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. “The Raven” was first published on the 29th January, 1845, in the NewYork “Evening Mirror”-a paper its author was then assistant editor of. Itwas prefaced by the following words, understood to have been written by N.P. Willis: “We are permitted to copy (in advance of publication) from thesecond number of the “American Review,” the following remarkable poem byEdgar Poe. In our opinion, it is the most effective single example of‘fugitive poetry’ ever published in this country, and unsurpassed inEnglish poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification,and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift and ‘pokerishness.’ It isone of those ‘dainties bred in a book’ which we feed on. It will stick tothe memory of everybody who reads it.” In the February number of the“American Review” the poem was published as by “Quarles,” and it wasintroduced by the following note, evidently suggested if not written byPoe himself. [“The following lines from a correspondent-besides the deep, quaint strainof the sentiment, and the curious introduction of some ludicrous touchesamidst the serious and impressive, as was doubtless intended by theauthor-appears to us one of the most felicitous specimens of uniquerhyming which has for some time met our eye. The resources of Englishrhythm for varieties of melody, measure, and sound, producingcorresponding diversities of effect, having been thoroughly studied, muchmore perceived, by very few poets in the language. While the classictongues, especially the Greek, possess, by power of accent, severaladvantages for versification over our own, chiefly through greaterabundance of spondaic feet, we have other and very great advantages ofsound by the modern usage of rhyme. Alliteration is nearly the only effectof that kind which the ancients had in common with us. It will be seenthat much of the melody of ‘The Raven’ arises from alliteration, and thestudious use of similar sounds in unusual places. In regard to itsmeasure, it may be noted that if all the verses were like the second, theymight properly be placed merely in short lines, producing a not uncommonform; but the presence in all the others of one line-mostly the second inthe verse” (stanza?)—“which flows continuously, with only anaspirate pause in the middle, like that before the short line in theSapphic Adonic, while the fifth has at the middle pause no similarity ofsound with any part besides, gives the versification an entirely differenteffect. We could wish the capacities of our noble language in prosody werebetter understood.”—ED. “Am. Rev.”] 2. The bibliographical history of “The Bells” is curious. The subject, andsome lines of the original version, having been suggested by the poet’sfriend, Mrs. Shew, Poe, when he wrote out the first draft of the poem,headed it, “The Bells, By Mrs. M. A. Shew.” This draft, now the editor’sproperty, consists of only seventeen lines, and read thus: I.The bells!-ah, the bells!The little silver bells!How fairy-like a melody there floatsFrom their throats—From their merry little throats—From the silver, tinkling throatsOf the bells, bells, bells—Of the bells!II.The bells!-ah, the bells!The heavy iron bells!How horrible a monody there floatsFrom their throats—From their deep-toned throats—From their melancholy throats!How I shudder at the notes Of the bells, bells, bells—Of the bells! In the autumn of 1848 Poe added another line to this poem, and sent it tothe editor of the “Union Magazine.” It was not published. So, in thefollowing February, the poet forwarded to the same periodical a muchenlarged and altered transcript. Three months having elapsed withoutpublication, another revision of the poem, similar to the current version,was sent, and in the following October was published in the “UnionMagazine.” 3. This poem was first published in Colton’s “American Review” forDecember, 1847, as “To—Ulalume: a Ballad.” Being reprintedimmediately in the “Home Journal,” it was copied into various publicationswith the name of the editor, N. P. Willis, appended, and was ascribed tohim. When first published, it contained the following additional stanzawhich Poe subsequently, at the suggestion of Mrs. Whitman, wiselysuppressed: Said we then—we two, then—“Ah, can itHave been that the woodlandish ghouls—The pitiful, the merciful ghouls—To bar up our path and to ban itFrom the secret that lies in these wolds—Had drawn up the spectre of a planetFrom the limbo of lunary souls—This sinfully scintillant planetFrom the Hell of the planetary souls?” 4. “To Helen” (Mrs. S. Helen Whitman) was not published until November,1848, although written several months earlier. It first appeared in the“Union Magazine,” and with the omission, contrary to the knowledge ordesire of Poe, of the line, “Oh, God! oh, Heaven—how my heart beatsin coupling those two words.” 5. “Annabel Lee” was written early in 1849, and is evidently an expressionof the poet’s undying love for his deceased bride, although at least oneof his lady admirers deemed it a response to her admiration. Poe sent acopy of the ballad to the “Union Magazine,” in which publication itappeared in January, 1850, three months after the author’s death. Whilesuffering from “hope deferred” as to its fate, Poe presented a copy of“Annabel Lee” to the editor of the “Southern Literary Messenger,” whopublished it in the November number of his periodical, a month after Poe’sdeath. In the meantime the poet’s own copy, left among his papers, passedinto the hands of the person engaged to edit his works, and he quoted thepoem in an obituary of Poe, in the New York “Tribune,” before any one elsehad an opportunity of publishing it. 6. “A Valentine,” one of three poems addressed to Mrs. Osgood, appears tohave been written early in 1846. 7. “An Enigma,” addressed to Mrs. Sarah Anna Lewis (“Stella”), was sent tothat lady in a letter, in November, 1847, and the following March appearedin Sartain’s “Union Magazine.” 8. The sonnet, “To My Mother” (Maria Clemm), was sent for publication tothe short-lived “Flag of our Union,” early in 1849, but does not appearto have been issued until after its author’s death, when it appeared inthe “Leaflets of Memory” for 1850. 9. “For Annie” was first published in the “Flag of our Union,” in thespring of 1849. Poe, annoyed at some misprints in this issue, shortlyafterwards caused a corrected copy to be inserted in the “Home Journal.” 10. “To F——” (Frances Sargeant Osgood) appeared in the“Broadway Journal” for April, 1845. These lines are but slightly variedfrom those inscribed “To Mary,” in the “Southern Literary Messenger” forJuly, 1835, and subsequently republished, with the two stanzas transposed,in “Graham’s Magazine” for March, 1842, as “To One Departed.” 11. “To F——s S. O—d,” a portion of the poet’s triunetribute to Mrs. Osgood, was published in the “Broadway Journal” forSeptember, 1845. The earliest version of these lines appeared in the“Southern Literary Messenger” for September, 1835, as “Lines written in anAlbum,” and was addressed to Eliza White, the proprietor’s daughter.Slightly revised, the poem reappeared in Burton’s “Gentleman’s Magazine”for August, 1839, as “To——.” 12. Although “Eldorado” was published during Poe’s lifetime, in 1849, inthe “Flag of our Union,” it does not appear to have ever received theauthor’s finishing touches.
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