Text: Benjamin Blake Minor, “Who Wrote ‘The Raven’ — Poe or Hirst?,” Richmond Times (Richmond, VA), vol. 8, ns. no. 292, February 17, 1895, p. 6, cols. 3-5

[page 6, column 3, continued:]

Who Wrote “The Raven” — Poe or Hirst?

The Richmond Times has republished from the Philadelphia Record a lengthy interview held by its correspondent with Dr. Mathew Woods, a well-known physician of the Quaker City, in which the Doctor earnestly maintains that Edgar A. Poe was not the author of what has given him his greatest Raven.” ‘The Doctor, or interviewer, ascribes it to Mr. Charles B. Hirst, and, amongst other things, says, that Hirst claimed to have been its author.

Thus we have another bold iconoclasm. Shakespeare did not write Hamlet, nor Lear, nor Macbeth, nor Othello, John Smith was not the real father of the settlement at Jamestown, and was [column 4:] not rescued by its guardian, Pocahontas, Walter Scott did not write the Waverly novels, and Milton stole thunder from an English predecessor named Peyton, to say nothing of the various attacks upon the authenticity of Homer himself. We have an addition to the fist or Donnelly, Holmes, Clark, Peyton, Dean, Brown and others of another “doubting Thomas.” But the learned Doctor, or his reporter, has made at least one mistake, for the famous Philadelphia poet, who is destined to rob Poe of his most Verdant laurels, was not Charles but Henry B. Hirst.

The works ascribed by the Doctor to his protege conclusively prove this assertion, as will yet be shown. I did not have any personal acquaintance with Mr. Poe, but I had some correspondence with him whilst I was editIng “The Southern Literary Messenger,” In Richmond, from August, 1843, to inclusive. He was a paid part of that time, but of only prose articles. In connection with his quarrel with Dr.

Thomas Dunn English, I have already had occasion to state publicly that I ignored Mr. Poe because he treated me so badly whilst I was substantially befriending him. He was in Richmond and I knew it, but after what had occurred between us I deemed it his part to seek me. As he did not, he was allowed to pass unnoticed. It will thus be seen that I am not to be ranged a8 one of his special friends or apologists Still I can do him justice, and the idea that he did not produce the Raven appears to he preposterous.

With Mr. Henry B. Hirst, of the City of Brotherly Love, I did have a very pleasant acquaintance. He and his sister, Anna Maria, were admitted as poetical contributors to the “Messenger” in the latter part of 1843, and continued up to the summer of 1815. Why they discontinued, if there was any special reason for it, is not remembered.

We never had any unpleasantness, and they were gratitled with the reception which was accorded them by the -more kind, perhaps, as Dr. Woods himself intimates, than might have been extended to them by their own home magazines. I suppose that Mr. Hirst stopped his offerings to the Messenger because about that time he felt sufficiently established to come before the public with a very neat volume of his poems and to engage in other forms of book-making. During one of my visits to Philadelphia I not only made his acquaintance, but he took me to his home and introduced me to his sister, and every courtesy was received from both.

As Dr. Woods intended to publish a life of Hirst and to edit two volumes of his poems, the published interview and his assault upon Poe will be a splendid advertisement of his contemplated work. In promoting its suecess I have no objection to aid him, but he will have to omit “The Raven.” Now why has it been so confidently asserted that the interviewer's Charles B. is the Southern Literry Messenger's Henry B. Hirst? The interview mentions by name the productions of the said Charles among which are “The Coming of the “The Funeral of Time,” “Endymion,” “The Sea of the Mind,” “The Death Song of the “The American Skylark,” etc.

Well, in the Messenger for November, 1843, is “The death Song of the Nightingale,” by Henry B. Hirst. In December, 1843, he has “The American Alanda In January, 1844, he has “The Coming of the Night,” and also [column 4:] “To E., with a Withered Rosebud.” In February, 1841, appears his “Burial of Eros.” In April, 1844, he celebrates “Isabelle,” a ballad. In July, 1844, will be found his “Endymion,” by the author of “Isabelle,” “Burial of Eros,” etc. In September, 1844, we have his “Funeral of Time.” In October, 1841, he gave us “Geraldine,” by the author of “Endymion.” In March, 1845, he issued his “Mare Mentie, Sea of the Mind,” by the author of “Endymion.”

This seems to have been his last contribution to the Messenger, whilst it was under my management. But its connection with him did not terminate then and there, in its August number, 1845, is an editorial criticism, of as the follows:

“The Coming of the Mammoth, the Funeral of Time, and other poems, by Henry B. Hirst. Prome: Si merear, in me. Trajan, Boston, Phillips and Sampson, 1845.

