American Authors

OLD ENGLISH POETRY (*) by Edgar Allan Poe IT should not be doubted that at least one-third of the affection with which we regard the elder poets of Great Britain should be-attributed to what is, in itself, a thing apart from poetry-we mean to the simple love of the antique-and that, again, a third of […]

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To —— POEM by Edgar Allan Poe The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see The wantonest singing birds, Are lips—and all thy melody Of lip-begotten words— Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined, Then desolately fall, O God! on my funereal mind Like starlight on a pall— Thy heart—thy heart!—I wake and sigh, And sleep […]

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AL AARAAF POEM by Edgar Allan Poe AL AARAAF POEM PART I. O! nothing earthly save the ray (Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty’s eye, As in those gardens where the day Springs from the gems of Circassy— O! nothing earthly save the thrill Of melody in woodland rill— Or (music of the passion-hearted) Joy’s […]

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SONNET—TO SCIENCE POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise, Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering […]

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ROMANCE POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Romance, who loves to nod and sing, With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, To me a painted paroquet Hath been—a most familiar bird— Taught me my alphabet to say— To lisp my very earliest word While […]

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To Isaac Lea Poem by Edgar Allan Poe It was my choice or chance or curse To adopt the cause for better or worse And with my worldly goods & wit And soul & body worship it —- From a letter to Isaac Lea, about May 26, 1829. A facsimile of this manuscript, as part […]

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An Acrostic Elizabeth Poem by Edgar Allan Poe Elizabeth it is in vain you say “Love not”—thou sayest it in so sweet a way: In vain those words from thee or L. E. L. Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well: Ah! if that language from thy heart arise, Breathe it less gently forth—and veil thine […]

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FAIRY-LAND POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Dim vales—and shadowy floods— And cloudy-looking woods, Whose forms we can’t discover For the tears that drip all over Huge moons there wax and wane— Again—again—again— Every moment of the night— Forever changing places— And they put out the star-light With the breath from their pale faces. About twelve […]

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ALONE POEM by Edgar Allan Poe From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were; I have not seen As others saw; I could not bring My passions from a common spring. From the same source I have not taken My sorrow; I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone; […]

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To Isadore Poem by Edgar Allan Poe I Beneath the vine-clad eaves, Whose shadows fall before Thy lowly cottage door— Under the lilac’s tremulous leaves— Within thy snowy clasped hand The purple flowers it bore. Last eve in dreams, I saw thee stand, Like queenly nymph from Fairy-land— Enchantress of the flowery wand, Most beauteous […]

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TO M—— POEM by Edgar Allan Poe O! I care not that my earthly lot Hath little of Earth in it, That years of love have been forgot In the fever of a minute: I heed not that the desolate Are happier, sweet, than I, But that you meddle with my fate Who am a […]

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TO THE RIVER —— POEM by Edgar Allan Poe Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow Of crystal, wandering water, Thou art an emblem of the glow Of beauty—the unhidden heart— The playful maziness of art In old Alberto’s daughter; But when within thy wave she looks— Which glistens then, and trembles— Why, then, the […]

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