" Tamerlane " is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe following a fictional account of the life of a Turkish conqueror historically known as Tamerlane. This poem was first published in the collection of 1827 Tamerlane and Other Poems . The collection, with only 50 copies printed, is not credited with the author's original name but by "A Bostonian". The original version of the poem is 403 lines but is trimmed to 223 lines for inclusion in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems .
Video Tamerlane (poem)
Sinopsis
This poem follows the life of a Turkish conqueror historically known as Tamerlane. The name is a Latinized version of "Lenk East", the 14th-century warlord who founded the Eastern Empire, although the poem was not a historical description of his life.
Tamerlane ignores the young love he has for a farmer to gain power. On his deathbed, he regretted this decision to create "a kingdom [in exchange] for a broken heart". The farmer was named Ada in most of the original versions of Poe's poetry, though it was removed and re-added throughout a much revised version. The name "Ada" is probably a reference to Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, a famous poet whom Poe admired. In fact, the phrase "I reached my house - my house no longer exists" echoes the line in Byron Don Juan .
Maps Tamerlane (poem)
Analysis
The main themes of "Tamerlane" are independence and pride and loss and seclusion. Poe may have written the poem based on the loss of her first love, Sarah Elmira Royster, her birth mother Eliza Poe, or her adoptive mother, Frances Allan. The poem may also reflect Poe's relationship with his adoptive father, John Allan; similar to Poe, Tamerlane is an uncertain breed, with a "mock name." Only 17 when he wrote the poem, Poe's own loss of feelings came from the possibility of diminishing inheritance and college education after leaving the University of Virginia. In contrast to youth poetry, the poem also discusses themes that Poe will use throughout his life, including his tendency toward self-criticism and his constant struggle for perfection.
The poem was influenced by Lord Byron's drama Manfred and his poem The Giaour in style and style.
Poe probably first heard of the East in July 1822 as a young man in Richmond, Virginia. A horse spectacle called Timour the Tartar was performed at the Richmond theater and repeated in October. Some Poe scholars speculate that Poe was present or at least heard the show.
Poe may have identified with the title character. He used "TAMERLANE" as a pseudonym that attached to his two poems in their first publication, "Fanny" and "To ----," both published in Baltimore Saturday Visiter in 1833.
Publishing history
"Tamerlane" was first published in the earliest collection of Poe's poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems . The "small volume", as Poe called it in the preface, consists of 10 poems. The original version of this poem contains 406 lines. In a publication of 1845, it has been edited into only two hundred and thirty-four. Tamerlane and Other Poems , which appeared in June 1827, has a length of forty pages and is only credited by "a Bostoner".
In his initial publication in the Tamerlane and Other Poems collections, Poe included a final note explaining some of his allusions from "Tamerlane". He also confessed from the beginning that he knew little about Tamerlane historically, "and with that a little bit, I have taken the full liberty of a poet". This final note does not appear in any other collection that includes "Tamerlane".
References
External links
- The original version of 1829 "Tamerlane" at www.eapoe.org
- Tamerlane public domain audiobook on LibriVox
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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