“Many of these poems have already appeared in the Messenger and we hope that our readers are prepared to appreciate the contents of the volume. The leading poem, ‘The Coming of the Mammoth,’ is inferior to some of others. At times Mr. Hirst appears to us to write, as it were, more by expression and versification than by a definite conception of his subject and meaning. Many of the poems are worthy of high commendation, and the peculiarly neat and unadorned style of the publication is indicative of refined taste. have room only for the following sonnet, which we select, not as the best, but as applicable to the author:

“ ‘The Poet.

How he liked this notice — whether he regarded it as adequate, or just — we never had any opportunity of learning.

There is still another link between Mr. Hirst and the Messenger. Messrs. C. H. Butler & Co., of Philadelphia, published a very handsome annual for 1847. It was finely Illuminated and Illustrated, and some of the designs were drawn by Mr. Hirst; so that he was an amateur artist as well as a poet. He also contributed to its literary contents, and the Messenger, in its notice of this elegant publication, of Memory,” copied in full his “Leaflets poem No. for 1846, along with entitled “Madeline.” It can be see: a in Inez, from the pen of the October companion gem, been as much of Thomas Buchanan Read.

Mr. Poe may not have been an as much of an ornithologist as was Mr. Hirst, but [column 6:] he had been in many places where he could have seen ravens and made observations of them sufficient for all the uses his celebrated poem makes of that bird. Mr. Hirst may have had one.

Dr. Woods says that “The Raven” was first published anonymously over the signature of “Quarles,” and this he suggests means quarrels between Poe and Hirst. This interpretation is puerile, and is worse than some of those which the Doctor ridicules as having been given to “The Raven.” Suppose that Poe did adopt the nom de plume “Quarles,” in allusion to his having quarrelled with Hirst, what could that indicate in regard to the authorship of the poem? Both had written poetry before, and both continued to write it. But Poe soon dropped his disguise and avowed publicly the authorship of “The Raven,” and Hirst let him have it. There are some facts which it seems to me must silence forever any and every pretence that can be brought forward of a claim by Mr. Hirst to the honor of having composed “The Raven.” Not very long after its first publication in New long after its first publication in New York Mr. Poe wrote to me and asked me, as a special favor to him, to republish it in the Messenger, with which he had once been editorially associated. He knew that the granting of his request would be a departure from a general rule; still he urged it, saying make that he wished to make some alterations and desired to see his work in the beautiful typography of the Messenger.” Its founder, Mr. T. W. White, had given it a high character for the style in which he printed it.

An inspection of “The Raven” induced me to comply with the author's request, and it was issued in the March No, 1845, page, 157.

I have since compared the copy in the Messenger with that in the American Whig Review, of New York. The changes are not numerous, but, in my humble judgement, every one of them was an improvement.

And now we have come to the gist of the matter. That very issue of the Messenger (March 1845), which contained the first complete version of “The Raven,” with Poe's name attached to it, contained also “Mare Mentis, by Henry B. Hirst, author of Endymion.” Thus the two poets were arranged, not against each other, but as it were side by side, in the same number of a literary magazine, friendly to both and especially to Hirst, whom it had helped to develop. Hirst knew and saw that Poe claimed “The Raven,” and that the Messenger recognized his claim. Yet he never uttered a word of protest or objection. By means of that remarkable or series of conceptions ant their wonderful presentation and deliverance which constitute “The Raven,” Poe was about to be wedded to a fame far above any which Hirst enjoyed, or to which he was likely to attain, and the journals of the country everywhere were following the example of the Messenger in “publishing the banns.” Hirst kew all this, and yet “held his peace.” Can his friends and admirers really do any better for him than he did for himself?

So far as there may be any resemblance between the writings of Poe and those of Hirst, why may not the latter be the imitator and beneficiary, in so far as there may be any imitation, instead of those similarities of thought which come unexpectedly to different penetrating of minds?

Notwithstanding, then, any plausible case which Dr. Woods may be able to make out, Poe's claim to the authorishp [[authorship]] make [column 7:] of “The Raven” will remain, and ought to remain, undisturbed. Success, however, to the enthusiastic Doctor in his promised edition of works of Henry B. Hirst, for which this article is intended, in part, to prepare the way, In conclusion it may be stated that there was another young Philadelphia writer whom the Southern Literary Messenger cheerfully entertained and assisted in developing, and who has become highly distinguished by his various works in prose. Reference is made to the learned, accomplished and indefatigable Henry C. Lea.

BEN. BLAKE MINOR.

Richmond, Feb. 1, 1895.