love for woman's love, not a love for woman herself. And this came of Poe's deep immersion in fancy and imagination, so that he would picture himself in love when he was no lover, but an admirer of the beloved for her poetry — and call it love; or grateful for her kindness — another love; or hopeful that she would scatter the clouds of sorrow that hemmed him in — a third love. We do not brand him with fickleness; we say, rather, that he was enamored of woman as woman, and loved every woman who lit up the black horizon of his life.

The women in Poe's life are many; the most famous of them:

His wife Virginia, who was his first beloved. He married her before she reached fourteen, and went on living with her, and with her mother, whom he called his mother, until her death. In the documents preserved to us there is much about the measure of his conjugal happiness and domestic bliss, for he found in his home a consolation for the misery he met with in his life. Poe composed more than one poem for Virginia, and his elegy for her in one of his masterpieces, "Annabel Lee," is famous.

2 — Elmira, a friend of his boyhood and school days. He kept writing to her until the girl's father discovered the attachment and married her off early, which stirred Poe's rancor and left its trace on his budding thought. No doubt the story of his love for Elmira, and of his love for Helen Stanard — the mother of his friend, whom we mentioned above — were both in the poet's memory when he wrote, describ-ing his love: "I could not love except where death mingled with the breath of beauty, or where marriage, or time, or distance worked to part me from my beloved." Twenty-four years later he met Elmira again, a widow by the name of Mrs. Shelton, and — his wife having died — he was on the point of marrying her, on the very day he found himself in love with a new woman!

3 — Mrs. Osgood, a poet and critic whom Poe came to know by way of poetry. His description of their first meeting is delightful. The two exchanged a series of let-ters, and Mrs. Osgood described those Poe wrote as "beautiful and heavenly." They exchanged

poems, and he wrote for her his piece "To F. S. O." — the letters of her name. Then a coolness arose between them, brought on by the ill will of certain women; yet Mrs. Osgood kept up her friendship for the poet, and the last of her poems, written on her deathbed, was about Poe, who had gone before her in departing. It opens: "The hand that played upon the ringing string with an art beyond what mortals can command, the flashing eye, the heart of fire, and the burning lips have fallen still. Its music will stir us no more, neither with rapture nor with pain — never, never."

4 — Mrs. Shew, a friend of Virginia's, for whom Poe wrote "To M. L. S.," and under whose influence he composed the magnificent "Bells." His letter to her, upon the estrangement that arose between them, is a gem that approaches his poetry in magic: "Was it necessary, O my good spirit, my guardian heart, that this desertion should come after all the benefits and blessings you showered upon me? Do you flee, like everything I love and long for, from my dark and straying soul?"

5 — Mrs. Whitman. The nearest of women to Poe's heart after his wife. He loved her before he saw her, and made her acquaintance after he had already written verse for her. She was a poet; Poe asked for her hand, and she refused because of his ill repute in polite society. He composed numerous poems for

her, and wrote her some of the choicest love letters, such as the one he opens by saying: "Helen, my Helen, Helen of a thousand dreams, whom God ordained, and the Bestower of all good decreed, should be mine — mine alone — if not now, alas, then in the world to come, in heaven, and forever!" She has left us reminiscences of him of the utmost charm. Between these two also an estrangement arose; she tried to win his love back to her, and wrote him verses that she closes by saying: "He shall know whether I loved him or not; but he shall never know how much I loved him." He did not answer her.

6 — Annie: he wrote "To Annie" for her, and there were no particular incidents in his love for her.

7 — Stella: among the last women Poe came to know. She kept her love for him, and wrote two sweet poems about him thirty years after his death, describing "how much of heaven was in him" and the effect of his poetry upon her — so that she would follow him over Parnassus, until he seemed to her "not of human origin, but a lone spirit sent by heaven to earth."

Poe wrote to one of his women friends: "Oh, how evil is my fate! If a true, tender love does not save me — the pure love of a woman — I shall not live a single year more!" He knew more than one love; and so he lived, and wrote, and endures forever.

PARFUMS ZOFALY — Zofaly

PARFUMS ZOFALY PARIS

Zofaly

The most fragrant of Parisian marvels

Retour Charmant

Jeux d'Amour

Passion