Identifier	pcpa004_003
Title	Valentine poem: Virginia Poe to Edgar Allan Poe, February 14, 1846
Transcript	Ever with thee I wish to roam-- Dearest my life is thine . Give me a cottage for my home And a rich old cypress vine , Removed from the world with its sin and care And the tattling of many tongues . Love alone shall guide us when we are there-- Love shall heal my weakened lungs ; And Oh, the tranquil hours we'll spend , Never wishing that others may see ! Perfect ease we'll enjoy, without thinking to lend Ourselves to the world and its glee-- Ever peaceful and blissful we'll be . Saturday February 14, 1846 .
Creator	Poe, Virginia, 1822-1847
Subject	Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 Poe, Virginia, 1822-1847 Poetry Valentines
Description	In the valentine poem dated February 14, 1846, Virginia Clemm Poe tells her husband Edgar Allan Poe what his love means to her. Written in acrostic form--the first letter of each line spells out her husband's name--Virginia tells Poe she doesn't want wealth and society but a quiet country cottage where the two of them can live together in peace, away from the demands and deceits of the world. (Editor's note: Beginning in 1845, Edgar Allan Poe conducted a literary courtship with Frances Sargent Osgood through the pages of the Broadway Journal. It is said that Virginia Poe knew and approved of her husband's fondness for Mrs. Osgood, but when the poem "A Valentine", written by Edgar for Mrs. Osgood, was read at a dinner party given on February 13, 1846 (printed as "To Her Whose Name Is Written Below" (see item pcpl001) in the Evening Mirror February 21, 1846), one wonders whether Virginia was happy with this dalliance, albeit literary, or with the gossip it was creating and which she had to endure. Her poem, like his, was also written as an acrostic, though Edgar's use of the acrostic form is more involved--the first letter of the first line gives the first letter of Mrs. Osgood's name, with the second letter of the second line giving the second letter of her name, and so forth (Poe misspelled her middle name as "Sergeant). One also wonders why the poems were so close in time, the 13th and 14th of February 1846. Was her "Valentine" to him meant to be a gentle remainder of their love? Curiously, both Mrs. Osgood and Virginia died of tuberculosis within the next five year.)
Publisher (Electronic Version)	Enoch Pratt Free Library
Holding Institution	Enoch Pratt Free Library
Date Original	1846-02-14;
Date Digital	2002-06-20;
Type	Text
Format	Digital reproduction of 1-page document, 34 x 43 cm.
Source	Special Collections Department, Edgar Allan Poe Collection
Relation	Is Part Of the Edgar Allan Poe Collection Is Part Of the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Program
Coverage	1841-1850