{
 "id": "edgar-allan-poe/tamerlane",
 "title": "Tamerlane",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Edgar Allan Poe",
 "poet_slug": "edgar-allan-poe",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Tamerlane and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "tamerlane-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 1,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1827,
  "venue": "Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_fLcDAAAAQAAJ"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/edgar-allan-poe_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2151",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Acrostic",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elizabeth_(Poe)",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Serenade_(Poe)",
   "https://archive.org/details/worksedgarallan00unkngoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cu31924019520810",
   "https://archive.org/details/jstor-2915307"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12",
  "corrections": [
   {
    "line": null,
    "was": "Tamerlane1",
    "now": "Tamerlane",
    "why": "A Standard Ebooks endnote marker (<a epub:type=\"noteref\">) carried into the text by extraction; not present on the printed page.",
    "checked_against": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2151",
    "date": "2026-08-12",
    "field": "title"
   }
  ]
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 243,
  "n_stanzas": 18,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 2
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Kind solace in a dying hour!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such, father, is not (now) my theme⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I will not madly deem that power",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Earth may shrive me of the sin",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Unearthly pride hath revelled in⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "I have no time to dote or dream:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "You call it hope⁠—that fire of fire!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is but agony of desire:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If I can hope⁠—O God! I can⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its fount is holier⁠—more divine⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I would not call thee fool, old man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But such is not a gift of thine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Know thou the secret of a spirit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bowed from its wild pride into shame.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O yearning heart! I did inherit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy withering portion with the fame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The searing glory which hath shone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amid the Jewels of my throne,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Halo of Hell! and with a pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not Hell shall make me fear again⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O craving heart, for the lost flowers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sunshine of my summer hours!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Th’ undying voice of that dead time,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With its interminable chime,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rings, in the spirit of a spell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon thy emptiness⁠—a knell.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I have not always been as now:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fevered diadem on my brow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I claimed and won usurpingly⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath not the same fierce heirdom given",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rome to the Caesar⁠—this to me?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The heritage of a kingly mind,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And a proud spirit which hath striven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Triumphantly with human kind.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "On mountain soil I first drew life:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mists of the Taglay have shed",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nightly their dews upon my head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, I believe, the wingèd strife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tumult of the headlong air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have nestled in my very hair.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So late from Heaven⁠—that dew⁠—it fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(’Mid dreams of an unholy night)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon me with the touch of Hell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While the red flashing of the light",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From clouds that hung, like banners, o’er,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Appeared to my half-closing eye",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The pageantry of monarchy;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the deep trumpet-thunder’s roar",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came hurriedly upon me, telling",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of human battle, where my voice,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "My own voice, silly child!⁠—was swelling",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "(O! how my spirit would rejoice,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And leap within me at the cry)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The battle-cry of Victory!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The rain came down upon my head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unsheltered⁠—and the heavy wind",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Rendered me mad and deaf and blind.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It was but man, I thought, who shed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Laurels upon me: and the rush⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The torrent of the chilly air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gurgled within my ear the crush",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of empires⁠—with the captive’s prayer⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hum of suitors⁠—and the tone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of flattery ’round a sovereign’s throne.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My passions, from that hapless hour,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Usurped a tyranny which men",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Have deemed since I have reached to power,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My innate nature⁠—be it so:",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "But, father, there lived one who, then,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then⁠—in my boyhood⁠—when their fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Burned with a still intenser glow",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "(For passion must, with youth, expire)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en then who knew this iron heart",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In woman’s weakness had a part.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I have no words⁠—alas!⁠—to tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The loveliness of loving well!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor would I now attempt to trace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The more than beauty of a face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose lineaments, upon my mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are ⸻ shadows on th’ unstable wind:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus I remember having dwelt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some page of early lore upon,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With loitering eye, till I have felt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The letters⁠—with their meaning⁠—melt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To fantasies⁠—with none.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O, she was worthy of all love!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Love as in infancy was mine⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas such as angel minds above",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Might envy; her young heart the shrine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On which my ev’ry hope and thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were incense⁠—then a goodly gift,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For they were childish and upright⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Pure⁠—as her young example taught:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why did I leave it, and, adrift,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Trust to the fire within, for light?",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We grew in age⁠—and love⁠—together⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Roaming the forest, and the wild;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "My breast her shield in wintry weather⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, when the friendly sunshine smiled.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And she would mark the opening skies,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I saw no Heaven⁠—but in her eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young Love’s first lesson is⁠—the heart:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For ’mid that sunshine, and those smiles,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When, from our little cares apart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And laughing at her girlish wiles,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’d throw me on her throbbing breast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And pour my spirit out in tears⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There was no need to speak the rest⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No need to quiet any fears",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of her⁠—who asked no reason why,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But turned on me her quiet eye!