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[Poe as Poet] (143)
In 1831, Mr Poe published a Volume of Poems in Baltimore, the following one, entitled To Helen, being the best in the book. It is a beautiful spicimen of versification — particularly for a man of his age — but it is totally devoid of passion, the primum mobile of the true Poet — that Gothic fortuition [sic] which characterizes all true Poems being swallowed up entirely in the marble statuesqueness of Greek Art. But here it is not as it is published in any of the recent Editions of his works, — but as it originally appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger.
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean ships of yore, [page 74:]
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory of old Greece,
And the grandeur of old Rome.
Lo! in yon little window-niche,
How statue-like I see thee stand —
The folded scroll(145) within thy hand! —
Ah! Psyche from the regions which
Are Holy Land!
The(146) following poem is taken from the Broadway Journal?, and is not to be found in any of his works. One day while I was in the office, Mr Poe said to me, Have you seen the last Number of the Broadway Journal° It is a good one — every article in it having been written by myself, except one Poem.” From his looks as well as manner at the time, I was particularly impressed with the belief that the Poem was his own. [rest marked through: ] After looking over the Journal [?] and after having read the Poem, I was then more particularly impressed than before with the belief that Mr Poe° was the author of it — the reason why he did not acknowledge it, at the time, being that it was written [plainly? ] after the manner of my Poem To Allegra Florence in Heaven — Nothing else would have made him disown a Poem of as much Beauty — Its Poeisness, at the same time, betraying its origin. [page 75:]
The Departed(147)
Where the river ever floweth,
Where the green grass ever groweth,
Where each star most faintly gloweth,
Do I wander on;
My thick pulses hastily beating,
My quick glances now retreating,
And, with bold advance now meeting,
Shadows of the gone!
Lonely, by that lovely river,
Where the moon-lit blossoms quiver,
Do I wander on forever,
Musing on the Past;
When the weary moon descendeth,
When each pale star earthward bendeth,
When my soul strong memories sendeth, —
Joys too bright to last.
The earth's bright and loveliest flower,
Spirit, cooped in mortal bower,
She, whose voice alone had power
O’er my Soul, is gone!
Vain, O, Vain, are tears and wailing,
Fierce deep grief is unavailing,
Yet are they my heart assailing, —
Proud heart, never won.
By that river, ever flowing,
With heaven's light upon her glowing,
Sometimes comes to me, showing
Things past and to come. [page 76:]
And we wander on, caressing
While the mute earth sheds her blessing;
Happy in that dim possessing,
Spirits in the gloom!
Were it not for that dim meeting
Were it not for that dark greeting,
Its own core my wild heart eating,
Soon would turn to clay.
Now along that lonely river,
Lonely, do I wander ever,
When the nightly blossoms shiver, —
Dark and sad as they!(148)
The(149) following unique Poem, [“by Edgar A. Poe” crossed-out] [sic] possesses a Greek classical Olympian sombreness not only artistically wonderful, but melliffluously [sic] enchanting. There is an Ambrosial Epicurianism [sic] of Logic about it, which tastes of the Gardens of Hesperides. Ullalume [sic] signifies the °Guiding Star of [page 77:] Love — or the Luminous Guiding Star of Love, as Ul-Erin signifies the Guiding Star of Ireland. A Star was called by this name in the days of Fingal, as it was the heavenly Beacon to those who sailed by night from the Hebrides, or Caledonia, to the coast of Ulster.
Now(150) that I have given Poe's Definition of Poetry, I will quote the following beautiful Poems — some of his best — as illustrative of his conception of the °“Rhythmical Creation of Beauty.” The first that I shall quote is ULLALUME — as it is incorrectly printed in Griswold's Edition of his works. No title was ever more poetically signficant than this — the meaning of is [sic] — (having given rise to no little disputation among the would-be-critics of Mr Poe's works —) (151)
The(152) one called Dream-Land is very characteristic of his peculiar mode of thinking — that “undiscovered Country” where he, in imagination, most often dwelt — [being](153) in conception, as well as execution, it is very remarkable;(154) but I have not space to give it here.(155)
The(156) following Poem, entitled Israfel, is not only the most etherial — least passionate —, but comes up more to his own Ideal of the Art — (which he contended consisted in being wholly passionless) than any that he ever wrote. In many senses, it is truly a remarkable production — being not only an Ariel in its physiology, but, in its psychology an Aeolian [page 78:] Harp. Ullalume is Nector mixed with Ambrosia — this is the Bread of Heaven.(157)
The(158) Poem To One in Paradise, published in the Wiley and Putnam edition of his Poems, entitled The Raven and other Poems, under his own supervision, was originally published in °The Lady's Book [sic] of Philadelphia, in 1834. This Poem has under [go]ne several alterations since(159) first publication. In this edition,
Thou wast that all to me, love,
is changed by Poe into
Thou wast all that to me, love.
