Tamerlane (poem)

"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the 1827 collection "Tamerlane and Other Poems". That collection, with only 50 copies printed, was not credited with the author's real name but by "A Bostonian." The poem's original version was 403 lines but trimmed down to 223 lines for its inclusion in "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems".

ynopsis

The poem itself follows a Mongol conqueror named Tamerlane. The name is a Latinized version of "Timur", a historical 14th century warlord, though the poem is not historically accurate.

Tamerlane ignores the young love he has for a peasant in order to achieve power. On his deathbed, he regrets this decision to create "a kingdom [in exchange] for a broken-heart." The peasant is named Ada in most of Poe's original version of the poem, though it is removed and re-added throughout its many revised versions. [Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. p. 124. ISBN 0801857309] The name "Ada" is likely a reference to the daughter of Lord Byron, a renowned poet whom Poe admired. In fact, the line "I reach'd my home -- my home no more" echoes a line in Byron's work "Don Juan." [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 41.]

Analysis

The main themes of "Tamerlane" are independence and pride [Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. p. 122. ISBN 0801857309] as well as loss and exile. [Hoffman, Daniel. "Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972. p. 27. ISBN 0807123218] Poe may have written the poem based on his own loss of his early love, Sarah Elmira Royster, [Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". Checkmark Books, 2001.] his birth mother Eliza Poe, or his foster-mother Frances Allan. [Hoffman, Daniel. "Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972. p. 27. ISBN 0807123218] The poem may also mirror Poe's relationship with his foster-father John Allan; similar to Poe, Tamerlane is of uncertain parentage, with a "feigned name." [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 39.] Only 19 when he wrote the poem, Poe's own sense of loss came from the waning possibility of inheritance and a college education after leaving the University of Virginia. [Hoffman, Daniel. "Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972. p. 27. ISBN 0807123218] Distinctly a poem of youth, the poem also discusses themes Poe will use throughout his life, including his tendency toward self-criticism and his ongoing strivings towards perfection. [Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. p. 122. ISBN 0801857309]

The poem was influenced by Lord Byron's drama "Manfield" and his poem "The Giaour" in both manner and style. [Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe", "The Mind of Poe and Other Studies". New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 150.]

Poe may have identified with the title character. He used "TAMERLANE" as a pseudonym attached to two of his poems on their first publication, "Fanny" and "To ——," both published in the "Baltimore Saturday Visiter" in 1833.

Publication history

"Tamerlane" was first published in Poe's earliest poetry collection "Tamerlane and Other Poems". The "little volume", as Poe referred to it in the preface, consists of 10 poems. [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 38–39.] This original version of the poem contained 406. In an 1845 publication, it had been edited to only two hundred and thirty-four. [Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography". Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. p. 122. ISBN 0801857309] "Tamerlane and Other Poems", which appeared in June 1827, was forty pages long and credited only by "a Bostonian". [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 38.]

In its initial publication in the collection "Tamerlane and Other Poems", Poe included endnotes explaining some of his allusions from "Tamerlane." He also confesses early on that he knows little about the historical Tamerlane, "and with that little, I have taken the full liberty of a poet." These endnotes do not appear in any other collection that includes "Tamerlane."

References

External links

* [http://www.eapoe.org/works/poems/tamerlna.htm Original 1829 version of "Tamerlane" at www.eapoe.org]