrale (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press), p. 226 (the lines are quoted, from the 1969 Mabbott edition of the poems)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “[Queen of May Ode]” — 1917 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 164) — (Mabbott text A — This is Mabbott's copy-text)  (This poem was first printed in the second edition as it was brought to the attention of J. H. Whitty after the first edition of 1911)
• “[May Queen Ode]” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 1:Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:302)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None (only one, partial text is known, and the only differences between printings involve the working title of “Queen of May Ode” or “May Queen Ode,” neither of which can be independently confirmed)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• None.

• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
• Whitty, James Howard, ed., The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (second edition), Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.