Celebrate Poe

8 Tamerlane, eap200

Welcome to another episode of CelebratePoe – celebrating the life, works, and legacy of America’s Shakespeare – Edgar Allan Poe. Some of you have asked about the opening music to most of these podcasts. The music, Come Rest in This Bosom, was written by the Irish poet, Thomas Moore, and is reputed to have been Edgar’s favorite song.

This should be the last episode for now where I deal with the writer’s formal education – and I would like to talk about Edgar’s first published work – Tamerlane and Other Poems.

Edgar had undoubtedly run up thousands of dollars in gambling debts at the University of Virginia, but the man who acted as his father, the wealthy John Allan, was quite mean-spirited in his reaction to Edgar’s finances.

According to Julian Symons in his biography of the writer, The Tell Tale Heart, Edgar was later to write to Allan – “The expenses of the institution at the lowest estimate were $350 per annum . . . You sent me therewith $110. Of this $50 were to be paid immediately for board - $60 for attendance upon 2 professors – and even then you did not miss the opportunity of abusing me because I did not attend 3 … then $15 more were to be paid for room furniture. I had, of course, the mortification of running into debt for public property – against the known rules of the institution, and was immediately regarded in the light of a beggar.”

Clearly the relationship between Edgar and John Allan was becoming more and more strained. He was to write to Allan – “My determination is at length taken – to leave your house and endeaver to find some place in this wide world where I will be treated – not as you have treated me – This is not a hurried determination, but one on which I have been long considered – and having so considered my resolution is unalterable.”

It is not known how the writer somehow managed to get a ship to Boston, the place of his birth, but he arrived there in April. The simple fact is that we know very little about what the writer did for the next eighteen months. But we do know that he was able to persuade a printer, Calvin Thomas, to produce a copy of a book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. It is not known whether the writer had money to pay the young printer, or whether the book was printed on credit. Tamerlane and Other Poems was Edgar’s first published work, and was published in 1827 when the writer was just 18 years old. It was released by the time that the writer enlisted in the army under a pseudonymn – a subject I will go into more in my next podcast.

Less than 50 copies of Tamerlaine and Other Poems were released. The paper-bound book (actually more of a pamplet at 40 pages) was published anonymously with the tagline “By a Bostonian.” Even though Edgar had spent most of his life in Richmond, some critics felt that he wanted to distance himself from his life with John Allan, and Boston was, at the time, a literary center. Tamerlane and Other Poems sold few copies, and the collection received no critical attention. In fact, the book was largely forgotten until a copy was found in the basement of the British Museum in 1876.

The writer introduced the collection with an apologetic notice admitting the low quality of his work. He claimed, however, that the majority of the poems were written between 1820 and 1821, “when the author had not completed his fourteenth year”– probably an exaggeration. The poems, many of which had a theme of youth, were largely inspired by the work of Lord Byron - in fact, the character of the title poem Tamerlane has a daughter named “Ada,” perhaps named after Byron’s own daughter. And later the Russian writer, Nabokov, who greatly admired Poe, titled the lead character of one his novels, Ada, after the daughter in Tamerlane.

I think one of the most interesting things about Tamerlane and Other Poems (to some people THE most interesting thing) is its status as a rare book. A brief look at a few other rare pieces of literature helps put this in perspective.

Most experts believe the rarest of all books is the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first book ever printed on the recently invented printing press, and although several hundred copies were originally printed, finding a complete first edition would net you $25-$35 million. Today single pages alone go for $25,000 each.

Other rare books include the first edition of Shakespeare’s collected works from 1623 (that would set you back at least $6 million dollars), and a collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts (worth about $100 million.) Tamerlane and Other Poems is worth as much as $200,000 to the right buyer. There are certainly rare European manuscripts written years before Edgar was born that are worth more, but a first edition copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems is the most valuable book by an American writer.

I would like to feature four selections from Tamerlane – the first is a brief portion of the much longer title poem.

We grew in age, and love together, Roaming the forest and the wild; My breast her shield in wintry weather, And when the friendly sunshine smil’d And she would mark the op’ning skies, I saw no Heav’n, but in her eyes — Ev’n childhood knows the human heart; For when, in sunshine and in smiles, From all our little cares apart, Laughing at her half silly wiles, I’d throw me on her throbbing breast, And pour my spirit out in tears, She’d look up in my wilder’d eye — There was no need to speak the rest — No need to quiet her kind fears — She did not ask the reason why.

I think that The Happiest Day, despite its optimistic title, is one of Poe’s darkest poems – almost as though the speaker is enjoying his or her feelings of regret.

THE HAPPIEST DAY

The happiest day — the happiest hour My sear’d and blighted heart hath known, The highest hope of pride, and power, I feel hath flown.

Of power! said I? yes! such I ween But they have vanish’d long alas! The visions of my youth have been — But let them pass.

And, pride, what have I now with thee? Another brow may ev’n inherit The venom thou hast pour’d on me — Be still my spirit.

