Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 043: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, Apr. 21 and Apr. 22, 1874,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 125-129 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 125, continued:]

43. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

My dear Mrs, Whitman,

You will have received my last letter [Apr. 14] telling you of my illness — today, the first time in a fortnight I have been out. It is summer — summer has burst her swelling sheath & bloomed upon us here in a single day — & me — I am suffering under a languor of body & mind — unable to read. I have just been turning over the pages of George Curtis's Lotus Eating merely to look listlessly at Kensett's beautiful little vignettes.(1) I could not read, but still named — words (& you know the power of words!) therein have recalled “the tender grace of a day that is fled,” that can “never come back to me.” And your letter, too, which arrived today, enclosing those of Mr. O’Connor, have stirred “thoughts too deep for words.”

But, alas, I can today only talk what you will call nonsense. My nerves are all unstrung! I do not know what jealousy is — still, I felt a twinge at reading those letters of Mr. O’C's. I have been so selfish with you & grown to look forward so eagerly for your letters that I began to think I had nearly monopolized all your leisure thoughts & — well, I find you have a nearer & a dearer & a more tangible friend. Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! When will science find a speedier path across the Atlantic's foam, so that England & America may hear the beating of each other's hearts? But there! Forgive all my bombast today, for I am out of sorts with everything. A few more hours & Richard will be himself again.

I cannot write much today, although I have so much to answer & so much to say. Firstly, speaking of what came almost last — that extract from Chambers's Journal. Why that very article was the first one that introduced me — a boy of about twelve — to a knowledge of Edgar Poe!(2) Hence forth & for ever he has been a guiding star to me. The hours I, [page 126:] & one who is not, have spent over that very paper. I may well ask by what “strange alchemy of brain” you should think of sending that to me. I send the half, all that remains of the original paper — the paper that first altered the entire structure of my mental life! I will retain your copy for a short time. I keep every scrap you send me together, so you may rely upon getting everything back again when you need it.

As for the Broadway Journals which are still locked up (unseen by me, as yet) at the office, I feel that I cannot so far impose upon your kindness as to accept as a gift. I will make a careful use of them, & then, quite as gratefully, return them to you. I feel that I have already so over-used your kindness — so imposed upon your good will & liberality that I am quite ashamed of myself. My dear Mrs. Whitman, what can you think of me? I really don’t know how to repay your kindly aid. A little while, however — a little patience, & you will see the results of your help. Be I spared a few more years & the name of Edgar Poe — freed from the polluting daub of Griswold's touch — shall be honoured from John O’Groats to Land's End. A few weeks & you will begin to receive my papers on Edgar Poe. I have written a review of his 1831 vol. of poems & in deference to your wish have omitted some of “The Paean,” but not so much as you scored out — you will not mind this — will you? Wait till you get the paper & read my views. ’Tis coming out in the Gentleman's — the oldest, by far, of our monthlies.(3) [[(2a]] All these short papers & magazine sketches are to prepare the public for the “Memoir.”

I will do justice to Miss Power's ballads. Why not have them republished in England? “Cinderella” would just suit Warner, the publisher of Flora Symbolica. They would be sure to give something for the copyright. What does Miss Power say to this?

A few words, by the way, I have long wanted to speak, on the Flora Symbolica subject — on another sheet you’ll find them. On another page you will see some remarks about C[hristina] Rossetti — ten, or more years ago, we twain were constant correspondents, & I have just “turned up” a MS. I then wrote, for a magazine that died too soon, about Jean Ingelow, C.R., &c.,(3) and I find these words — “The following very beautiful poem, ‘At Home,’ contains much that would have pleased the congenial taste of Edgar Poe — the most original of all modern poets”: & then follows the lyric of which — on another page — I have copied the first & weakest verse. Wm. Rossetti, whose editing of Shelley so upset Mr. O’Connor, is an intense admirer of Poe & I could shew you a bushel of letters from him about my forthcoming “Memoir.” W.R. is on his bridal tour & a few days ago was in the south of France. I rather worried him about the extra stanza to “Ulalume” — he quoted it in a collection of American poetry & I challenged him as [page 127:] to his authority. He could not remember at first, but we unearthed it in Griswold — in an old edition — at last.

I enclose for your perusal & return one and one-half letters re. Poe; one from Lord Lytton, & half a one of Swinburne's re. help for Miss R. Poe — the other half I find is not very ladylike. I trust to you not to let these letters be seen by anyone who would publish anything in them — let them be strictly entre nous & when read, please return to me — I value them.

Do you know anything of Mr. Whistler, vide Swinburne's remark?

I cannot find the song book with poem by Mrs. Loud, nee Barstow. When I can I will send it — as also Allibone's letter, or rather note — it was pure “fudge”!

