Previously to this, however, he had published (in 1827) a
small volume of poems, which soon ran through three editions, and
excited high expectations of its author's future distinction in the
minds of many competent judges.
[Footnote 1: There is little evidence for this story, which some
biographers have dismissed as a myth created by Poe himself. See
Woodberry's _Poe_, v. i, p. 337.]
That no certain augury can be drawn from a poet's earliest lispings
there are instances enough to prove. Shakespeare's first poems, though
brimful of vigor and youth and picturesqueness, give but a very faint
promise of the directness, condensation, and overflowing moral of his
maturer works. Perhaps, however, Shakespeare is hardly a case in point,
his "Venus and Adonis" having been published, we believe, in his
twenty-sixth year. Milton's Latin verses show tenderness, a fine eye for
nature, and a delicate appreciation of classic models, but give no hint
of the author of a new style in poetry. Pope's youthful pieces have all
the sing-song, wholly unrelieved by the glittering malignity and
eloquent irreligion of his later productions. Collins' callow
namby-pamby died and gave no sign of the vigorous and original genius
which he afterwards displayed. We have never thought that the world lost
more in the "marvellous boy," Chatterton, than a very ingenious imitator
of obscure and antiquated dulness.
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