Edgar Allan Poe — “American Poetry (A Lecture)”

Reading copy:

• “American Poetry (A Lecture)” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• “American Poetry”   (November 1843 — delivered at the William Wirt Literary Institute in Philadelphia on November 21, 1843; at the Temperance Hall for the Franklin Lyceum in Wilmington, Deleware on November 28, 1843; at the Newark Academy in Newark, Deleware on December 23, 1843; repeated in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Museum on January 10, 1843; at the Oddfellow's Hall in Baltimore, Maryland on January 31, 1844; and at Academy Hall for the Mechanics Institute on March 12, 1844. There are general descriptions of the lectures in newspapers of the time, and Poe no doubt reused much of the material in subsequent reviews and his “Marginalia” and “Literati” series, but the actual lecture is now lost. The last version was stolen from Poe's valise in Philadelphia sometime June 30 - July 7, 1849, along with the original manuscript of “The Poetic Principle.”)
• “The Poets and Poetry of America”   (about 1845 — “Wrenn” manuscript fragment) (This lecture was delivered by Poe at the Society Library in New York on February 28, 1845) (The manuscript was first mentioned by Killis Campbell in the article “Unique Poe Items,” Literary Review of the Evening Post (New York), March 5, 1921, p. 14, and mentioned again by Thomas O. Mabbott in “Notes on Poe,” Literary Review of the Evening Post (New York), May 27, 1922, p. 694.) (The manuscript fragment is currently at the University of Texas at Austin.)
• “The Poets and Poetry of America”   (about 1848 — “Whitman” manuscript fragment) (This lecture was delivered by Poe in Lowell, on July 10, 1848.) (Poe gave Mrs. Whitman a section from his lecture which complimented her. The current location of the MS is unknown.)

Reprints:

• None

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• None

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• None

• Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.