Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Edgar Allan Poe

  March 8th.—To-day there floated by us one of the white animals whose appearance upon the beach at Tsalal had occasioned so wild a commotion among the savages. I would have picked it up, but there came over me a sudden listlessness, and I forbore. The heat of the water still increased, and the hand could no longer be endured within it. Peters spoke little, and I knew not what to think of his apathy. Nu-Nu breathed, and no more.

  March 9th.—The whole ashy material fell now continually around us, and in vast quantities. The range of vapor to the southward had arisen prodigiously in the horizon, and began to assume more distinctness of form. I can liken it to nothing but a limitless cataract, rolling silently into the sea from some immense and far-distant rampart in the heaven. The gigantic curtain ranged along the whole extent of the southern horizon. It emitted no sound.

  March 21st.—A sullen darkness now hovered above us—but from out the milky depths of the ocean a luminous glare arose, and stole up along the bulwarks of the boat. We were nearly overwhelmed by the white ashy shower which settled upon us and upon the canoe, but melted into the water as it fell. The summit of the cataract was utterly lost in the dimness and the distance. Yet we were evidently approaching it with a hideous velocity. At intervals there were visible in it wide, yawning, but momentary rents, and from out these rents, within which was a chaos of flitting and indistinct images, there came rushing and mighty, but soundless winds, tearing up the enkindled ocean in their course.

  March 22d.—The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us. Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil, and their scream was the eternal Tekeli-li! as they retreated from our vision. Hereupon Nu-Nu stirred in the bottom of the boat; but upon touching him, we found his spirit departed. And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.49

  NOTE

  The circumstances connected with the late sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym are already well known to the public through the medium of the daily press. It is feared that the few remaining chapters which were to have completed his narrative, and which were retained by him, while the above were in type, for the purpose of revision, have been ir recoverably lost through the accident by which he perished himself. This, however, may prove not to be the case, and the papers, if ultimately found, will be given to the public.50

  No means have been left untried to remedy the deficiency. The gentleman whose name is mentioned in the preface, and who, from the statement there made, might be supposed able to fill the vacuum, has declined the task—this, for satisfactory reasons connected with the general inaccuracy of the details afforded him, and his disbelief in the entire truth of the latter portions of the narration. Peters, from whom some information might be expected, is still alive, and a resident of Illinois, but cannot be met with at present. He may hereafter be found, and will, no doubt, afford material for a conclusion of Mr. Pym’s account.

  The loss of two or three final chapters (for there were but two or three) is the more deeply to be regretted, as, it cannot be doubted, they contained matter relative to the Pole itself, or at least to regions in its very near proximity; and as, too, the statements of the author in relation to these regions may shortly be verified or contradicted by means of the governmental expedition now preparing for the Southern Ocean.

  On one point in the narrative some remarks may well be offered; and it would afford the writer of this appendix much pleasure if what he may here observe should have a tendency to throw credit, in any degree, upon the very singular pages now published. We allude to the chasms found in the island of Tsalal, and to the whole of the figures upon pages 592 and 593.

  Mr. Pym has given the figures of the chasms without comment, and speaks decidedly of the indentures found at the extremity of the most easterly of these chasms as having but a fanciful resemblance to alphabetical characters, and, in short, as being positively not such. This assertion is made in a manner so simple, and sustained by a species of demonstration so conclusive (viz., the fitting of the projections of the fragments found among the dust into the indentures upon the wall), that we are forced to believe the writer in earnest; and no reasonable reader should suppose otherwise. But as the facts in relation to all the figures are most singular (especially when taken in connection with statements made in the body of the narrative), it may be as well to say a word or two concerning them all—this, too, the more especially as the facts in question have, beyond doubt, escaped the attention of Mr. Poe.