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet more than worthy of the love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My spirit struggled with, and strove,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When, on the mountain peak, alone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ambition lent it a new tone⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had no being⁠—but in thee:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The world, and all it did contain",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In the earth⁠—the air⁠—the sea⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its joy⁠—its little lot of pain",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That was new pleasure⁠—the ideal,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dim, vanities of dreams by night⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And dimmer nothings which were real⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Shadows⁠—and a more shadowy light!)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Parted upon their misty wings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, so, confusedly, became",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thine image, and⁠—a name⁠—a name!",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Two separate⁠—yet most intimate things.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I was ambitious⁠—have you known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The passion, father? You have not:",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "A cottager, I marked a throne",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of half the world as all my own,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And murmured at such lowly lot⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "But, just like any other dream,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the vapor of the dew",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "My own had past, did not the beam",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of beauty which did while it thro’",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "The minute⁠—the hour⁠—the day⁠—oppress",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My mind with double loveliness.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We walked together on the crown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a high mountain which looked down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Afar from its proud natural towers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of rock and forest, on the hills⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The dwindled hills! begirt with bowers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And shouting with a thousand rills.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I spoke to her of power and pride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But mystically⁠—in such guise",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That she might deem it naught beside",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The moment’s converse; in her eyes",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I read, perhaps too carelessly⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A mingled feeling with my own⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The flush on her bright cheek, to me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seemed to become a queenly throne",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Too well that I should let it be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Light in the wilderness alone.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I wrapped myself in grandeur then,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And donned a visionary crown⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet it was not that Fantasy",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Had thrown her mantle over me⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But that, among the rabble⁠—men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lion ambition is chained down⁠—",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And crouches to a keeper’s hand⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not so in deserts where the grand⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wild⁠—the terrible conspire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With their own breath to fan his fire.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Look ’round thee now on Samarkand!⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is not she queen of Earth? her pride",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Above all cities? in her hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their destinies? in all beside",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of glory which the world hath known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stands she not nobly and alone?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Falling⁠—her veriest stepping-stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall form the pedestal of a throne⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And who her sovereign? Timour⁠—he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom the astonished people saw",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Striding o’er empires haughtily",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A diademed outlaw!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O, human love! thou spirit given,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Earth, of all we hope in Heaven!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which fall’st into the soul like rain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the Siroc-withered plain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, failing in thy power to bless",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But leav’st the heart a wilderness!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Idea! which bindest life around",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With music of so strange a sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And beauty of so wild a birth⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Farewell! for I have won the Earth.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When Hope, the eagle that towered, could see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No cliff beyond him in the sky,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His pinions were bent droopingly⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And homeward turned his softened eye.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas sunset: when the sun will part",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There comes a sullenness of heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To him who still would look upon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The glory of the summer sun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That soul will hate the ev’ning mist,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So often lovely, and will list",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the sound of the coming darkness (known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To those whose spirits hearken) as one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who, in a dream of night, would fly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But can not, from a danger nigh.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What tho’ the moon⁠—tho’ the white moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shed all the splendor of her noon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her smile is chilly⁠—and her beam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In that time of dreariness, will seem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(So like you gather in your breath)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A portrait taken after death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And boyhood in a summer sun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose waning is the dreariest one⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all we live to know is known,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all we seek to keep hath flown⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let life, then, as the day-flower, fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the noonday beauty⁠—which is all.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I reached my home⁠—my home no more⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all had flown who made it so.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I passed from out its mossy door,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, tho’ my tread was soft and low,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A voice came from the threshold stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of one whom I had earlier known⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O! I defy thee, Hell, to show",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "On beds of fire that burn below,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A humbler heart⁠—a deeper woe.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Father, I firmly do believe⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I know⁠—for Death, who comes for me",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From regions of the blest afar,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Where there is nothing to deceive,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath left his iron gate ajar,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And rays of truth you cannot see",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Are flashing thro’ Eternity⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I do believe that Eblis hath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A snare in every human path⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Else how, when in the holy grove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I wandered of the idol, Love⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who daily scents his snowy wings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With incense of burnt-offerings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the most unpolluted things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose pleasant bowers are yet so riven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above with trellised rays from Heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No mote may shun⁠—no tiniest fly⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The light’ning of his eagle eye⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How was it that Ambition crept,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unseen, amid the revels there,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till growing bold, he laughed and leapt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the tangles of Love’s very hair?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}