27

0 (0. d.) 27 O, (!) Note to 1. 33 [Plagiarism see the Works of Thomas Moore - passim - [Edr.] ] 43 again (again,) 44 (Never contented things ([The unbelieving things]).

The verbal variations of Burton's are the same as those of 1829.

Variations of Broadway Journal from the text.

Line 4 over (over.) 12 One (One,) 12 filmy (i.) 28 sleep. (

The 1831 version is as follows:

FAIRY-LAND.

Sit down beside me, Isabel,

Here, dearest, where the moonbeam fell
Just now so fairy-like and well.

Now thou art dress'd for paradise!

I am star-stricken with thine eyes!
My soul is lolling on thy sighs!
Thy hair is lifted by the moon

Like flowers by the low breath of June!
Sit down, sit down- how came we here?
Or is it all but a dream, my dear?

--

You know that most enormous flower

That rose - that what d'

call it ye

that hung

Up like a dog-star in this bower

To-day (the wind blew, and) it swung

So impudently in my face,

So like a thing alive you know,

I tore it from its pride of place
And shook it into pieces

Be all ingratitude requited.

SO

The winds ran off with it delighted,
And, thro' the opening left, as soon
As she threw off her cloak, yon moon
Has sent a ray down with a tune.

And this ray is a fairy ray-
Did you not say so, Isabel?
How fantastically it fell

With a spiral twist and a swell,
And over the wet grass rippled away
With a tinkling like a bell!

In my own country all the way
We can discover a moon ray

Which thro' some tatter'd curtain pries
Into the darkness of a room,

Is by (the very source of gloom)
The motes, and dust, and flies,
On which it trembles and lies
Like joy upon sorrow!

O, when will come the morrow?
Isabel, do you not fear

The night and the wonders here?
Dim vales! and shadowy floods !
And cloudy-looking woods
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over !

Huge moons see! wax and wanę
Again - again —— again.

Every moment of the night

Forever changing places !

How they put out the starlight

With the breath from their pale faces !

Lo! one is coming down

With its centre on the crown

Of a mountain's eminence !

Down- still down -- and down

Now deep shall be O deep!
The passion of our sleep!
For that wide circumference
In easy drapery falls

A fantastic picture of the setting of a moon on a mountain. The mountain is buried in a labyrinth of light. In the morning this covering canopy is withdrawn and shattered. Butterflies bring pieces of it on their wings. This poem comes very near to being meaningless and the lines are not always rhythmical. Cf. Appendix, "Poe and John Neal."

TO HELEN.

Page 46.

1831; SOUTHERn Literary Messenger, MarcH, 1836; GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER, 1841; PHILADELPHIA SATURDAY MUSEUM, MARCH 4, 1843; 1845.

Text, 1845.

Variations of Southern Literary Messenger from the text. I. 2 Nicéan (Nicean) 3 perfumed (perfum'd) 4 wayworn (o. h.) II. 4 glory that was (beauty of fair) 5 that was (of old) III. 1 yon brilliant (that little) z stand, () 3 agate lamp (folded scroll) 4 Ah, (!) 5 Holy-Land (o. h.).

Variations of 1831 from the text.

I. 2 Nicéan (Nicean) 3 perfumed (perfum'd) 4 weary, (o. c.) II. 4 glory that was (beauty of fair) 5 that was

(of old) III. 1 yon brilliant (that little) 2 stand, (!) 3 agate lamp (folded scroll) 3 hand! (-) 4 Ah, (A) 4 Psyche, (o. c.).

Variations of Graham from the text.

I. 4 way-worn (o. h.) II. 3 airs (airs,) 4 Greece, (—) III. 1 yon brilliant (that shadowy) 3 agate lamp (folded scroll) 3 hand! (-) 4 Ah, (!).

EDITOR'S NOTE.

Said to have been written when he was fourteen and, if so, then it refers to Mrs. Stanard.

"Helen" was Mrs. Whitman.

The second

ISRAFEL.

Page 47.

1831; SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, August, 1836; GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, OCTOBER, 1841; PHILADELPHIA SATURDAY MUSEUM, MARCH 4, 1843; 1845; BROADWAY JOURNAL, II. 3.

Text, 1845.

The earliest version (1831) reads as follows:

And the giddy stars are mute.

1 And the angel Israfel, who has the sweetest voice of all God's

creatures.