" This draft, now the
editor's property, consists of only seventeen lines, and read thus:
I.
editor's property, consists of only seventeen lines, and read thus:
I.
Edgar Allen Poe
Alliteration is nearly
the only effect of that kind which the ancients had in common with
us. It will be seen that much of the melody of 'The Raven' arises from
alliteration, and the studious use of similar sounds in unusual places.
In regard to its measure, it may be noted that if all the verses were
like the second, they might properly be placed merely in short lines,
producing a not uncommon form; but the presence in all the others of
one line-mostly the second in the verse" (stanza? )--"which flows
continuously, with only an aspirate pause in the middle, like that
before the short line in the Sapphic Adonic, while the fifth has at the
middle pause no similarity of sound with any part besides, gives the
versification an entirely different effect. We could wish the capacities
of 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 the
poet's friend, Mrs. Shew, Poe, when he wrote out the first draft of the
poem, headed it, "The Bells, By Mrs. M. A. Shew.
" This draft, now the
editor'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 it
to the editor of the "Union Magazine. " It was not published. So, in the
following February, the poet forwarded to the same periodical a much
enlarged and altered transcript. Three months having elapsed without
publication, another revision of the poem, similar to the current
version, was sent, and in the following October was published in the
"Union Magazine. "
3.
the only effect of that kind which the ancients had in common with
us. It will be seen that much of the melody of 'The Raven' arises from
alliteration, and the studious use of similar sounds in unusual places.
In regard to its measure, it may be noted that if all the verses were
like the second, they might properly be placed merely in short lines,
producing a not uncommon form; but the presence in all the others of
one line-mostly the second in the verse" (stanza? )--"which flows
continuously, with only an aspirate pause in the middle, like that
before the short line in the Sapphic Adonic, while the fifth has at the
middle pause no similarity of sound with any part besides, gives the
versification an entirely different effect. We could wish the capacities
of 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 the
poet's friend, Mrs. Shew, Poe, when he wrote out the first draft of the
poem, headed it, "The Bells, By Mrs. M. A. Shew.
" This draft, now the
editor'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 it
to the editor of the "Union Magazine. " It was not published. So, in the
following February, the poet forwarded to the same periodical a much
enlarged and altered transcript. Three months having elapsed without
publication, another revision of the poem, similar to the current
version, was sent, and in the following October was published in the
"Union Magazine. "
3.
