The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Edgar Allan Poe [1408]
I shall write again shortly meanwhile,
I am your affectionate & obliged friend
J. R. L.
James R. Lowell to Edgar Allan Poe — May 16, 1843
My Dear Friend, — I send you this little poem with some fears that you will be disappointed therein. But it is on the whole the most likely to please of any that I could lay my hands on — my MSS. being trusted to fortune like the Sybils leaves, & perhaps, like her’s, rising in value to my mind as they decrease in number. You must tell me frankly how you like what I sent & what you should like better. Will you give me your address more particularly so that in case I have a package to send you I can forward it by express?
With all truth & love
I remain your friend
J. R. L.
Edgar Allan Poe to James Russell Lowell — June 20, 1843
Philadelphia June 20, 1843.
My Dear Friend,
I owe you fifty apologies for not having written you before — but sickness and domestic affliction will suffice for all.
I received your poem, which you undervalue, and which I think truly beautiful — as, in fact, I do all you have ever written — but, alas! my Magazine scheme has exploded — or, at least, I have been deprived, through the imbecility, or rather through the idiocy of my partner, of all means of prosecuting it for the present. Under better auspices I may resume it next year.
What am I to do with the poem? I have handed it to Griswold, subject to your disposition.
My address is 234, North Seventh St above Spring Garden, West Side. Should you ever pay a visit to Philadelphia, you will remember that there is no one in America whom I would rather hold by the hand than yourself.
With the sincerest friendship
I am yours.
Edgar A Poe
Edgar Allan Poe to James Russell Lowell — September 13, 1843
Philadelphia September 13. 1843.
My Dear Friend,
Since I last wrote you I have suffered much from domestic and pecuniary troubles, and, at one period, had nearly succumbed. I mention this by way of apology to the request I am forced to make — that you would send me, if possible, $10 — which, I believe, is the amount you owe me for contribution. You cannot imagine how sincerely I grieve that any necessity can urge me to ask this of you — but I ask it in the hope that you are now in much better position than myself, and can spare me the sum without inconvenience.
I hope ere long to have the pleasure of conversing with you personally. There is no man living with whom I have so much desire to become acquainted.
Truly your friend,
Edgar A Poe
J. R. Lowell Esqre
Edgar Allan Poe to James Russell Lowell — October 19, 1843
Philadelphia, Oct. 19. 1843.
My Dear Friend,
I was upon the point of fulfilling a long neglected duty and replying to Mr Carter’s letter, enclosing $5, when I received yours of the 13th, remitting 5 more. Believe me I am sincerely grateful to you both for your uniform kindness and consideration.
You say nothing of your health — but Mr C. speaks of its perfect restoration, and I see, by your very M S., that you are well again, body & mind. I need not say that I am rejoiced at this — for you must know and feel that I am. When I thought of the possible loss of your eye-sight, I grieved as if some dreadful misfortune were about happening to myself.
I shall look with much anxiety for your promised volume. Will it include your “Year’s Life” and other poems already published? I hope that it may; for these have not yet been fairly placed before the eye of the world. I am seeking an opportunity to do you justice in a review, and may find it, in “Graham,” when your book appears. No poet in America has done so much. I have maintained this upon all occasions. Mr Longfellow has genius, but by no means equals you in the true spirit. He is moreover so prone to imitation that I know not how to understand him at times. I am in doubt whether he should not be termed an