ANOMALY AND RESOLUTION IN POE’S POEM "ROMANCE" (4)
(01-03-2011)

The poems of Edgar Allan Poe have always presented anomalies, whether of poor judgment, inattention or haste.  I believe that I can resolve an anomaly in one of Poe’s poems, and from evidence internal to it.  The poem is “Romance.”

I give the poem as published with the accepted rhyme scheme:

1 Romance, who loves to nod and sing, With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, 5 To me a painted paroquet Hath been --- a most familiar bird --- Taught me my alphabet to say, To lisp my very earliest word, While in the wild wood I did lie, 10 A child --- with a most knowing eye.	A A B B C D C D E E
Of late, eternal Condor years So shake the very Heaven on high With tumult as they thunder by, I have no time for idle cares 15 Through gazing on the unquiet sky. And when an hour with calmer wings Its down upon my spirit flings --- That little time with lyre and rhyme To while away --- forbidden things! 20 My heart would feel to be a crime Unless it trembled with the strings.	F E       E F E G G H G H G

     As you will notice, all the rhymes are true or conventional rhymes, except for one.  The exception is the “paroquet – say” rhyme, lines 5 and 7.  It has been considered that “paroquet” is pronounced without the final “t” sound as would a French word, if it were a French word, and rhyme with “say.”  We accept the fact that Poe used French or faux-French words in his various compositions.  Further, Poe has lapses in rhymes, as “newly-Thule” and “before me-D’Elormie” demonstrate.  We have learned to overlook such lapses in view of his narrative gifts.

     I had never been comfortable with the “paroquet-say” rhyme in the poem “Romance.”  I had always floundered on the pronunciation of “paroquet.”  It never seemed to be correct however pronounced.  I would pronounce the “t’ of “paroquet” when I read it, but then when I came to the word “say” I would mentally have to correct myself and go back and pronounce “paroquet” without sounding the “t.”  Together with the intricacy of the rhyme-scheme, it was confusing and always ruined the poem for me.

     I was never really certain anyway, early on, what a “paroquet” was, though probably a small bird of the order that includes parakeets and parrots.  The “paroquet,” as a small bird, makes the contrast to the gigantic “Condor” in the development of the poem.  I thought Poe had copped the word from his desultory reading, or had even coined it for exotic effect.  I decided to discover what a “paroquet” is or was, as it may have been or become obsolete.  The word is found in the O.E.D.  It is an English word and is pronounced with the final “t” sounded.  A “paroquet” is a “parakeet.”  The form of the word varies, and one form as given in the O.E.D. is identical to the word for parrot in French, “perroquet” that is pronounced without the final “t” sound and would rhyme with “say.”  It makes the pronunciation of the word used in the poem terribly confusing.  Perhaps Poe meant to use “perroquet” or adopt it into English with the French pronunciation.

     But the word Poe actually used in his poem is “paroquet,” and it was known since early in the 19th century as an English word and pronounced with the “t”.  Further, the word “paroquet” is found in the 1828 edition of Webster’s Dictionary that might have been available to Poe as the date of the poem “Romance” is given as 1843, although there were earlier precursors, though none before 1828.   It seems improbable that the word would have changed pronunciation from 1828 to the time when Poe wrote his poem, or even from immediately where Webster got it for his 1828 dictionary.

     If we were to assume that “paroquet” is pronounced as an English word with the “t” sounded, it would create a greater anomaly in the poem, since there would be no end rhyme for it or for “say.”  It would make a horrible disruption of an otherwise melodious poem, one hardly believed for Poe. 

     There might continue to be a question of the pronunciation of the word “paroquet” in the poem “Romance” except for what I have perceived.  The discrepancy can easily be resolved, whatever Poe intended.

     I direct your attention to line 7 that contains the word “say” as the supposed rhyme word for “paroquet.”  The line is:  “Taught me my alphabet to say,...” a perfect iambic tetrameter line.  (The paradigmatic verse form of the poem is iambic tetrameter.)  If you examine this line carefully, you will discover that the word “alphabet” provides a perfect rhyme for “paroquet” as an English word with the “t” sounded, as I have shown.  It provides a solution for the anomaly of the accepted rhyme scheme.  Both “paroquet” and “alphabet” are trisyllabic words and, in versification, are both dactyls.  The strong stress in each word is on the first syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, though the final syllables of each are, perhaps, stressed more strongly than the second syllables.  If we rearrange the line we would have:  “Taught me to say my alphabet,---“ which is as perfect an iambic tetrameter line as is the inverted former conventionally printed line. 

     I will point out that Poe does not typically invert his lines in the poem “Romance.”  I will point out, further, that “parakeet” does not rhyme with “paroquet,” but that a “parakeet,” as a “paroquet,” affords a much better comparison of smallness and weakness to the size and strength of a “Condor” than does a parrot, as a “perroquet” (pronounced without the “t”, remember) in French;  but that a parakeet (or paroquet) is a variety of parrot and would thus satisfy the mimicry of language or alphabet that is implied in the poem.

     The line and rhyme I have suggested disrupt neither the meter of the line indicated nor the over-all rhyme scheme of the poem.  The rhyme scheme may even be improved as the rearranged word “say” provides an internal rhyme to the word “away” in line 19 and thereby connects the stanzas.

     I believe I have resolved the anomaly.

     I invite you to read the resolved version of Poe’s poem “Romance” below in all its delightful lyricism.

1 Romance, who loves to nod and sing, With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, 5 To me a painted paroquet Hath been --- a most familiar bird --- Taught me to say my alphabet, To lisp my very earliest word, While in the wild wood I did lie, 10 A child --- with a most knowing eye.	A A B B C D C D E E
Of late, eternal Condor years So shake the very Heaven on high With tumult as they thunder by, I have no time for idle cares 15 Through gazing on the unquiet sky. And when an hour with calmer wings Its down upon my spirit flings --- That little time with lyre and rhyme To while away --- forbidden things! 20 My heart would feel to be a crime Unless it trembled with the strings.	F E       E F E G G H G H G

Caveats

1- I wish to state emphatically that I did not say that Poe, his editors, copyists, publishers, scholars or whomever others involved with his works made errors.  I merely pointed out an anomaly in Poe’s poem and showed how it could be resolved from within the poem itself, and simply.  I have not done the research necessary to state definitely that errors were or were not made by anyone.

2- I have neither exhausted the emendations of the poem “Romance.”  As a fanciful thing, I perceive parody in the use of the word “paroquet.”  I also perceive something suggestive in the “rhyme – crime” rhymes, lines 18 and 20, for the subject of my essay.  But these two items get us very far into a sophisticated explication of Poe’s psychology.

3- I was able to examine an original copy of the 1828 edition of Webster’s Dictionary at the Athenaeum, a private library in Providence, RI and verify for myself the pronunciation of the word “paroquet”. 

4- I present my essay on Poe as a literary Op-Ed, and not as a scholarly article.

NOTICE

01-10-2011

     I wish to thank Dr. Audrey Lavin who encouraged me to continue with and develop my perception about Poe’s poem “Romance.”  Dr. Lavin wrote an article about the poem titled “A Birder’s Re-reading of Poe’s ‘Romance’” a number of years ago that I was able to read through her good offices.  She mentioned my work on her blog.  Dr. Lavin was a graceful and friendly mentor.  She is also the author of contemporary murder mysteries.  You may reach her at <audreylavin.com> and tr.im/whodunit. 

T.R. CATANZARITE