Beschreibung:

POE, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). Autograph manuscript fragment, a paragraph on meter and rhythm in verse, from his essay "The Rationale of Verse," published in 1848, n.p., n.d. [1848]. A complete paragraph of about 110 words, 1 page, an oblong, 80 x 170mm. approximately, on pale blue paper, with a protective sheet bearing inscription in a l9th-century hand: "Fragment of M.S.S. Written by Edgar Allan Poe." Framed with an engraved portrait. Unexamined out of frame. POE ON RHYTHM AND METER IN VERSE A fine fragment from Poe's essay "The Rationale of Verse," published in two installments in The Southern Literary Messenger , (October and November, 1848), a literary periodical which Poe had edited from 1834 to January 1837. This fragment was probably cut from the manuscript submitted by Poe to the publisher, T.W. White of Baltimore. It reads: "Verse originates in the human enjoyment of equality, fitness. To this enjoyment, also, all the moods of verse -- rhythm, metre, stanza, rhyme, alliteration, the refrain , and other analagous effects-are to be referred. As there are some readers who habitually confound rhythm and metre, it may be as well here to say that the former concerns the character of feet (that is, the arrangements of syllables) while the latter has to do with the number of these feet. Thus by 'a dactylic rhythm ' we express a sequence of dactyls. By 'a dactylic hexa meter ' we imply a line or measure consisting of six of these dactyls." Rare. No other portions of the manuscript from this essay have been located.