The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-11-25
THR FlRa FIBND.


1.-THE Raves. ~ "1''~
The assertion lately made BY an English
critic that Pos plagiarised The Raven from
the Persian, has brought out several letters,
and among them one from the tragsdian MA
GRADY. Mr.. II. says: el'a'T'o e-' 80 :.
I think the following fantastic poem e. copy
of which Ienclose). written by the poet whilst
experimenting towards tho production Of that
wonderful apd beautiful piece Of mechanism
numerous readers. "The Fire Tiend" Che t.
tie of the poem enclose), Mr.. Poe concluded
incomplete, and threw 1t aside In disgust.
Some months afterwards, finding 1t among his
facetiously to be read by freight at mid
night, after thirty drops of laudanum." was
Intimately acquainted with the mother-in-law
of Poe, and have frequently conversed with her
respecting The Raven, and she assured me
that he had the idea in his mind for some
years, and used frequently to repeat verses of
it to her, and ask her opinion of them frequent
ly, making attentions and improvements ac-
cOrding to the mood he chanced to be in at the
time.
The poem which Mr.. MACREADY transmitted
to the morning Star is very long, and contains
much which is terrible, ghastly, and too horri-
BILE for print Its author probably never de-
slgned that it should see the light We give
below the best stanzss. and the reader will not
be slow to discover the presence of that same
weird, wonderfully musical, sensuous harmony
which has made this singular and erratic &c.
MUS the head of distinct school of literature:
~sef
r. rHH FieH FIKSD "A NtoHrnARE
In the deepest death of midnight. while the
sad and solemn swell
Still was floating, family echoed from the for
est chapel bell
Family, falteringly floating Ger the sable
waves of air
That were through the midnight rolling. chafd
and billowy with the tolling-
In my chamber lay dreaming by the tirolioht,s
aitful cleaning,
And my dreams were dreams foreshadowed on
heart foredoo,ned to care.
I'm she A reg heartas reddest centre, from a blaz-
Ing knot of oak,
Seemed to gibe aud grin this phantom. when
in terror awOke;
Aud my siumberous eyel.ds strainingAas I
staggered to the floor:
Still in that dread vision seeming, turned NV
Hearth, and there !! o God 1 saw it! and from
out it's flaming jaw it
spat ceaseless, seething, kissing, bubbling.
gurgllng stream OF gore.
Then, as In Deaths seeming shadow, in the
icy pail of Fear
lay, stricken, came a hoarse and hideous
Came murmur like the m1rmur of assassins
in their Sleep
Muttering, "Higher! higher. higher, Am
Demon of the Fire:
am Arch.Fiend of the Fire, and each blazing
roofs my pyre,
And my sweetest incense Is the blood and tears
my victims weep.
How l revei on the prairie how T roar
among the pines!
How laugh when from the village DER the
snow the red flame shines.
ana near the shrieks of terror, with life in
How l scream with lambent Laughter. a. burl
each cracking rafter
er, higher '-'e'"
Leap the high priests of my altar in their
merry dance of death
In the prnsence of this hideous creation Of b,s
imagination he remained palsied with fear. till
The martins from the edges of its lichea-lided
ledges,
Skinned thrO' the russet arches where the Iioht
in torn 6l0s marches
Like routed army. struggling thro' the serried
ranks Of oak
ThrO' my ivy-fretted easements filtered in
tremulous note,
From the tall and stately linden. where robin
swelled his throat-.t.--
Queruious Quaker-breasted robin, calling
quantity for his mate!
Then started up, unbidden, from my slumber,
nightmare ridden,
With the memory of that fire-demon In my
central fire,
On my eyes interior mirror like the shadow of
fate
Ah the feudsh Are had smouldered to a
white and formless heap,
And no knot of oak was flaming as it famed
upon my sleep;
But around its very centre. where the demon
face had shOne,
Forked shadows seemd to linger, pointing as
with spectral finger
To Bible massive golden, on table carved
and Olden,'
And bowed and said, All power is of God,
Of God alone"
On the Sd OF October, Mexico was
again visited by violent earthquake,
which tumbled down buildings and de-
stroyed some lives. The greatest damage