  Figure 1, then, figure 2, figure 3, and figure 5, when conjoined with one another in the precise order which the chasms themselves presented, and when deprived of the small lateral branches or arches (which, it will be remembered, served only as a means of communication between the main chambers, and were of totally distinct character), constitute an Ethiopian verbal root—the root“To be shady,”—whence all the inflections of shadow or darkness.

  In regard to the “left or most northwardly” of the indentures in figure 4, it is more than probable that the opinion of Peters was correct and that the hieroglyphical appearance was really the work of art, and intended as the representation of a human form. The delineation is before the reader, and he may, or may not, perceive the resemblance suggested; but the rest of the indentures afford strong confirmation of Peters’ idea. The upper range is evidently the Arabic verbal root“To be white,” whence all the inflections of brilliancy and whiteness. The lower range is not so immediately perspicuous. The characters are somewhat broken and disjointed; nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that, in their perfect state, they formed the full Egyptian word“The region of the south.” It should be observed that these interpretations confirm the opinion of Peters in regard to the “most northwardly” of the figures. The arm is outstretched toward the south.

  Conclusions such as these open a wide field for speculation and exciting conjecture. They should be regarded, perhaps, in connection with some of the most faintly detailed incidents of the narrative; although in no visible manner is this chain of connection complete. Tekeli-li! was the cry of the affrighted natives of Tsalal upon discovering the carcass of the white animal picked up at sea. This also was the shuddering exclamation of the captive Tsalalian upon encountering the white materials in possession of Mr. Pym. This also was the shriek of the swift-flying, white, and gigantic birds which issued from the vapory white curtain of the South. Nothing white was to be found at Tsalal, and nothing otherwise in the subsequent voyage to the region beyond. It is not impossible that “Tsalal,” the appellation of the island of the chasms, may be found, upon minute philological scrutiny, to betray either some alliance with the chasms themselves, or some reference to the Ethiopian characters so mysteriously written in their windings.

  “I have graven it within the hills, and my vengeance upon the dust within the rock.”

  Endnotes

  Poems

  1 (p. 8) Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car? l... The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?: In classical mythology, Diana, called Artemis by the Romans, is the goddess of the forest, childbirth, and the moon; hamadryads, or dryads, are nymphs associated with trees, and naiads are nymphs associated with rivers and streams. Elfin means elflike or charming (in contexts of magic). Tamarind trees, native to the Orient, have brightly colored, delightfully fragrant flowers and seedpods that are used as a spice. Poe’s mythological beings are adapted from Studies of Nature (1796), Henry Hunter’s English translation of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s Ètudes de la Nature. Along with the trite metaphors and allusions, this borrowing is a giveaway to Poe’s casting his “poet” as pathetic. Poe’s use of Saint-Pierre’s book was recorded by Palmer C. Holt in “Notes on Poe’s ‘To Science,’ ‘To Helen,’ and �
�Ulalume’,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 63 (1959): p. 568. This poem is also an early treatment of male-female oppositions, which will frequently recur in Poe’s creative writings.

  2 (p. 11) the angel Israfel: Israfel, or Israfil, is described in the Koran as the angel of music, possessing a beautiful voice; thus he provides a perfect type for Poe’s idea of poets as singers. Poe’s knowledge of Israfel derives from George Sale’s information in his translation of the Koran (1734).

  3 (p. 13) Helen, thy beauty is to me /... Are Holy Land!: According to classical legend, Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world. Nicéan defies precise definition, although it may allude to various conflicts in ancient classical or Christian lore. Naiad here means simply “graceful” or “beautiful.” Psyche was a beautiful woman of classical mythology whose lamp illuminated for her the features of her lover, Cupid, while he slept; Psyche may also mean “soul,” and in combination these associations characterize her as an illuminator—that is, a nurturer, mind-healer, or imaginative inspirer. She ultimately married her lover and was brought to heaven, and thus she is typically represented with wings.

  4 (p. 24) Lenore: Lenore derives from the same word root as Helen (see note 3, above). Both carry implications of great beauty and dazzling light, and in both of Poe’s poems the combination may serve intentionally to blur physical and ideal attractiveness.

