Edgar Allan Poe to Sarah V. C. Ingram — 1849-09-10

Edgar Allan Poe to Sarah V. C. Ingram — 1849-09-10 Historical letter reading from George E. Woodberry, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe: Personal and Literary, volume II (1909). Catalogue identity RCL-822. The scholarly checklist identifies the recipient as Miss S. V. C. Ingram and assigns September 10, 1849. The source itself says Monday Evening. The enclosed manuscript of Ulalume is not reproduced in this letter record. This is a later printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile or a modern critical text. Historical wording and source errors are retained; modern editorial apparatus is omitted. The reading has not been independently proofread word by word. Monday Evening. I have transcribed “Ulalume” with much plea sure, Dear Miss Ingram — as I am sure I would do anything else at your bidding — but I fear you will find the verses scarcely more intelligible to-day in my manuscript than last night in my recitation. I would endeavor to explain to you what I really meant — or what I fancied I meant, by the poem, if it were not that I remembered Dr. Johnson's bitter and rather just remarks about the folly of explaining what, if worth explanation, would explain itself. He has a happy witticism, too, about some book, which he calls “as obscure as an explanatory note.” Leaving “Ulalume” to its fate, therefore, and in good hands, I am, yours truly, EDGAR A. POE.