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Elizabeth — it surely is most fit
(Logic and common usage so commanding)
In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
*Zeno and other sages notwithstanding:
And I have other reasons for so doing
Besides my innate love of contradiction:
Each poet — if a poet — in pursuing
The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
Has studied very little of his part,
Read nothing, written less — in short's a fool
Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
Being ignorant of one important rule,
Employed in even the theses of the school —
Called —— I forget the heathenish Greek name —
(Called any thing, its meaning is the same)
“Always write first things uppermost in the heart”
Edgar
* It was a saying of this philosopher “that one's own name should never appear in one's own book”.
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Notes:
Elizabeth was Poe's Baltimore cousin, Elizabeth Rebecca Herring (1815-1889).
This poem is one of several acrostics Poe wrote for the amusement of female admirers. Here, the first letter of each line spells “Elizabeth Rebecca.” In the following copy of the text, punctuation and spaces have been removed and the relevant letters marked in red to make the matter clear:
Elizabethitsurelyismostfit
Logicandcommonusagesocommanding
Inthyownbookthatfirstthynamebewrit
Zenoandothersagesnotwithstanding
AndIhaveotherreasonsforsodoing
Besidesmyinnateloveofcontradiction
Eachpoetifapoetinpursuing
ThemusesthrotheirbowersofTruthorFiction,
Hasstudiedverylittleofhispart
Readnothingwrittenlessinshortsafool
Enduedwithneithersoulnorsensenorart,
Beingignorantofoneimportantrule
Employedineventhethesesoftheschool
CalledIforgettheheathenishGreekname
Calledanythingitsmeaningisthesame
Alwayswritefirstthingsuppermostintheheart
In the original manuscript, Poe uses square brackets, which we have replaced with parentheses. Some scholars, including T. O. Mabbott, note that the seventh lines reads “in persuing,” with “pursuing” misspelled. Examination of the manuscript, however, shows this to be a misreading.
A photographic facsimile of the manuscript was printed in the auction catalogue for The Library of H. Bradley Martin: Highly Important American and Children's Literature, New York: Sotheby's, January 30 and 31, 1990, lot 2218, with notes by Richard Kopley.
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[S:2 - MS, 1829 (photograph)] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Elizabeth (Text-01)