Tamerlane (poem) Totally Explained

Everything about Tamerlane Poem totally explained

"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the 1827 collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. That collection, with only 50 copies printed, wasn't credited with the author's real name but by "A Bostonian." The poem's original version was 403 lines but trimmed down to 223 lines for its inclusion in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

Synopsis

The poem itself follows a Mongol conqueror named Tamerlane. The name is a Latinized version of Timur, a historical 14th century warlord, though the poem isn't historically accurate.
Tamerlane ignores the young love he's for a peasant in order to achieve power. On his deathbed, he regrets this decision to create "a kingdom [inexchange] for a broken-heart." The peasant is named Ada in most of Poe's original version of the poem, though it's removed and re-added throughout its many revised versions. The name "Ada" is likely a reference to the daughter of Lord Byron, a renowned poet whom Poe admired. In fact, the line "I reach'd my home -- my home no more" echoes a line in Byron's work "Don Juan."

Analysis

The main themes of "Tamerlane" are independence and pride as well as loss and exile. Poe may have written the poem based on his own loss of his early love, Sarah Elmira Royster, his birth mother Eliza Poe, or his foster-mother Frances Allan. The poem may also mirror Poe's relationship with his foster-father John Allan; similar to Poe, Tamerlane is of uncertain parentage, with a "feigned name." Only 19 when he wrote the poem, Poe's own sense of loss came from the waning possibility of inheritance and a college education after leaving the University of Virginia. Distinctly a poem of youth, the poem also discusses themes Poe will use throughout his life, including his tendency toward self-criticism and his ongoing strivings towards perfection.
The poem was influenced by Lord Byron's drama Manfield and his poem "The Giaour" in both manner and style.
Poe may have identified with the title character. He used "TAMERLANE" as a pseudonym attached to two of his poems on their first publication, "Fanny" and "To ——," both published in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter in 1833.

Publication history

"Tamerlane" was first published in Poe's earliest poetry collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. The "little volume", as Poe referred to it in the preface, consists of 10 poems. This original version of the poem contained 406. In an 1845 publication, it had been edited to only two hundred and thirty-four. Tamerlane and Other Poems, which appeared in June 1827, was forty pages long and credited only by "a Bostonian". In its initial publication in the collection Tamerlane and Other Poems, Poe included endnotes explaining some of his allusions from "Tamerlane." He also confesses early on that he knows little about the historical Tamerlane, "and with that little, I've taken the full liberty of a poet." These endnotes don't appear in any other collection that includes "Tamerlane."

Further Information

Get more info on 'Tamerlane Poem'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://tamerlane__poem.totallyexplained.com">Tamerlane (poem) Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.