Famous Love Poems - Page 2

  1. 21. A Valentine

    This Valentine Poem from Edgar Allan Poe was originally titled "To Her Whose Name Is Written Below." The poem was for Frances Sargent Osgood and her name is within the poem.
    To find the name, take the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, the third letter of the third line, and so on until the end.

    For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
    Brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda,
    Shall find her own sweet name, that, nestling lies
    Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
    Search narrowly the lines!—they hold a treasure
    Divine—a talisman—an amulet
    That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure—
    The words—the syllables! Do not forget
    The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor!
    And yet there is in this no Gordian knot

    Which one might not undo without a sabre,
    If one could merely comprehend the plot.
    Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
    Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
    Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
    Of poets, by poets—as the name is a poet’s, too.
    Its letters, although naturally lying
    Like the knight Pinto—Mendez Ferdinando—
    Still form a synonym for Truth—Cease trying!
    You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do.

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