The Museum CollectionPoetry Attributed to Mrs. Jane Scott Mackenzie
Detail of "The Buried Love"
Reflecting the popularity in Poe's time of poetry about mourning, this poem begins, "She sleeps the quiet sleep of death,/ The maid who lies below--."
"Song"
The full title reads, "Song*--From [indecipherable]." The bottom of the sheet is dated "July 14, 1842."
"To I. Belcher"
This is written on the reverse of the sheet which contains "Song." A correction has been made to the thirteenth line. At the end of the poem is written, "July 10, 1842-- Richmond."
"A Sacred Melody"
The poem is dated at the end "July 15, 1842."
"The Buried Love"
This is the reverse of the sheet which contains "A Sacred Melody."
Description: These manuscripts were part of a group of items purchased from a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe's sister Rosalie Mackenzie Poe's foster mother Jane Scott Mackenzie (1783-1865) in 1998. The donor believed them to be the work of Jane Scott Mackenzie, who is known to have written poetry and to have discussed and shared her poems with Edgar Poe. The poems are not signed but are dated "1842." The word "Richmond" has also been written on one of the leaves. Both the date and location are appropriate to poems that would have been written by Jane Scott Mackenzie, but the handwriting differs from another manuscript for a poem attributed to her, which was included with May 6, 1914 letter from Mrs. W.A. Miller to James H. Whitty. More research will need to be conducted to determine the author of these poems.Search CollectionCategories
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