Tamerlane and Other Poems
Encyclopedia
Tamerlane and Other Poems is the first published work by American writer Edgar Allan Poe
. The short collection of poems was first published in 1827. Today, it is believed only 12 copies of the collection still exist.
Poe abandoned his foster family, the Allans, and moved to Boston
to find work in 1827. Having only minor success, he enlisted in the United States Army
. He brought with him several manuscripts, which he paid a printer named Calvin F. S. Thomas to publish. The 40-page collection was called Tamerlane and Other Poems and did not include Poe's name. Distribution was limited to 50 copies and it received no critical attention. The poems were largely inspired by Lord Byron
, including the long title poem "Tamerlane
", which depicts an historical conqueror who laments the loss of his first romance. Like much of Poe's future work, the poems in Tamerlane and Other Poems include themes of love, death, and pride.
Poe's first published collection is so rare that after Poe's death Rufus Wilmot Griswold
believed it had never existed until one was found in 1859. It has since been recognized as one of the rarest first editions in American literature.
due to gambling debts. He left the university in March 1827 and the already-strained relationship with his foster father, John Allan, grew worse. Poe determined to go to Boston
, where he was born. When Poe's biological mother Eliza Poe
died, the only object she left him was a watercolor painting of the city, on the back of which she had written, "For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best and most sympathetic friends." John Allan, a merchant in Richmond, Virginia
, refused to give his foster son the $12 for the trip, though it is likely Poe got the money from his foster mother Frances Allan. John Allan was not aware of Poe's decision or whereabouts and, not concerned, wrote "I'm thinking Edgar has gone to Sea to seek his own fortunes". After arriving in Boston in April 1827, Poe served briefly as clerk for a wholesale merchandise warehouse on the waterfront, then as an office clerk and reporter for an obscure newspaper, the Weekly Report. After several weeks, in desperation, he enlisted in the United States Army for a five-year term under the pseudonym "Edgar A. Perry"; he gave his age as 22, though he was only 18, likely because he would have needed parental consent if under 21. He was assigned to the First Regiment of Artillery and stationed at Boston Harbor's Fort Independence
.
Up to this point, Poe had not written much poetry. His earliest lines of verse were a couplet labeled "Poetry", presumably written sometime in 1824 in the ledger book of Allan & Ellis, his foster father's mercantile company. The lines read: "Last night with many cares & toils oppress'd / Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest—". The earliest known full-length poem by Poe, "O, Tempora! O, Mores!", is a satirical poem whose authorship is the subject of some dispute. Nevertheless, calling himself "irrecoverably a poet", he had been working on a few longer poems at the University of Virginia, whose manuscripts he brought with him to Boston.
Tamerlane and Other Poems was published anonymously
with the credit granted to "a Bostonian". His name, typically listed as "Edgar A. Poe", was not published with his work until his second collection, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in late 1829. Poe may have chosen not to give his name so that his foster father, John Allan, would not know where he was; moreover, his choice to embrace his Bostonian heritage may have been an attempt to distance himself from the Allan family in Richmond. Boston was, at the time, a center for publishing and the literary world. By the time the book was released, Poe was already in the Army.
Poe introduced the collection with an apologetic notice admitting the low quality of his poems. He said they were not intended to ever be published and "why they are now published concerns no one" but the author. He claimed, however, that the majority of the poems were written between 1820 and 1821, "when the author had not completed his fourteenth year" though this is assumed to be an exaggeration. Poe used the low circulation of this collection to attract readers later in his career, suggesting the 1827 poetry book had been "suppressed through circumstances of a private nature". That second collection, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, included revised versions of five of the nine poems from Tamerlane and Other Poems.
Distribution of Tamerlane and Other Poems was so light that Rufus Wilmot Griswold
in 1850 claimed it had never existed, noting that none had been found. The first known copy turned up in 1859 with a second found in 1874. A type facsimile of a copy held by the British Museum
, edited and introduced by Richard Herne Shepherd
, was published as a limited edition in 1884. Another copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems was published in a 1941 facsimile by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, who provided the introduction; his correction and additions to this are found in a subsequent publication.
