BRIDAL BALLAD.
THE ring is on my hand, And the wreath is on my brow; Satins and jewels grand Are all at my command, And I am happy now.
And my lord he loves me well; But, when first he breathed his vow, I felt my bosom swell-- For the words rang as a knell, And the voice seemed _his_ who fell In the battle down the dell, And who is happy now.
But he spoke to re-asure me, And he kissed my pallid brow, While a reverie came o're me, And to the church-yard bore me, And I sighed to him before me, Thinking him dead D'Elormie, Oh, I am happy now!
And thus the words were spoken, And this the plighted vow, And, though my faith be broken, And, though my heart be broken, Behold the golden token That _proves_ me happy now!
Would God I could awaken! For I dream I know not how, And my soul is sorely shaken Lest an evil step be taken,-- Lest the dead who is forsaken May not be happy now.
1845.
NOTES
1. The Raven was first published on the 29th January, 1845, in the NewYork Evening Mirror-a paper its author was then assistant editor of.It was prefaced by the following words, understood to have been writtenby N. P. Willis: We are permitted to copy (in advance of publication)from the second number of the American Review, the followingremarkable poem by Edgar Poe. In our opinion, it is the most effectivesingle example of 'fugitive poetry' ever published in this country, andunsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuityof versification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift and'pokerishness.' It is one of those 'dainties bred in a book' which wefeed on. It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it. In theFebruary number of the American Review the poem was published asby Quarles, and it was introduced by the following note, evidentlysuggested if not written by Poe himself.
[The following lines from a correspondent-besides the deep, quaintstrain of the sentiment, and the curious introduction of some ludicroustouches amidst the serious and impressive, as was doubtless intended bythe author-appears to us one of the most felicitous specimens of uniquerhyming which has for some time met our eye. The resources ofEnglish rhythm for varieties of melody, measure, and sound, producingcorresponding diversities of effect, having been thoroughly studied,much more perceived, by very few poets in the language. While theclassic tongues, especially the Greek, possess, by power of accent,several advantages for versification over our own, chiefly throughgreater abundance of spondaic: feet, we have other and very greatadvantages of sound by the modern usage of rhyme. Alliteration is nearlythe only effect of that kind which the ancients had in common withus. It will be seen that much of the melody of 'The Raven' arises fromalliteration, and the studious use of similar sounds in unusual places.In regard to its measure, it may be noted that if all the verses werelike the second, they might properly be placed merely in short lines,producing a not uncommon form; but the presence in all the others ofone line-mostly the second in the verse (stanza?)--which flowscontinuously, with only an aspirate pause in the middle, like thatbefore the short line in the Sapphic Adonic, while the fifth has at themiddle pause no similarity of sound with any part besides, gives theversification an entirely different effect. We could wish the capacitiesof our noble language in prosody were better understood.--ED. Am.Rev.]
2. The bibliographical history of The Bells is curious. The subject,and some lines of the original version, having been suggested by thepoet's friend, Mrs. Shew, Poe, when he wrote out the first draft of thepoem, headed it, The Bells, By Mrs. M. A. Shew. This draft, now theeditor's property, consists of only seventeen lines, and read thus:
I.
The bells!-ah, the bells! The little silver bells! How fairy-like a melody there floats From their throats-- From their merry little throats-- From the silver, tinkling throats Of the bells, bells, bells-- Of the bells!
II.
The bells!-ah, the bells!
The heavy iron bells! How horrible a monody there floats From 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 itto the 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 currentversion, was sent, and in the following October was published in theUnion Magazine.
3. This poem was first published in Colton's American Review forDecember, 1847, as To--Ulalume: a Ballad. Being reprinted immediatelyin the Home Journal, it was copied into various publications with thename of the editor, N. P. Willis, appended, and was ascribed to him.When first published, it contained the following additional stanza whichPoe subsequently, at the suggestion of Mrs. Whitman, wisely suppressed:
Said we then--we two, then--Ah, can it Have been that the woodlandish ghouls-- The pitiful, the merciful ghouls-- To bar up our path and to ban it From the secret that lies in these wolds-- Had drawn up the spectre of a planet From the limbo of lunary souls-- This sinfully scintillant planet From 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 theUnion Magazine, and with the omission, contrary to the knowledge ordesire of Poe, of the line, Oh, God! oh, Heaven--how my heart beats incoupling those two words.
5. Annabel Lee was written early in 1849, and is evidently anexpression of the poet's undying love for his deceased bride,although at least one of his lady admirers deemed it a response to heradmiration. Poe sent a copy of the ballad to the Union Magazine, inwhich publication it appeared in January, 1850, three months after theauthor's death. While suffering from hope deferred as to its fate,Poe presented a copy of Annabel Lee to the editor of the SouthernLiterary Messenger, who published it in the November number of hisperiodical, a month after Poe's death. In the meantime the poet's owncopy, left among his papers, passed into the hands of the person engagedto edit his works, and he quoted the poem in an obituary of Poe, in theNew York Tribune, before any one else had an opportunity of publishingit.
6. A Valentine, one of three poems addressed to Mrs. Osgood, appearsto have been written early in 1846.
7. An Enigma, addressed to Mrs. Sarah Anna Lewis (Stella), was sentto that lady in a letter, in November, 1847, and the following Marchappeared in 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 Broadwayjournal for April, 1845. These lines are but slightly varied from thoseinscribed To Mary, in the Southern Literary Messenger for July,1835, and subsequently republished, with the two stanzas transposed, inGraham's Magazine for March, 1842, as To One Departed.
11. To F----s S. O--d, a portion of the poet's triune tribute to Mrs.Osgood, was published in the Broadway Journal for September, 1845.The earliest version of these lines appeared in the Southern LiteraryMessenger for September, 1835, as Lines written in an Album, and wasaddressed 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,in the Flag of our Union, it does not appear to have ever received theauthor's finishing touches.