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The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe






The following list contains at least one entry for all 97 of what may properly be designated as Poe's poetry. A few entries exist for items without any surviving text, but are included for the sake of completeness. Also, because Poe often revised his work, sometimes quite heavily, the same poem might have been printed under more than one title. In the case of multiple titles, all of the titles have been listed, with an indication of the later name. (See, for example, "To Elizabeth.") A few poems share similar titles, such as "To Helen" — for these poems, the first line has been provided to allow for distinguishing one poem from the other. In addition to these items that are assigned to Poe's pen with confidence, one or two doubtful items have been included because they were at one point suggested by a credible authority as possibly having been by Poe. (In the list below, they are noted as "doubtful.") Also included is Poe's only play, "Politian," which is written in a verse form. Although Poe himself considered Eureka to be "a prose poem," for this website it has been placed in what seems to be the more suitable category of an Essay. Readers should also be advised to see several of Poe's essays on poetry, including "The Philosophy of Composition" and "The Poetic Principle." For a combined list of all the texts of Poe's poetry, see the original index (although that index has not been maintained and is less current than the information presented here).








The Collections and Books:

During his lifetime, Poe published four collections of his poetry. A posthumous collection, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, incorporates some additional manuscript changes, although Griswold did not have access to a few other important corrections and is therefore less than definitive. These collections are listed chronologically. Poe also sent Griswold revised versions of several poems for his important anthology of American poetry, which ran through many editions. Within each of the following items, there is descriptive information as well as a list of poems which links to the appropriate text.
  • Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems   (1829, Poe's second published collection of poetry, ATMP. The copy of this book Poe presented to John Neal is ATMP-JN, and the copy he gave to his cousin, Elizabeth Herring, and later reclaimed, is ATMP-EH)
  • The Poets and Poetry of America  (The selections from Poe's poetry vary somewhat through editions: 1st edition - 1842; 8th edition - 1847; and 10th edition - 1850, PPA)
  • Philadelphia Saturday Museum  (February 25 and March 4, 1843, Poe supplies seventeen poems for this biographical article attributed to H. B.Hirst. The article was first printed on February 25, 1843, and reprinted on March 4, 1843. No extant copies of the February 25 printing have been discovered.)







The Poems:

These items are arranged alphabetically by the name of the poem. Within each name, the items are listed chronologically. A few poems were published by Poe under more than one name, or under a name assigned by later editors. These poems are listed under the name most commonly used.    

Scroll down, or select letter:  A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z





~~ A ~~

  • “Alone”  ("From childhood's hour, I have not been . . .")
  • “Alone”  ("O! I care not that my earthly lot . . .") (original title of "To M—")




~~ B ~~






~~ C ~~

  • “[Couplet from 'The Fall of the House of Usher']”




~~ D ~~

  • “[Don Pompioso]”  [no text]




~~ E ~~

  • “[Early Satire]”  [no text]
  • “Enigma” [On Shakespeare]
  • “An Enigma”  (Sarah Anna Lewis)  (written about November 1847)
  • “[Epigram from Pulci]”
  • “[Epistola ad Magistrum]”  [no text]
  • “Evangeline”  (title assigned to the longest of what are sometimes called "Model Verses")
  • “[Experimental Verses]”  [no text]




~~ F ~~

  • “[Farewell to Master Clarke]”  [no text]




~~ H ~~

  • “[Hexameter]”
  • “[Holy Eyes]”  [no text has survived]
  • “Hymn”  (final title change of "Catholic Hymn")




~~ I ~~

  • “Irene” (original form of "The Sleeper")




~~ L ~~






~~ M ~~

  • “[Model Verses]”   (generic title of examples composed for "The Rationale of Verse," including one called "Evangeline")
  • “Monody on Dr. Olmstead”  (doubtful)
  • “[Motto for 'The Gold-Bug']”
  • “[Motto for the Stylus]”
  • “[Motto for 'William Wilson']”




~~ O ~~






~~ P ~~

  • “[Parody on Drake]”
  • “Preface”  (original title in ATMP of "Introduction" from POEMS, and later called "Romance")
  • “Politian” (a dramatic stage play in verse)




