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SPIRITUAL SONG

This “most striking fragment,” as its discoverer called it, was found by J. H. Whitty. It was written in Poe's hand, on the second page of an unsigned manuscript sent by William Maxwell to the owner of the Southern Literary Messenger when Poe was its editor. The missive is addressed to “Mr. Thomas W. White. / Publisher of the Southern Lit. Messenger. / Richmond.” It is handstamped “STEAM” and marked “Pd” by a postmaster, and docketed by the recipient, “Anonymous / composition for Messenger.” On the first page of the manuscript is a poem “Sacred Song” of sixteen lines beginning and ending:

Occupying the upper half of the second page is another poem, “Madrigal. The Wreath” — eight lines — in which Poe showed no interest. Lower on this page is the tiny piece, a title and three lines in Poe's hand. It is reasonable to suppose Poe thought about rewriting the first piece and then decided to seek out the author instead; the postal markings gave a clue to its being sent “by steam” from Norfolk. In the Messenger of August 1836 (2:554), “Sacred Song” appeared, as “By W. Maxwell,” verbally like the manuscript quoted.

William Maxwell (1784-1857) was the author of Poems, issued at Philadelphia, of which there are editions, “Printed by William Fry, 1812,” and “Published by M. Thomas, 1816.” He resided at Norfolk in 1836, and made several contributions to the Southern Literary Messenger. In later years he was secretary of the Virginia Historical Society.

Whitty brought himself into disrepute by farfetched claims to “discoveries about Poe,” but he made some real finds, and this fragment I am sure was one of them. [page 304:]