The poems, many of which had a theme of youth, were inspired in part by the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
. The largest inspiration on Poe, however, came from the work of Lord Byron
; the character of the title poem "Tamerlane" has a daughter named "Ada", named after Byron's own daughter Ada Lovelace
. Poe admired Byron both for his poetry and for his rebellious personality. John Allan blamed Poe's interest in Byron for his licentiousness. Some biographers suggest that Poe's wandering to Boston and joining the Army represent a need to live like an outcast inspired by Byron.
The title poem, "Tamerlane
", depicts a dying conqueror who regrets leaving his childhood sweetheart and his home to pursue his ambitions. In its original form, "Tamerlane", based on the historical Timur
, was 406 lines. The choice of an eastern character was unusual for a westerner at the time, though Byron, François-René de Chateaubriand
, Thomas Moore
and others had written other Orientalist
works. Autobiographical overtones suggest Poe based the poem on the loss of his own early love, Sarah Elmira Royster
, or of his birth mother Eliza Poe. The poem may also mirror Poe's relationship with his foster father John Allan; similar to Poe, Tamerlane is of uncertain parentage, with a "feigned name".
The "other poems", which Poe admitted "perhaps savour too much of egotism; but they were written by one too young to have any knowledge of the world but from his own breast". These poems present the poet as solitary figure who was faced some unnamed transforming childhood event. Poe adopted some of the common themes of the day, including imagery of heavenly bliss and angelic beauty. He steps away from the typical use of didacticism
of the time and instead focuses on psychological reverie and symbolist
aesthetics, beginning his lifelong poetic refusal to write for the masses. Poe would continue to revisit themes of death, beauty, love, and pride in his later works. He would later rewrite one poem, "Imitation", as "A Dream Within a Dream
" and use images from "Evening Star" in "Ulalume
".
listed it in October 1827. Samuel Kettell listed Tamerlane and Other Poems in his "Catalogue of American Poetry" section of his three-volume anthology Specimens of American Poetry in 1829. Literary historian Joel Porte
suggests the American reading public during this period was more interested in fiction than poetry. Despite its lack of attention, the publication of Tamerlane and Other Poems gave a young Poe the confidence to continue writing.
After Poe became more popular with "The Raven
", a reviewer who saw parts of Tamerlane and Other Poems commented, "'Poems written during youth' no matter by whom written, are best preserved for the eye of the writer". Modern scholar Joseph Wood Krutch said the collection "save for a few poems, [was] distinctly prentice work". Poe biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn wrote: "The perfection which marked Poe's great lyrics was, of course, not yet present. But the promise was there." Quinn also credits Poe for publishing a collection of poetry before slightly older contemporaries who would become popular poets, including Ralph Waldo Emerson
, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
, John Greenleaf Whittier
, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Scholar Harry Lee Poe
, a distant relative of Poe, wrote in 2008 that the collection did not include great poetry. However, he added, "it was the trumpet blast announcing that a new poet had stepped upon the stage".
It is believed only a dozen copies of the original printing of Tamerlane and Other Poems remain, making it one of the rarest of first editions in American literature. Ironically, the value of one copy today is more money than Poe ever made in his lifetime. Its rarity was recognized in 1925, when the Saturday Evening Post ran an article titled "Have You A Tamerlane in Your Attic"? After the article ran, a woman in Worcester, Massachusetts
named Ada S. Dodd searched and found a copy, prompting others to search as well. Today, most of the surviving copies are owned by libraries and museums. Two copies, for example, were purchased by The Huntington Library
in New York in 1915. One copy is on display as part of the collection at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum
in Richmond, Virginia. Though copies do not circulate often, they command high prices when they do. One sold at auction for $125,000 and, later, another sold for $198,000.
In December 2009, a copy from the William E. Self collection sold at Christie's
, New York for $662,500, a record price paid for a work of American literature.
