Last Update: Feb. 5, 2008  Navigation:  Main Menu    Poe's Works    Poe's Misc     Text: Edgar Allan Poe, "[copy of 'Ally Croaker']," manuscript, undated but possibly about 1822

There lived a man in Baleno, crazy, who wanted a wife to make him uneasy; Long had he sigh'd for dear Ally Croaker, & thus the gentle youth he bespoke her: Will you marry me dear Ally Croaker, will you marry me dear Ally <Ally> Croaker. >>Will you marry me dear Ally Croaker, will you marry me dear Ally Croaker.<< == This artless young man just come from the schoolary, A novice in love, and all its follary; Too dull for a wit, too grave for a joker; And thus the gentle youth bespoke her: Will you marry me, dear Ally Croaker, Will you marry me, dear Ally <Ally> Croaker == He drank with the father, he talk'd with the Mother, He romped with the sister, he gamed with the Brother; He gam'd till he pawn'd his coat to the Broker, Which lost him the heart of his Dear Ally Croaker. Oh! The fickle Ally Croaker Oh! The fickle Ally Ally Croaker == To all you young men who are fond of gaming, Who are spending your money whilst other are saving Fortue's [[Fortune's]]a jilt, the de'il [[devil]] may choke her, A jilt more inconstant than Dear Ally Croaker; Oh! The inconsistent Ally Croaker, Oh! The inconsistent Ally Ally Croaker ==

Notes: This manuscript is a copy of a popular song called "Ally Croaker." It was first published, with a facsimile, by J. H. Whitty in "New Poe Poems and Manuscripts Found," New York Sun (The article was also printed, on the same date, in the Baltimore American) Whitty notes a printed copy of the song in the London Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, October 1753 (from an issue in the Library of Congress). He also notes that "The fact that Poe left out words in the song, also the letter 'n' in fortune, with other characteristics, indicated that he must have written this hurriedly. The spelling of some words also looks like the original he copied from was of an early date." He further speculates that "Poe may have come into possession of the ballad, with others, from his own mother's collection."   [S:0 - MS, about 1822] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Documents - Ally Croaker (MS copy)