  5 (p. 25) Perched upon a bust of Pallas: Pallas Athena is the Greek goddess of intellectual wisdom. The marble bust here may be pallid—that is, white or pale. The bird’s choice of this perch is symbolic: Rationality will give way to irrationality.

  6 (p. 28) It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, /... In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir—: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was a French composer, chiefly of operas. Robert Weir (1803—1889) was an American painter of the Hudson River School, noted for romantic and inspirational landscapes; ghouls here seem to be portrayed more kindly than usual.

  7 (p.28) Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul: Cypress trees are emblematic of death and mourning (see “Morella” for a similar theme). Psyche, the classical representation of the soul (see note 3, above), refers here more precisely to intuition, which cautions the speaker against proceeding; ignoring her counsel brings about his emotional tragedy.

  8 (p.28) Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek /In the realms of the boreal pole: Yaanek defies precise definition because Poe’s context blurs Arctic and Antarctic implications. Poe may be alluding here to Mount Erebus, the only active volcano in Antarctica.

  9 (p. 29) And has come past the stars of the Lion: This is a reference to the astrological sign of Leo. Intersections of Venus with Leo reputedly encourage lust and are unfavorable to love and marriage; thus this line reinforces Psyche’s counsel to the speaker in the next stanza.

  Tales

  1 (p. 45) Pestis eram vivus—moriens tua mors ero.—Martin Luther: The Latin quotation, from German religious reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), translates as, “Living I have been your plague—dying I shall be your death.” This idea dovetails with that of metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls from one kind of body to another, whether from one human to another or between humans and animals or vice versa. Poe repeats this theme in several of his works.

  2 (p. 46) out-Heroded Herod: This is a paraphrase of a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (act 3, scene 2). The expression means to be more extreme than Herod, the biblical king of Judea, who ordered the slaughter of male infants in hope of eradicating the Christ-child. Poe uses the phrase again in “The Masque of the Red Death” and “William Wilson.”

  3 (p. 53) Quand un bon vin meuble mon estomac /... Presenter du tabac: The French translates as: “When a fine wine fills my stomach / I am more learned than Balzac—/ Smarter than Pibrac; / My single arm attacking / The nation of the Cossacks, / Would achieve a sack; / I would cross Charon’s lake / Sleeping in his craft; / Would take pride in going to Aeacus, / Without my heart beating tick-tack, / To offer him snuff.” In Greek mythology, Charon is a ferryman of souls to the underworld, and Aeacus is a judge in the underworld.

  4 (p. 70) After many years spent in foreign travel, ... the vessel consequently crank: Places cited in these two paragraphs include Batavia, a city on the northwestern coast of Java, and the Lachadive, or Laccadive, Islands, which lie west of India. Coir, a fiber from coconut husks, is used to make ropes and mats. Jaggeree, or jaggery, is sugar made from coconuts or palm sap; ghee is clarified butter, which is used especially in Indian cooking. Crank here denotes instability; that is, the ship is in danger of upsetting.

  5 (p. 78) we are whirling dizzily, in ... a gigantic amphitheatre, the summit of whose walls is lost in the darkness and the distance: The ship’s sensational descent alludes to a theory popular in Poe’s day—that there were “holes at the poles” through which one could penetrate to the center of the earth.

  6 (p. 101) My books, at this epoch, ... many weeks of laborious and fruitless investigation: The titles in this paragraph refer to early treatises on religious philosophy. The Latin phrase, from De Carne Christi (On the Flesh of Christ), by the early-second-century Christian writer Tertullian, translates as, “The Son of God has died, it is to be believed because it is incredible, and was buried; he is risen, certainly, because it is impossible.”