The following is the last stanza of the Poem printed in the Tale called °The Vision[ary]:(160)
[ ](161) “alas! for that accursed time°
They bore thee o’er the billow
From me — to titled age and cri[me,]
And unholy pillow — [line sic]
From love and from out misty clime
Where weeps the silver willow!”
This was left out in the Wiley and Putnam Edition.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 73:]
143 This begins another Chivers MS. fragment, HEH HM 24272. It is written in Chivers’ hand on the verso of a letter to him from R. W. Latham, Dec. 82, 1833. The section down to the poem has a large cross mark through it.
144 In a later hand, inserted.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 74:]
145 Written above “ivory lamp,” which has been crossed through.
146 This is the beginning of fragment HEH HM 2510. The poem is in the handwriting of J. Hunt, with preliminary remarks in T. H. Chivers’ hand. c. 1845.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 75:]
147 This line and all above in Chivers’ hand. The rest in that of Hunt. The first part of Chivers’ comment is on a separate sheet pasted to the poem sheet. C's remarks continue from one sheet to the top of the other. [[Both Killis Campbell, The Mind of Poe and Other Papers, 1833, p. 201 and Thomas Ollive Mabbott, Poems, 1969, 1:509 attribute “The Departed” to Chivers rather than Poe — JAS]]
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 76:]
148 At the end of the poem is the marked through: “Copied Verbatim et Literatim by J. Hunt, Jr. From the Broadway Journal.”
149 This is the third item of a group of fragments HEH HM 2535. c. 1850. Evidently it is part of a scrapbook kept by Chivers which he intended using in the biography. The critical comments are in his hand, the poems are cut from various journals. The first item contains seven pieces, or columns, of newsprint signed “Fiat Justitia,” and headed “For the Georgia Citizen.” The title is “Origin of Poe's Raven.” A pencilled note on the back of the brown paper on which these clippings are mounted reads: “Benton says all the disputants Fiat Justitia, Felix For-resti (?) &c are Chivers. See Benton's “In the Poe Circle”) Strange isn’t it?” It appeared in the Georgia Citizen in the two issues of 22 and 29 September, 1854. (I am indebted for this information to Miss Clara Nell Hargrove, who has searched the files of the Georgia Citizen in the Washington Memorial Library, Macon, Georgia). Joel Benton (In the Poe Circle, New York, p. 35), who had not seen the Georgia Citizen files, points out that the appearance of this article in the Waverley Magazine for 3o July, 1853, opened the journalistic Poe-Chivers controversy on plagiarism. Perhaps Chivers intended to insert his article in the “Life” and thus kill two birds. The second item of HEH HM 2535 is a paragraph praising a poem by [Sidney? Yendia? I called “The Widower.”
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 77:]
150 This is the beginning of item four of HEH HM 2535. The whole is crossed out.
151 Chivers encloses ten-stanza versions (clippings) after his own words.
152 Beginning of fifth item of HEH HM 2535.
153 Added in later hand.
154 Then in a later hand the clause that follows.
155 Clipping of text of the poem follows but is crossed out.
156 Beginning of sixth item of HEH HM 2535.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 78:]
157 Clipping of text of poem follows. The material includes one clipping from the Broadway Journal and three fragments evidently from the same.
158 Beginning of the seventh and last fragment of HEH HM 2535.
159 Tear in MS.
160 Tear.
161 Tear.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - TCH52, 1952] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Articles - Chivers' Life of Poe (R. B. Davis) (Poe as Poet)