Elizabeth*

Elizabeth, it surely is most fit
   [Logic and common usage so commanding]
In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
   Zeno and other sages notwithstanding;
And I have other reasons for so doing
   Besides my innate love of contradiction;
Each poet - if a poet - in pursuing
   The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
Has studied very little of his part,
   Read nothing, written less - in short's a fool
Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
   Being ignorant of one important rule,
Employed in even the theses of the school-
   Called - I forget the heathenish Greek name
[Called anything, its meaning is the same]
   "Always write first things uppermost in the heart."

* Elizabeth Rebecca Herring, Poe's cousin - Ed.