Edgar Allan Poe — “Sonnet — Silence”

Reading copy:

• “Sonnet — Silence” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “[Silence, a Sonnet]” — late 1839 — [There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. Mabbott states that one source for the poem was a sonnet reprinted in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine for September 1839. Along with Poe's letter to Boyd, providing the earliest surviving form of the poem, we may assume a date of composition of about November 1839.]
• Text-02 — “Silence, a Sonnet” — December 25, 1839 — “Boyd” manuscript — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “Silence, a Sonnet” — late 1839
  • Text-03a — “Silence, a Sonnet” — late 1839 — [Speculated faircopy manuscript Poe prepared for publication in the Saturday Courier.]
  • Text-03b — “Silence, a Sonnet” — January 4, 1840 — Saturday Courier — (Mabbott text B)
  • Text-03c — “Silence, a Sonnet” — April 1840 — Burton's — (Mabbott text C) — [The basis for this text is presumably the printing in the Saturday Courier.]
• Text-04 — “Silence — Sonnet” — 1843-1845
  • Text-04a — “Sonnet — Silence” — early 1843 — [Speculated copy of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine Poe prepared for publication in the Saturday Museum. Poe appears to have sent material to his friend F. W. Thomas, prior to February 1, 1843, with the intention that Thomas would prepare the article for the Saturday Museum, but Thomas was busy with his government work and returned the materials to Poe more or less as Poe had sent them to him. Based on Poe's statement that the final article was prepared by H. B. Hirst, Poe presumably passed it on to Hirst. It is possible that the material at this point did not include the poems, and that they were added to the rest of the article only later.]
  • Text-04b — “Sonnet — Silence” — February 25, 1843 — Saturday Museum — (Mabbott text D) — [Poe sent two copies of this article to J. R. Lowell, one on October 19, 1843 and a second on May 28, 1844. In both cases, he appears to have done so for the purpose of providing Lowell with some biographical material to use for his article on Poe for Graham's Magazine. There is no indication that any of the poems in these copies had modifications made by Poe.]
    • “Sonnet — Silence” — February 25, 1843
    • “Sonnet — Silence” — March 4, 1843  (reprinted from February 25, 1843)
  • Text-04c — “Sonnet — Silence” — July 26, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text E)
  • Text-04d — “Sonnet — Silence” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F — This is Mabbott's copy-text) — [For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints. Griswold does slighly modify the title, removing the word “Sonnet.”]

Reprints:

• “Silence” — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text G) — [Griswold reprints Text-04d, from the stereotype plates, adjusted slightly by trimming the title, but apparently under his own editorial authority.]
• “Silence” — 1852 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Humour; and Poems, London: Henry Vizetelly (An undated edition appears about the same time, published by Charles H. Clark and Samuel Orchart Beeton, and their name appears as publisher for the second series), second series p. 250. (with no woodcut illustration) (this poem was omitted in some later printings)
• “Silence” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:27)
• “Silence” — October 25, 1877 — Catholic Union (Buffalo, NY), vol. VI, no. 29, p. 5, col. 2 (source and author are unacknowledged)
• “Silence” — 1889 — American Sonnets, ed. William Sharp, London, Walter Scott (p. 176)
• “Sonnet: Silence” — May 27, 1896 — Baker Orange (Baldwin, KS), vol. I, no. 24, p. 1, col. 1 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Silence” — December 21, 1906 — Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), vol. 69, no. 305, p. 6, col. 7 (without attributing the author of the source)
• “Silence” — January 14, 1911 — Vancouver Daily Providence (Vancourver, British Columbia, Canada), vol. 69, no. 305, p. 39, col. 1 (Poe is identified as the author in introductory material and a note)
• “Silence” — December 4, 1913 — Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO), vol. XXI, no. 12, p. 2, col. 3 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allen [[Allan]] Poe.”)
• “Silence” — November 4, 1934 — Oklahoma Daily (Norman, OK), vol. XX, no. 48, p. 2, col. 3 (acknowledged as “by Edgar Allan Poe”)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Silence” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:25, and p. 177)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:85, and 10:201-202)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (p. 35, and pp. 223-224)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 104-105, and pp. 240-241)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 90, and pp. 256-257)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:320-323)
• “Sonnet — Silence” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 77) (reprints Text-06)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Sonnet — Le Silence” — dated 2009, but available in late 2008 — Poèmes d‘Edgar Allan Poe, Paris: Publibook (translation by Jean Hautepierre)

• Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.