$34,500
POE, EDGAR ALLAN (1809-1849) Autograph Letter Signed, January 25, (18) 45, New York, two pages, with holograph address panel, to A. M. Ide, Jr., concerning Poe's critique of Ide's poetry and other his thoughts on publishing, the selling of work and other issues, (top edge ragged, with minor losses, seal tear), text in full: My Dear Sir, Your letter of the 12th reached me, in this city, only a few days ago. I am now living here. I read the poem with great interest, and think it my much the best I have seen from your pen. Absolutely, also, I think it a remarkably fine poem. Some of the lines, are in all respects, admirable. For example - Midnight in the silent city, midnight on the throbbing sea.- And the soft and silvery star-light fills the overhanging sky- From the land beyond the ocean, on the rolling billows borne, Comes the sunlight of the morning to the weary and the worn- With the tribute and the treasure of the islands and the seas. These are fine verses, independently of thought. Some of them are defective - for instance: With foul shame to the weak-hearted, and the vanity of fear. Your rhythm is trochaic - that is to say, composed of 2-syllable feet, in which the first is long, the second short. With and the, therefore are rhythmically long syllables, while naturally they are short. This contradiction should never exist. It exists in the line beginning - "With the tribute and the" &c but not so glaringly. I am glad to see that you have altered "Oe'r the wild lou Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2001-11-10