The happiest day — the happiest hour Mine eyes shall see — have ever seen The brightest glance of pride and power I feel — have been:

But were that hope of pride and power Now offer’d, with the pain Ev’n then I felt — that brightest hour I would not live again:

For on its wing wall dark alloy And as it flutter’d — fell An essence — powerful to destroy A soul that knew it well.

One of the most powerful works in Tamerlane and Other Poems is Visit of the Dead – lines that were later revised by the writer as Spirits of the Dead. In this poem, you can almost feel the presence of the dead speaking to the living.

VISIT OF THE DEAD.

Thy soul shall find itself alone — Alone of all on earth — unknown The cause — but none are near to pry Into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness — for then The spirits of the dead, who stood In life before thee, are again In death around thee, and their will Shall then o’ershadow thee — be still For the night, tho’ clear, shall frown:

And the stars shall look not down From their thrones, in the dark heav’n; With light like Hope to mortals giv’n, But their red orbs, without beam, To thy withering heart shall seem As a burning, and a fever Which would cling to thee forever. But ’twill leave thee, as each star In the morning light afar Will fly thee — and vanish: — But its thought thou can’st not banish. The breath of God will be still; And the mist upon the hill By that summer breeze unbrok’n Shall charm thee — as a token, And a symbol which shall be Secrecy in thee.

The final poem in this section from Tamerlane and Other Poems is one of the writer’s many works that he simply called To – Many critics feel the poem refers to Sarah Elmira Royster – you may remember Sarah as the writer’s childhood sweetheart. When Edgar returned from the University of Virginia in 1827, he found that her parents had arranged a marriage to a wealthy business man, Alexander Shelton. The story is told that Edgar went to her home in Richmond from the University of Virginia one evening. The wedding having already taken place, a party was in progress at her home when Edgar arrived. Unaware of the marriage, he asked Sarah to dance and was told of what had occurred. It was then he learned that his letters to her and hers to him had been intercepted by her parents. Since Sarah was not actually married until December 6, 1828 and this poem was already printed the year before, it has been suggested that the recollection is slightly in error, and that the party was in celebration of the engagement rather than the wedding itself. In any case, it is not hard to imagine the writer’s feelings of loss in this poem when thinking about his loss of Sarah.

I saw thee on the bridal day; When a burning blush came o’er thee, Tho’ Happiness around thee lay, The world all love before thee.

And, in thine eye, the kindling light Of young passion free Was all on earth, my chain’d sight Of Loveliness might see.

That blush, I ween, was maiden shame: As such it well may pass: Tho’ its glow hath rais’d a fiercer flame In the breast of him, alas!

Who saw thee on that bridal day, When that deep blush would come o’er thee, — Tho’ Happiness around thee lay; The world all Love before thee.

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In this section, I would like to deal with what I think is one of the most interesting presences on the web dealing with Poe - The Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial at eapoe200.blogspot.com The blog has an appropriately black background, a cool countdown timer to Poe’s 200th birthday celebration, and is maintained by John Wright. Blog entries this month range from Poe Events in Virginia in 2008 to Poe in Comics to Poe’s Tavern at Sullivan Island . And there were 37 entires in January alone - and it seems like all the entries have great graphics.

I think one of the most outstanding features of the blog is its use of links - not just the occasional reference - but links that can keep Poe aficionados busy for weeks - Clicking on Full List of Links leads you to links for Poe Stories, the Poe Decoder site, Knowing Poe, The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, The Poe Museum of Richmond, Edgar Allan Poe National Historical Site of Philadelphia, New Southern Literary Messenger, and my own, Celebrate Edgar Alan Poe. In the weeks to come, I will be looking at some of these sites in more detail.

But one site from the page that I especially enjoyed is one to Fantastic Horrors - not specifically dealing with Poe - but certainly with writers that have been influenced by America’s Shakespeare. Clicking on on the left side of the page leads to 10 biographies of such geniuses as Samuel Coleridge, H.P. Lovecraft, and, of course, Edgar Allan Poe. One of the links on Poe biography leads to a section from Poe’s classic Marginalia.

The excerpt begins:

” There is . . . a class of fancies, of exquisite delicacy, which are not thoughts, and to which, as yet, I have found it absolutely impossible to adapt language. I use the word fancies at random, and merely because I must use some word; but the idea commonly attached to the term is not even remotely applicable to the shadows of shadows in question. They seem to me rather physical than intellectual. They arise in the soul (alas, how rarely!) only at its epochs of most intense tranquillity—when the bodily and mental health are in perfection - and at those mere points of time where the confines of the waking world blend with those of the world of dreams. I am aware of these “fancies” only when I am upon the very brink of sleep, with the consciousness that I am so. I have satisfied myself that this condition exists but for an inappreciable point of time—yet it is crowded with these “shadows of shadows;” and for absolute thought there is demanded time’s endurance.”

Thank you for listening to this episode of celebratepoe, and I appreciate your emails at celebratepoe@gmail.com

Have a great week.

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