Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-02-27
Eoracd the Poe Poem
To Win a Wager.

-rR. Alfred Russell Wallace an
A A uounces in the current Fort
Wlnlghtly Review that he has Just
1 ' Aunearthed a new poem by Ed
yar Allen Poe.
The story OF how he came by It Is In
,..os,ins He tells us that his brother,
',,o died In California In 1895, sent to
,,,, before his death his own manu-
s,rInt copy OF the poem in question
'rhs initials f. A. p, suggested that 1t
vas written by Poe, and the Internal
evidence Of style seemed conclusive to
Mr. Walaces mind. Here Is the poem;
LEoNAINE.
,.or,ine angels named her, and they
took the light
a, The laughing stars and framed her
in n smile Of white.
"a they made her hair OF gloomy mid
night. and her eyes or bloomy
voonshlne, and they brought her TO me
in solemn night
IN n solemn night Of summer, when my
heart Of gloom - ,
possomed up 10 meet the corner, like
rose In bloom.
All forebodIng that distressed me for
Rot as Joy carressed me.
living 10y that caught and pressed me
IN the arms Of DOOM
Only spake the little lisper In the an
gel tongue
ys, L listening, heard the whisper:
Songs are only sung
Here below that they may grleve you,
tales are told you 10 deceive you;
So must Leonane leave you while her
love Is young"
Then God smiled and II was morning.
matchless and supreme;
Heavens glory seemed adjoining earth
with its esteem;
Every heart but mine seemed gifted
with a voice Of prayer and lifted,
When my Leonaine drifted from me
like dream. e A. J.
Now mark how a plain tale shall put
down Mr.. Wallace.
In the year 1876 there was living in
the state OF Indiana an ambitious
N0uIE nun HhllltN odlil'o w uiNAOlllD
Riley. His ambition ran to poetry. He
could not however, get the great mag
azlnes OF the country to further II,
and his contributions to the local pa
pers died with the.r birth. To friend
Of his he once laughingly complained
that II he could sign his opens with a
big name they might not only be ac-
cepted by the magazines, but win the
- Ita t,,u l. ~
rounds Of the press. The friend demur-
red Thereup0n young Mr., Riley wag-
cred that he would write poem and
sign 1t with a big name and that It
would be copied far and wide, AS a
result of this wager there appeared in
the KokomO Qnd) Sentinel copy Of
verses entitled 'Leonanie," with the
following explanatory introduction;
In the house of gentleman Of this
city We saw poem written on the fly
leaf Of an old book. Noticing the in
itials r. a. T.. AZ the bottom, II struck
US that possibly We had run across a
bonanza
The owner Of the book said that he
did not know who was the author Of
the poem. His grandfather, who gave
him the book, kept an inn In Chester
field near Richmond. Va. One night a
young man who showed plainly the
marks Of dissipation raped at the door
asked II he could stay all night, and
was shown 10 room.
That was the last they saw OF him.
When they went next morning to call
him to breakfast he had gone, but had
left the book, on the hyleaf OF which
he had written these verses"
The verses, which followedare identi- |
cal with those given by Mr.. Wallace,
save that the title name Is Leonanie |
and not Leonaine, thus furnishing the |
extra syllable necessary to the metri- |
cal scheme in the first line,
Mr. Riley won his wager. The poem |
was widely copied by the newspapers, |
1t was eagerly commented upon, II was |
accepted by some as a genuine Poe |
treasure trove and II was scornfully re-
1ected By others. But among those |
whom It imposed upon was so good a
poet and so good critic as William
Cullen Bryant