American Authors

METZENGERSTEIN by Edgar Allan Poe Pestis eram vivus—moriens tua mors ero. —Martin Luther HORROR and fatality have been stalking abroad in all ages. Why then give a date to this story I have to tell? Let it suffice to say, that at the period of which I speak, there existed, in the interior of Hungary, […]

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THE DUC DE L’OMELETTE by Edgar Allan Poe And stepped at once into a cooler clime.—Cowper KEATS fell by a criticism. Who was it died of “The Andromache”? {*1} Ignoble souls!—De L’Omelette perished of an ortolan. L’histoire en est brève. Assist me, Spirit of Apicius! A golden cage bore the little winged wanderer, enamored, melting, […]

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LOSS OF BREATH by Edgar Allan Poe O Breathe not, etc. —Moore’s Melodies THE MOST notorious ill-fortune must in the end yield to the untiring courage of philosophy—as the most stubborn city to the ceaseless vigilance of an enemy. Shalmanezer, as we have it in holy writings, lay three years before Samaria; yet it fell. […]

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The Village Street Poem by Edgar Allan Poe In these rapid, restless shadows, Once I walked at eventide, When a gentle, silent maiden, Walked in beauty at my side. She alone there walked beside me All in beauty, like a bride. Pallidly the moon was shining On the dewy meadows nigh; On the silvery, silent […]

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A Pæan Poem by Edgar Allan Poe I How shall the burial rite be read? The solemn song be sung? The requiem for the loveliest dead, That ever died so young? II Her friends are gazing on her, And on her gaudy bier, And weep!—oh! to dishonor Dead beauty with a tear! III They loved […]

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ISRAFEL POEM by Edgar Allan Poe And the angel Israfel, whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God’s creatures.—Koran. In Heaven a spirit doth dwell “Whose heart-strings are a lute;” None sing so wildly well As the angel Israfel, And the giddy Stars (so legends tell) Ceasing their hymns, […]

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The Valley Nis Poem by Edgar Allan Poe Far away — far away — Far away — as far at least Lies that valley as the day Down within the golden east — All things lovely — are not they Far away — far away ? It is called the valley Nis. And a Syriac […]

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THE VALLEY OF UNREST POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Once it smiled a silent dell Where the people did not dwell; They had gone unto the wars, Trusting to the mild-eyed stars, Nightly, from their azure towers, To keep watch above the flowers, In the midst of which all day The red sunlight lazily lay. […]

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TO HELEN POEM by Edgar Allan Poe [“Helen” was Mrs. Stannard, whose death also inspired Lenore.] Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore, That gently, o’er a perfumed sea, The weary, wayworn wanderer bore To his own native shore. On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy […]

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THE SLEEPER POEM by Edgar Allan Poe At midnight, in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon. An opiate vapour, dewy, dim, Exhales from out her golden rim, And, softly dripping, drop by drop, Upon the quiet mountain top, Steals drowsily and musically Into the universal valley. The rosemary nods upon the […]

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The Doomed City Poem by Edgar Allan Poe Earlier version of The City in the Sea Poem. Lo ! Death hath rear’d himself a throne In a strange city, all alone, Far down within the dim west — And the good, and the bad, and the worst, and the best, Have gone to their eternal […]

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THE CITY IN THE SEA POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Derived from The Doomed City Poem. Lo! Death has reared himself a throne In a strange city lying alone Far down within the dim West, Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best Have gone to their eternal rest. There shrines […]

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