  7 (p. 107) It is unnecessary ... from the marked and agitated manner in which Morella mentioned them: The ideas concerning human will and identity expressed in this paragraph involve ancient Greek (Pythagoras) and eighteenth-century German (Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich von Schelling) philosophic thought. John Locke, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, also took great interest in issues of identity. Poe’s narrator is fascinated with the idea that identity, or will, may continue after death of the physical body.

  8 (p. 120) “‘His Grace the Arch Duke Pest-Iferous... the Arch Duchess Ana-Pest.”’: The names are comic references to the pest, or plague, although the final name may be a pun on the poetic term anapest (a metrical foot that comprises two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable).

  9 (p. 126) the well of Democritus: No such quotation appears in the writings of Democritus, the early Greek philosopher-scientist (born c.460 B.C.), but Poe repeats the phrase several times in his writings.

  10 (p. 142) “set of articles, in the way of model or study”: The articles named in the following text appeared, with one exception, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine between 1821 and 1837. Confessions of an English Opium Eater, by Thomas De Quincey, originally appeared serially in London Magazine in September and October 1821; expanded, it appeared in book form the following year.

  11 (p. 147) “you can tell him from Lucan ... a phrase which Silius Italicus ... applies to thoughts pompous and inflated”: Neither of the two foreign phrases comes from the author designated. The passage supposedly from Lucan (a first-century Roman poet) actually comes from another classical writer, Greek satirist and rhetorician Lucian (c.115-200 A.D.); Poe may have been careless or he may have deliberately confused the names to test his readers—or a compositor’s error may have caused the substitution. The “Silius Italicus” passage actually comes from a Latin translation of Longinus (a first-century Greek critic), which Poe knew and had correctly cited in an earlier version of this story.

  12 (p. 159) Son cœur est un luth suspendu; l Sitôt qu‘on le touche il résonne.—De Béranger: The motto is an inexact rendering of a written remark by French poet Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857). It maybe translated: “His heart is a suspended lute; / When touched it reverberates.” A lute is a heart-shaped, stringed instrument. Poe may also allude to a device popular in his era, an aeolian harp, a stringed instrument placed in open windows, where the wind’s pressure created “music” of an involuntary type. An aeolian harp fittingly symbolizes instabilities in Roderick Usher and the narrator.

  13 (pp. 167—168) In the greenest of our valleys, /... And laugh—but smile no more: This poem first appeared in the Baltimore American Museum (April 1
839). Its placement at roughly midpoint in the tale and its lyrical intensity make it a deft epitome of Roderick’s physical-emotional collapse, which in turn is mirrored in the responses of the narrator.

  14 (p. 168) the sentience of all vegetable things: Sentience in this context refers to the endowment of vegetable matter with mental-emotional responsiveness. Specifically, the stunted, decayed growth evident in the “singularly dreary tract of country” traveled by the narrator as well as the fungi that overspreads the mansion (which closely resembles Usher’s hair) symbolize the physical appearances and, more significant, the decayed emotional makeup of the major characters.

  15 (p. 169) such works as the “Ververt et Chartreuse” ... the Vigiliœ Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiœ Maguntinœ: Most of these books treat variously sacred or profane subjects (several of which again concern animal-vegetable bondings or nature-worship, in which Pan and satyrs may figure), sometimes with comic implications (as in the mock epic Ver- Vert [1734], by French satirical writer Jean-Baptiste Louis Gresset), unstable male-female relationships, or mysticism or magic. The Directorium Inquisitorium (1376), by Spanish theologian Nicolás Eymeric, was used for examining heretics; its inclusion in this list may suggest that Roderick was himself a heretic, or that he wished to know what constituted a heretic. The Vigiliae was used as a mass for the dead at the Second Church in Mainz, Germany (1500), and was also invoked to keep vampires at bay. As such it may gloss the role of Madeline Usher, who could be a vampire—used by Poe, to be sure, for symbolic purpose in the tale. Thus Roderick may not wish to place her in the remote family graveyard because he may fear what the doctor may find, should he exhume her body to be used for medical purposes.