Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-12-03
One Of PEGS Experiments TOwal .Ths Ra-


MAcREADY, the tragedian, has recently trans
United copy of hitherto unpublished po-
en- by EDGAR A. PoE, to the London Star.
He says of it:
{ /" | think the foiiosing fantastic poem Ia
copy of which | enclosed written by the poet
whilst experimenting towards the production
of that wonderful aud beautiful piece O.
mechanism, (The Rayen) may possibly inter
est your numerous readers. The Fire
Fiend,' 1.-THE title Of the poem enclose) Mr..
Poe considered incomplete, and threw It
aside in disgust. Some months afterwards,
hnding it amongst his papers, he sent it in a
letter to friend, labelled facetiously, to
be read by freight at midnight, after thirty
drops of laudanum' / was intimately ac-
qaainted with the mother in-law of Poe, and
have frequently conversed with her respect
ing The Raven and she assured me that he
mad the idea in his mind for some years. and
used frequently to repeat verses of it to her,
and ask her opinion of them frequently, max
ing alterations and improvements according
TO the mood he CHANGED to be in at the
time"
The poem which Mr. MAcREADY transmitted
to the Morning Star is very long, and con-
tains much which is terrible, CHASTITY, and too
horrible for print Its author probably
never designed that it should see the
light. We give below the best stanzas, and
the reader will not be slow to discover the
presence of that same weird, wonderfully mu-
steal, sensuous harmony which has made this
singular and erratic genius the head of a
distinct school of literature.
"THE FIRE FIEND.--A NIGHTMARE.
- In the deepest death of midnight while the sad
- and solemn swell
sti1 floating, family echoed from the forest
chapel bell
Family, falteringly floating oer the sable waves Of
That were thro' the midnight rolling, chafed and
~ biilowy with the tolling-
In my chamber lay dreaming by the hrelight's
fttul cleaning,
Ard my dreams were dreams forsha owed on a
ra heart foredoOmed to care.
80 On rhe red hearth's reddest ceatre, roma blazing
knot of oak,
Seemed to gibe AID grin this phantom, when in
And my slumberons eyelids straining, as stagger.
ed to the foor;
still in that dread vision seeming, turned my gaze
tf+@ toward The cleaning
Hearth, and there God | saw it aud from out
its flaming jaw it
Spat ceaseless, seething kissing, bubbling, CUR
Cling tream Of gore b.
'sThen, as in Deaths seeming shadow, in the icy
lay, stricken, came hoarse and hideous murmur
TO my ear
Came a murmur like the murmur of assassins in
Muttering, Higher higher higher am Demon
I. am Arch -Fieni of the Fire, and each blazing
roofs my pyre,
And my sweetest incense is the blood and tears my
victims weep.
80 How 1 revel on the prairie how among
How 1 laugh when from the village DER the snow
the red flame shines,
And hear the shrieks of terror, with life in every
breath
How scream with lambert laughter, as hurl
each cracking rafter
Down the fell abyss Of fire, until higher, higher,
higher
Leap the high priests of my altar in their merry
dance of DEATH"
In the presence of this hideous creation of
his Imagination he remained pleased with
fear, till
THE martins, from the edges of it's ichen- lidded
lodges,
Skinned thro' the russet arches where the light In
torn flies marches,
Like routed army, struggling thro' the serried
ranks of oak.
TX. -a.
''Thro' my vy-fretted easements filtered in a trem-
ulous note,
From the tall and stately linden, where robin
swelled his throat
Querulous, Quaker breasted robin, calling quaint
ly for his mate
Then started up, unbidden, from my slumber,
With the memory of that fre-demon, in my GEN.
trial fire,
On my eyes interior mirror like the shadow of
fate "a
"Ah ! the fendsh fire 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 seem'd to linger, pointing with
spectral finger
To Bible, massive, golden, on a table carved and
olden,
And bowed and said, sAll power is Of God, of
God alone.'"}