PREFACE. DGAR Poe's Raven may safely be termed the most popular lyrical poem in the world. It has appeared in all shapes and styles, from the little penny Glasgow edition to the magnificent folios of Mallarmé in Paris and Stedman in New York. The journals of America and Europe are never weary of quoting it, either piece-meal or in extenso, and no collection of modern poetry would be deemed complete without it. It has been translated and commented upon by the leading literati of two continents, and an entire literature has been founded upon it. To make known that literature, and to present the cream of it in a comprehensive and available form, is the object of this little volume. John H. Ingram. April, 1885. GENESIS. HELLEY'S exclamation about Shakespeare, "What a number of ideas must have been afloat before such an author could arise !" is equally applicable to the completion of a great poem. How many fleeting fancies must have passed through the poet's brain! How many crude ideas must have arisen, only to be rejected one after another for fairer and fitter thoughts, before the thinker could have fixed upon the fairest and fittest for his purpose! Could we unveil the various phases of thought which culminated in The Sensitive Plant, or trace the gradations which grew into The Ancient Mariner, the pleasure of the results would even rival the delight derived from a perusal of the poems themselves. "A history of how and where works of imagination have been produced," remarked L. E. L., "would often be more extraordinary than the works themselves." The "where" seldom imports much, but the "how" frequently signifies everything. Rarely has an attempt been made, and still more rarely with success, to investigate the germination of any poetic chef d'œuvre : Edgar Poe's most famous poem—The Raven—has, however, been a constant object of such research. B Could |