Other poems, also known as "Fugitive pieces"
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. The short collection of poems was first published in 1827. Today, it is believed only 12 copies of the collection still exist.
Poe abandoned his foster family, the Allans, and moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
to find work in 1827. Having only minor success, he enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He brought with him several manuscripts, which he paid a printer named Calvin F. S. Thomas to publish. The 40-page collection was called Tamerlane and Other Poems and did not include Poe's name. Distribution was limited to 50 copies and it received no critical attention. The poems were largely inspired by Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
, including the long title poem "Tamerlane
Tamerlane (poem)
"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the 1827 collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. That collection, with only 50 copies printed, was not credited with the author's real name but by "A Bostonian." The poem's original version was 403 lines but trimmed down to 223 lines...
", which depicts an historical conqueror who laments the loss of his first romance. Like much of Poe's future work, the poems in Tamerlane and Other Poems include themes of love, death, and pride.
Poe's first published collection is so rare that after Poe's death Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...
believed it had never existed until one was found in 1859. It has since been recognized as one of the rarest first editions in American literature.
Background
Edgar Poe was unable to complete studies at the University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
due to gambling debts. He left the university in March 1827 and the already-strained relationship with his foster father, John Allan, grew worse. Poe determined to go to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where he was born. When Poe's biological mother Eliza Poe
Eliza Poe
Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe was an English-born American actress and the mother of the American author Edgar Allan Poe.-Life and career:...
died, the only object she left him was a watercolor painting of the city, on the back of which she had written, "For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best and most sympathetic friends." John Allan, a merchant in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, refused to give his foster son the $12 for the trip, though it is likely Poe got the money from his foster mother Frances Allan. John Allan was not aware of Poe's decision or whereabouts and, not concerned, wrote "I'm thinking Edgar has gone to Sea to seek his own fortunes". After arriving in Boston in April 1827, Poe served briefly as clerk for a wholesale merchandise warehouse on the waterfront, then as an office clerk and reporter for an obscure newspaper, the Weekly Report. After several weeks, in desperation, he enlisted in the United States Army for a five-year term under the pseudonym "Edgar A. Perry"; he gave his age as 22, though he was only 18, likely because he would have needed parental consent if under 21. He was assigned to the First Regiment of Artillery and stationed at Boston Harbor's Fort Independence
Fort Independence (Massachusetts)
Fort Independence is a granite star fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts. Located on Castle Island, Fort Independence is the oldest continuously fortified site of English origin in the United States. The first primitive fortification was placed on the site in 1634 and...
.
Up to this point, Poe had not written much poetry. His earliest lines of verse were a couplet labeled "Poetry", presumably written sometime in 1824 in the ledger book of Allan & Ellis, his foster father's mercantile company. The lines read: "Last night with many cares & toils oppress'd / Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest—". The earliest known full-length poem by Poe, "O, Tempora! O, Mores!", is a satirical poem whose authorship is the subject of some dispute. Nevertheless, calling himself "irrecoverably a poet", he had been working on a few longer poems at the University of Virginia, whose manuscripts he brought with him to Boston.
Publication history
Sometime in the spring of 1827, Poe turned over his manuscripts to an 18-year old printer named Calvin F. S. Thomas, whose family may have been known by Poe's birth parents. Thomas had previously only printed labels, flyers, and other small jobs. Poe used his own money to pay for the publication of his poems as the 40-page collection Tamerlane and Other Poems, the only known book printed by Thomas. The collection was pamphlet-sized, 6.75 by 4.5 inches. Poe was 18 years old when the collection was released in July 1827 and only 50 copies were printed. The total production number is the subject of dispute; various scholars believe the number was slightly lower (only 20 copies) or substantially higher (as many as 200).Tamerlane and Other Poems was published anonymously
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
with the credit granted to "a Bostonian". His name, typically listed as "Edgar A. Poe", was not published with his work until his second collection, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in late 1829. Poe may have chosen not to give his name so that his foster father, John Allan, would not know where he was; moreover, his choice to embrace his Bostonian heritage may have been an attempt to distance himself from the Allan family in Richmond. Boston was, at the time, a center for publishing and the literary world. By the time the book was released, Poe was already in the Army.
