Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer, poet, and critic best known for his Gothic horror short stories, such as "The Tell-Tale Heart," and poems, including "The Raven." "The Rationale of Verse," dated circa 1846, consists of one page of thirty-four lines of poetics.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author, poet, and critic.
He was orphaned at the age of two and raised by John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia. While in Richmond, Poe first met and fell in love with Sarah Elmira Royster. He attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, but dropped out due to financial difficulties. Poe then joined the Army and published his first poetry collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. He attended West Point but, again, left the Academy due to financial hardship. Poe published his second poetry collection, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems, in 1829, and his third poetry collection, Poems, in 1831.
After leaving West Point, Poe shifted his focus from poetry to short stories, literary criticism, and editorial and publishing work at literary publications. In 1836, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm (1822-1847). Poe's work forced the couple to move between Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York City.
From 1840 to 1841, Poe created a prospectus for a literary magazine he proposed to edit and publish called Penn Magazine.
From 1835 to his death, Poe wrote pieces of literary theory, such as "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), and genre-defining short stories, such as the Gothic horror short stories "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843) and "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839).
Poe originally wrote "The Rationale of Verse," his critical study of meter, accent, and symbol in verse, in 1843. After several rejections and revisions, Poe sent the essay to American editor John Reuben Thompson, who agreed to publish it as an act of charity in The Southern Literary Messenger in October and November 1848.
Poe died under mysterious circumstances in 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland.
"The Rationale of Verse," dated circa 1846, is one page of an autograph manuscript that Edgar Allan Poe sent to John Reuben Thompson for publication. In addition to Poe's thirty-four lines of poetics, the manuscript has an inscription, "part of ms. of 'the Rationale of Verse' by Edgar Allan Poe," and signature in the hand of Thompson.
Gift of Susan Jaffe Tane, 2023.
Processed by Amy Lau in 2025.
This item was donated by Susan Jaffe Tane in 2023 alongside manuscripts, a journal, and a scrapbook of or about Walt Whitman (Berg Coll MSS 188323, Berg Coll MSS 188324, and Berg Coll MSS 188325), which have been described separately.
Other portions of "The Rationale of Verse" manuscript are held at Harvard University's Houghton Library and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.