Mrs. Lewis asked me to call last Saturday, but I was too ill to leave the house. I have asked her to name another day. You will speedily learn the result. Mr. Eveleth never answered my letter, nor have several Americans. I will write to Mr. O’Connor, as soon as I can, but I have to complete a paper of 30 pps. for the Quarterly on Edgar Poe, in which I shall not use all my information. I am pressed by the publishers for a portion of the “Memoir” & yet have only a rough draft of it, and on the other hand, the doctor protests against me writing, or even thinking for some time to come. I will resume tomorrow, because there are things in your letters that I cannot leave unanswered any longer, & then may be silent for several days — every spare effort for my MSS.

Firstly, the poems came safely & although I regret the vol., still, they have afforded me pleasure & will assist my work. I dare not linger to say what I want to about them, however, now. I shall devote an entire letter soon to them & the sonnets.

Poe's notice of the 3 Female Poets of New England, I will copy & return in course of a post or two. I have found Allibone's note. The cards with texts, &c. & about waste of time, I gave away at once. The note is on a printed paper I want, about indexing, so copy first half — 2nd half is about books (quite foreign to our purpose). S. A. Allibone is writing:

[page 128:]

This is all very well, but what I pointedly asked for most was some information about Poe's “Autobiography,” nowhere else alluded to than in this account of Mrs. St. Leon Loud. In the so-called “Eulogium,” March 1850, S. Lit. Messenger, you will see an allusion to her. When my books are all unpacked — I have so many — I shall be able to find & send you Mrs. Loud's poem of “The Deserted Homestead,” or some such name.

I enclose you a critique on Poe by E. Benson you may like to see, & the Home Journal story of “The Raven,” re. Alice, &c. On the other side of the slip you will see something about Mr. Gill & his “Romance of E. Poe.”(4)

My illness has so upset me that I am not sure what I have answered & what is to answer. I regret the little photo of Cinderella, re. yours of the 30th Ulto. Perhaps the thief discovered in Providence Post Office may be able to restore it & the book. I have told you what poems I had received. The sonnets came happily to hand. I number all your letters & in most cases keep the enclosures in them, making a précis of contents for reference, but, as I generally reread them every now & then, that is scarcely necessary. Everything of yours shall be returned when the “Memoir” is in print.

The “Ultima dim Thule” photo is in the publishers’ hands for engraving, & the two letters of Poe for autograph & facsimile. I suppose there is no better view of Fordham come-at-able than Harper's Monthly? Perhaps Mrs. Lewis can help me to get photo or view of Poe's grave, or the cemetery, or of the hospital where he died, or of the Virginia university, or of the Academy where he went to school in Richmond — I don’t know its name. Perhaps Mr. Davidson could get me view of West Point, or of Poe's residence in New York, or Fordham? I have just sent him a few hurried lines, but will write him again soon & send him a remittance in case he can do so, or get me anything — “Autography,” &c.

An account of our old house in another letter to follow.

I’ve no faith in ghosts or spirits out of literature. I believe in poesy, in nature, in intellect, in beauty, in woman & — well that is all just at present. Spiritualism, as such, is a myth & a sham, I am certain.

I am thankful for those passages from Poe's letter of Oct. 18, 1848, & for copy of Charlottesville document — they are most valuable & will only appear in the “Memoir.”

Never mind the dates — I believe I have got them all in “apple pie order.” The last lines in Griswold's collection could scarcely be to Mrs. Shelton because, says Poe, “These weak lines are written by him — By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think his spirit is communing with an angel's.” Evidently, therefore, with some one dead. In the S.L. Mess., July 1835, he addressed “To Mary” the lines, “Mary, amid the [page 129:] cares — the woes,” &c. afterwards altered & inscribed “To F of collection. Poem “To One in Paradise” is all right in “The Assignation” — last verse & all complete. You compare with p. 33, Vol. 2 of collection. It was not Wm. R. Wallace who wrote the criticisms, I find from Mr. Davidson's letter, so, perhaps, it may not be good. I shall not allude to the Eureka publication story.

Accept all you hear of Swinburne — good or bad — cum grano salis.

Au revoir, dear friend,

 

1. George William Curtis, Lotus Eating: A Summer Book, illustrated by Kensett (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852). John Frederick Kensett (1826-1872) was a landscape painter and engraver of the “Hudson River School.”

2. The clipping was “The Life and Poetry of Edgar Poe,” reprinted in the Living Age, Apr. 16, 1853, pp. 157-61, from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, 19 (Feb. 26, 1853), 137-40. If John Ingram read this article when he was “a boy of about twelve,” it is added proof, if any be needed, that his true birthday was 1842. This newsclipping is Item 518 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

[[2a. Ingram's article on “Edgar Allan Poe's Early Poems” appeared in Gentleman's Magazine, XII (May, 1874), 580-86. It is reprinted pp. 135-146 — JAS]]

3. Jean Ingelow (1820-1897) was a member of Christina Rossetti's circle and a poet thought by her public to be of high merit.

4. This newsclipping was almost certainly Eugene Benson's summing-up of Poe as a critic in The Season, Aug. 1871. Item 556 in the Ingram Poe Collection describes a one-half column clipping which is believed to be a portion of this article, “The American Critic.”