Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “To — —” (Comparative Text - Wilmer-MS and ATMP)


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Texts Represented:


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Title: TO —— ——

Stanza: 1

Line-01-001: Should my early life seem,

Line-01-002: [As well it might] a dream —

Line-01-003: Yet I build no faith upon

Line-01-004: The king Napoleon —

Line-01-005: I look not up afar

Line-01-006: {{1828-01: To //1829-02: For }} my destiny in a star:

Stanza: 2

Line-01-007: In parting from you now

Line-01-008: Thus much I will avow —

Line-01-009: There are beings, and have been

Line-01-010: Whom my spirit had not seen

Line-01-011: Had I let them pass me by

Line-01-012: With a dreaming eye —

Line-01-013: If my peace hath fled away

Line-01-014: In a night — or in a day —

Line-01-015: In a vision — or in none —

Line-01-016: Is it {{1829-02: therefore }} the less gone? —

Stanza: 3

Line-01-017: I am standing 'mid the roar

Line-01-018: Of a weather-beaten shore,

Line-01-019: And I hold within my hand

Line-01-020: Some particles of sand —

Line-01-021: How few! and how they creep

Line-01-022: Thro’ my fingers to the deep!

Line-01-023: My early hopes? no — they

Line-01-024: Went gloriously away,

Line-01-025: Like lightning from the sky

Line-01-026: At once — and so will I.

Stanza: 4

Line-01-027: So young? ah! no — not now —

Line-01-028: Thou hast not seen my brow,

Line-01-029: But they tell thee I am proud —

Line-01-030: They lie — they lie aloud —

Line-01-031: My bosom beats with shame

Line-01-032: At the paltriness of name

Line-01-033: With which they dare combine

Line-01-034: A feeling such as mine —

Line-01-035: Nor Stoic? I am not:

Line-01-036: In the terror of my lot

Line-01-037: I laugh to think how poor

Line-01-038: That pleasure “to endure!”

Line-01-039: What! shade of Zeno! — I!

Line-01-040: Endure! — no — no — defy.


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Notes:

For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.

Because these changes reflect two different printed texts, pagination has been omitted in the present text. The base line numbers are common to both texts.


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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To — — (Comparative Text - Wilmer-MS and ATMP)