Poe introduced the collection with an apologetic notice admitting the low quality of his poems. He said they were not intended to ever be published and "why they are now published concerns no one" but the author. He claimed, however, that the majority of the poems were written between 1820 and 1821, "when the author had not completed his fourteenth year" though this is assumed to be an exaggeration. Poe used the low circulation of this collection to attract readers later in his career, suggesting the 1827 poetry book had been "suppressed through circumstances of a private nature". That second collection, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, included revised versions of five of the nine poems from Tamerlane and Other Poems.
Distribution of Tamerlane and Other Poems was so light that Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...
in 1850 claimed it had never existed, noting that none had been found. The first known copy turned up in 1859 with a second found in 1874. A type facsimile of a copy held by the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, edited and introduced by Richard Herne Shepherd
Richard Herne Shepherd
-Life:Richard, born at Chelsea early in 1842, was a younger son of Samuel Shepherd, F.S.A. His grandfather, Richard Herne Shepherd , was from 1818 to 1848 a well-known revivalist preacher at the Ranelagh Chapel, Chelsea, and published, besides sermons and devotional works, a volume of meditative...
, was published as a limited edition in 1884. Another copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems was published in a 1941 facsimile by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, who provided the introduction; his correction and additions to this are found in a subsequent publication.
Themes
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
. The largest inspiration on Poe, however, came from the work of Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
; the character of the title poem "Tamerlane" has a daughter named "Ada", named after Byron's own daughter Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
. Poe admired Byron both for his poetry and for his rebellious personality. John Allan blamed Poe's interest in Byron for his licentiousness. Some biographers suggest that Poe's wandering to Boston and joining the Army represent a need to live like an outcast inspired by Byron.
The title poem, "Tamerlane
Tamerlane (poem)
"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the 1827 collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. That collection, with only 50 copies printed, was not credited with the author's real name but by "A Bostonian." The poem's original version was 403 lines but trimmed down to 223 lines...
", depicts a dying conqueror who regrets leaving his childhood sweetheart and his home to pursue his ambitions. In its original form, "Tamerlane", based on the historical Timur
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
, was 406 lines. The choice of an eastern character was unusual for a westerner at the time, though Byron, François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.-Early life and exile:...
, Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
and others had written other Orientalist
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
works. Autobiographical overtones suggest Poe based the poem on the loss of his own early love, Sarah Elmira Royster
Sarah Elmira Royster
Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton was an adolescent sweetheart of Edgar Allan Poe who became engaged to him shortly before his death in 1849....
, or of his birth mother Eliza Poe. The poem may also mirror Poe's relationship with his foster father John Allan; similar to Poe, Tamerlane is of uncertain parentage, with a "feigned name".
The "other poems", which Poe admitted "perhaps savour too much of egotism; but they were written by one too young to have any knowledge of the world but from his own breast". These poems present the poet as solitary figure who was faced some unnamed transforming childhood event. Poe adopted some of the common themes of the day, including imagery of heavenly bliss and angelic beauty. He steps away from the typical use of didacticism
Didacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
of the time and instead focuses on psychological reverie and symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
aesthetics, beginning his lifelong poetic refusal to write for the masses. Poe would continue to revisit themes of death, beauty, love, and pride in his later works. He would later rewrite one poem, "Imitation", as "A Dream Within a Dream
A Dream Within a Dream
"A Dream Within a Dream" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The poem is 24 lines, divided into two stanzas. The poem questions the way one can distinguish between reality and fantasy, asking, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?"-Analysis:"A Dream...
" and use images from "Evening Star" in "Ulalume
Ulalume
"Ulalume" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1847. Much like a few of Poe's other poems , "Ulalume" focuses on the narrator's loss of a beautiful woman due to her death. Poe originally wrote the poem as an elocution piece and, as such, the poem is known for its focus on sound...