~~ R ~~






~~ S ~~

  • “[Satire on the Junior Debating Society]”  [no text]
  • “Silence” (later title of "Sonnet — To Silence")




~~ T ~~

  • “To —”  ["I heed not that my . . . "]  (alternate title of "To M—")
  • “To —” ["I Saw thee on the bridal day . . ."]  (alternate title of "Song")
  • “To —” ["Not long ago, the writer of these lines . . ."]   (alternate title of "To Marie Louise")
  • “To —” ["Should my early life seem . . ."]
  • “To —” [Elmira] ["The bowers whereat . . . "]
  • “To ——” ["Sleep on, sleep on, another hour . . ."]
  • “To Elizabeth” (early title of "To F——s S. O——d")
  • “[To Elizabeth Winchester — Impromptu]”  [no text has survived]
  • “To F——”  (later title of "To Mary" and "To Frances")
  • “To Frances”  (later title of "To Mary" and earlier title of "To F——")
  • “To Helen” ["Helen, thy beauty is to me. . ."]
  • “To Irene”  (possibly by Poe)
  • “To M—”  ["I heed not that my . . . "]
  • “To Mary”  (original title of "To Frances")
  • “[To Mary Starr]”  [no text has survived]
  • “To My Mother”   (later title for "Sonnet — To My Mother")
  • “To Zante”  (later title for "Sonnet — To Zante")
  • “[Translation from Tasso]”  [no text]
  • “The Trumpet Reveillee”  (possibly by Poe)




~~ U ~~






~~ V ~~









Note:


Details on a number of German translations were graciously provided by Roger Forclaz.




Related Items:




Bibliography:
  • Campbell, Killis, ed., The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1917.
  • Edsall, Thomas, ed., The Poe Catalogue, Baltimore: The 19th Century Shop, 1992. (This catalogue includes a few reprints of material which are not noted elsewhere.)
  • Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, ed., The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: Volume II - Poems and Miscellanies, New York: J. S. Redfield, 1850.
  • Harrison, James A., ed., The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Volume VII - Poems, New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1902. (Reprinted by New York: AMS Press, 1965.) (This edition includes several poems which are no longer attributed to Poe.)
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bilbiography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943. (The best overall bibliography of Poe, although it does contain errors and is somewhat outdated.)
  • Ljungquist, Kent P., "Poe's 'Al Aaraaf' and the Boston Lyceum: Contributions to Primary and Secondary Bibliography," Victorian Periodicals Review (Fall 1995), 28:199-216.
  • Ljungquist, Kent P., "Some Unrecorded Reprints of Poe's Works," ANQ, Winter 1995, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 20-22.
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Volume 1 - Poems, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969. (Second printing 1979.) (This is the definitive edition of Poe's Poems. Many of the more obscure items are available only in this collection, which also contains extensive notes.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Tamerlane and Other Poems, Boston: Calvin F. Thomas, 1827. (Facsimile reprint by T. O. Mabbott, ed., New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1941. There are also other facsimiles of this edition, some of which may be mistaken for an original.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, Baltimore: Hatch and Dunning, 1829. (Facsimile reprint by T. O. Mabbott, ed., New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1933.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Poems, New York: Elam Bliss, 1831. (Facsimile reprint by Campbell, Killis, ed., New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1936.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, The Raven and Other Poems, New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. (Facsimile reprint by T. O. Mabbott, ed., New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1942.)
  • Pollin, Burton R., "A Posthumous Assessment: The 1849-1850 Periodical Press Response to Edgar Allan Poe," American Periodicals, Fall 1992, pp. 6-50.
  • Quinn, Patrick F., ed, Poetry and Tales, New York: The Library of America, 1978. (A good basic collection, although there are errors in some of the texts.)
  • Stovall, Floyd, ed., The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1965. (A fine collection, second only to Mabbott's.)
  • Whitty, James H., ed., The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911. (Revised and expanded in 1917.) (This edition contains several poems which are no longer attributed to Poe.)



 
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