POE, “THE LAKE” (THE 1845 REVISION AND THE 1827 ORIGINAL)
To
1. IN spring of youth it was my lot
2. To haunt of the wide world a spot
3. The which I could not love the less —
4. So lovely was the loneliness
5. Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
6. And the tall pines that towered around.
7. But when the Night had thrown her
pall
8. Upon that spot, as upon all,
9. And the mystic wind went by
10. Murmuring in melody —
11. Then — ah then I would awake
12. To the terror of the lone lake.
13. Yet that terror was not fright,
14. But a tremulous delight —
15. A feeling not the jewelled mine
16. Could teach or bribe me to define —
17. Nor Love — although the Love were
thine.
18. Death was in that poisonous wave,
19. And in its gulf a fitting grave
20. For him who thence could solace bring
21. To his lone imagining —
22. Whose solitary soul could make
23. An Eden of that dim lake.
(1845)
To
1. IN youth’s spring it was my lot
2. To haunt of the wide world a spot
3. The which I could not love the less
—
4. So lovely was the loneliness
5. Of a wild lake, with black rock
bound,
6. And the tall pines that towered
around.
7. But when the night had thrown her pall
8. Upon that spot, as upon all,
9. And the wind would pass me by
10. In its still melody,
11. My infant spirit would awake
12. To the terror of the lone lake.
13. Yet that terror was not fright,
14. But a tremulous delight —
15. And a feeling undefined
16. Springing from a darkened mind—
17. Death was in that poisonous wave,
18. And in its gulf a fitting grave
19. For him who thence could solace bring
20. To his lone imagining —
21. Whose solitary soul could make
22. An Eden of that dim lake.
(1827)