".
Critical reception
Tamerlane and Other Poems was virtually ignored and received no significant critical attention upon its publication. The only public notice of it was a mention of the title in a couple lists of recent books: The United States Review and Literary Gazette listed it in August and the North American ReviewNorth American Review
The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...
listed it in October 1827. Samuel Kettell listed Tamerlane and Other Poems in his "Catalogue of American Poetry" section of his three-volume anthology Specimens of American Poetry in 1829. Literary historian Joel Porte
Joel Porte
Joel Miles Porte was an American literary scholar, who was an internationally renowned authority on the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson.-Biography:...
suggests the American reading public during this period was more interested in fiction than poetry. Despite its lack of attention, the publication of Tamerlane and Other Poems gave a young Poe the confidence to continue writing.
After Poe became more popular with "The Raven
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness...
", a reviewer who saw parts of Tamerlane and Other Poems commented, "'Poems written during youth' no matter by whom written, are best preserved for the eye of the writer". Modern scholar Joseph Wood Krutch said the collection "save for a few poems, [was] distinctly prentice work". Poe biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn wrote: "The perfection which marked Poe's great lyrics was, of course, not yet present. But the promise was there." Quinn also credits Poe for publishing a collection of poetry before slightly older contemporaries who would become popular poets, including Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
, John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets...
, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
Scholar Harry Lee Poe
Harry Lee Poe
Harry Lee Poe is the Charles Colson Chair of Faith and Culture at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and author of a number of books.He is an indirect descendant of the family of Edgar Allan Poe, and president of the Poe Foundation...
, a distant relative of Poe, wrote in 2008 that the collection did not include great poetry. However, he added, "it was the trumpet blast announcing that a new poet had stepped upon the stage".
It is believed only a dozen copies of the original printing of Tamerlane and Other Poems remain, making it one of the rarest of first editions in American literature. Ironically, the value of one copy today is more money than Poe ever made in his lifetime. Its rarity was recognized in 1925, when the Saturday Evening Post ran an article titled "Have You A Tamerlane in Your Attic"? After the article ran, a woman in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
named Ada S. Dodd searched and found a copy, prompting others to search as well. Today, most of the surviving copies are owned by libraries and museums. Two copies, for example, were purchased by The Huntington Library
The Huntington Library
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington in San Marino, in the San Rafael Hills near Pasadena, California in the United States...
in New York in 1915. One copy is on display as part of the collection at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Edgar Allan Poe Museum (Richmond)
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum is a museum located in Richmond, Virginia, dedicated to American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Though Poe never lived in the building, it serves to commemorate his time living in Richmond. The museum holds one of the world's largest collections of original manuscripts, letters,...
in Richmond, Virginia. Though copies do not circulate often, they command high prices when they do. One sold at auction for $125,000 and, later, another sold for $198,000.
In December 2009, a copy from the William E. Self collection sold at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
, New York for $662,500, a record price paid for a work of American literature.
Content
The work was originally published without a table of contents, later editions and commentary use the titles or first lines to identify the poems. Much of the content was reworked, occasionally retitled, by Poe for later collections- The preface, pages iii-iv
- "TamerlaneTamerlane (poem)"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the 1827 collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. That collection, with only 50 copies printed, was not credited with the author's real name but by "A Bostonian." The poem's original version was 403 lines but trimmed down to 223 lines...
"
Other poems, also known as "Fugitive pieces"
- "To — — " (now known as "Song")
- Dreams
- "Visits of the Dead" (now known as "Spirits of the Dead")
- "Evening Star"
- "Imitation"
- Untitled poem: "In youth have I known . . ." ("Stanzas")
- Untitled poem: "A wilder'd being from my birth . . ." (see "A Dream")
- Untitled poem: "The happiest day — the happiest hour . . ." (see "The Happiest Day")
- "The Lake"
- The author's endnotes
External links
- List of known extant copies of Tamerlane and Other Poems, Edgar Allan Poe Society online