ELIZABETH

Edgar Allan Poe, 1850

    Elizabeth, it surely is most fit
    [Logic and common usage so commanding]
    In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
    Zeno and other sages notwithstanding;
    And I have other reasons for so doing
    Besides my innate love of contradiction;
    Each poet - if a poet - in pursuing
    The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
    Has studied very little of his part,
    Read nothing, written less - in short's a fool
    Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
    Being ignorant of one important rule,
    Employed in even the theses of the school-
    Called - I forget the heathenish Greek name
    [Called anything, its meaning is the same]
    "Always write first things uppermost in the heart."

Last modified: February 17 2015 15:21:46.