volumes of the prose stories he had then written-followed in 1840, and the ensuing year, The Gold Bug and The Murders of the Rue Morgue were written; while at the same time our author was engaged as editor of Graham's Magazine. The Raven, Poe's master-poem, was given to the public in 1845, through Colton's Whig Review.

THE RAVEN.

ONCE upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Ove many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten loreWhile I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. ""Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door

Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore

Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me-filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, *'Tis some visitor, entreating entrance at my chamber doorSome late visitor, entreating entrance at my chamber door; This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, "Sir," said I," or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rap

ping,

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber

door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you"-here I opened wide the door;

Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wonder. ing, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream

before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!".

Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before. "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window

lattice;

Let me see, then what thereat is, and this mystery explore— Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore;— "Tis the wind and nothing more."

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chambc: door

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber doorPerched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly, grim, and ancient Raven. wandering from the Nightly shore

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.”

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning-little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber
door-

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did out

pour.

Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered

Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before

On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, 'Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master, whom unmerciful

Disaster

Followed fast and followed faster, till his songs one burden bore

Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore

Of 'Never-nevermore.""

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and

bust, and door;

Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of

yore

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird

of yore

Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosoni's

core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet, violet lining, with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer,

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted

floor.

"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee-by these angels he hath sent thee,

Respite-respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchantedOn this home by Horror haunted-tell me truly, I implore— Is there is there balm in Gilead?-tell me-tell me, I implore!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil-prophet still, if bird or devil! By that heaven that bends above us, by that God we both

adore,

Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore."

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked,

upstarting

"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian

shore !

Leave no black plume as a token of the lie thy soul hath

spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!-quit the bust above my door'

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door. And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow, that lies floating on the floor,

Shall be lifted-nevermore!

During the four years succeeding the publication of the above poem, and while residing at New York, Poe contributed, at various times, to the Broadway Journal, and Godey's Lady's Book. A series of articles, published in the latter, and entitled The Literati of New York City, were, together with other sketches and essays, collected and républished in 1850.

Poe died in his native city, while on a visit there, of fever occasioned by intemperance and exposure, Oct. 7, 1849, at the age of thirty-eight.

Poe figures in American literature as essayist, fictionist, and poet. Of his merits in each of these departments there is no lack of weighty opinions, which, though they pretty generally agree as touching the main points of his genius, vary not a little in the terms employed to describe these points. We select the following as being, to our mind, the most candid and temperate.

"In his criticisms he has displayed a keen analysis, a clear discrimination; they are sharp and well defined, but unfair. . . . He was a master in the criticism of words and their collocation, but had not sufficient breadth of mind fully to appreciate thought, nor sufficient candor to acknowledge excellence." *

* Cleveland's Compendium of American Literature.