In the monarch Thought's dominion,

It stood there !

Never seraph spread a pinion

Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow
(This — all this was in the olden
Time long ago),

And every gentle air that dallied,

In that sweet day,

Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,

A wingéd odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley, .

Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,

To a lute's well-tuned law,

Round about a throne where, sitting,

Porphyrogene!

In state his glory well befitting,

The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing

Was the fair palace door,

Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,

And sparkling evermore,

A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty

Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty,

5

ΤΟ

15

20

25

30

The wit and wisdom of their king.

7 a: his (B.M.).

17 Wanderers: All wanderers (B. M.).

24 ruler: sovereign (B. M., B. G. M., Tales [1840]).

29 sweet: sole (B. G.M.).

There are some qualities some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made

A type of that twin entity which springs

From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.
There is a two-fold Silence sea and shore -

Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,

Newly with grass o'ergrown; some solemn graces,
Some human memories and tearful lore,

Render him terrorless: his name 's "No More."

45 ghastly rapid: rapid ghastly (B. M., B. G. M., Tales [1840], P.P.A., Tales [1845], Griswold [1847]).

Title Silence. A Sonnet (B. G. M.).

2 which thus is: life aptly (B. G. M., S.M.).

3 A: The (B. G. M., S.M.).

5

He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!
No power hath he of evil in himself;
But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)
Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod
No foot of man), commend thyself to God!

THE CONQUEROR WORM

Lo! 't is a gala night

Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see

A play of hopes and fears,

While the orchestra breathes fitfully

The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,

Mutter and mumble low,

And hither and thither fly

Mere puppets they, who come and go

At bidding of vast formless things

That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Wo!

IO

15

(1840)

5

IO

15

14 That haunteth: Who haunteth (B. G. M.); lone: dim (B. G.M.).

20

Title Omitted in B.J. [September 27, 1845], the poem being there

printed as a part of Ligeia.

3 An angel: A mystic (Graham's, S. M., B.J. [May 24, 1845]).

13 formless shadowy (Graham's).

31 And seraphs: And the seraphs (B. J. [September 27, 1845]), And the angels (all texts save B.J. [September 27, 1845] and the Lorimer Graham copy of 1845).

34 quivering: dying (Graham's).

37 While And (all texts save the Lorimer Graham copy); angels: seraphs (Graham's); pallid: haggard (Graham's).

40 And: Omitted in Graham's, S.M., B.J. [May 24, 1845], P.P.A. [1847].

DREAM-LAND

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,

Where an Eidolon, named NIght,
On a black throne reigns upright,

I have reached these lands but newly

From an ultimate dim Thule

From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE — out of TIME.

5

IO

15

20

25

20 Graham's repeats after this line the first six lines of the poem, with the following changes: my home instead of "these lands" in line 5, and this for "an" in line 6.

25 mountains: mountain (Graham's, B.J.).