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A Valentine by Edgar Allan Poe

Analysis

This work titled "A Valentine" by Edgar Allan Poe is known as an acrostic poem. To read the message read the first letter of the first line, second of the second line and so one. The message states "Frances Sargent Osgood", who was a friend of Poe's while working for the Broadway Journal.

Like most acrostic poems, this writing is made up of only one stanza and spells a phrase that is used to help convey the true meaning of the work. Each odd line rhymes in twos and the even lines sometimes rhyme or are imperfect rhymes.

Poem

A Valentine
By 

For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
  Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
  Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
Search narrowly the lines!- they hold a treasure
  Divine- a talisman- an amulet
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure-
  The words- the syllables! Do not forget
The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor
  And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
Which one might not undo without a sabre,
  If one could merely comprehend the plot.
Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
  Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
  Of poets, by poets- as the name is a poet's, too,
Its letters, although naturally lying
  Like the knight Pinto- Mendez Ferdinando-
Still form a synonym for Truth- Cease trying!
  You will not read the ridle, though you do the best you can do.

Written in .
Next: Alone

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Nationality
American

Literary Movement
Romanticism, 19th Century

Subjects
Friendship, Acrostic