Riddle of the Week

Riddle of the Week: Edgar Allan Poe's Riddle Poem

Difficulty level: Hard

By Jay Bennett

 MICHAEL STILLWELL

Problem

The following poem was published on February 2, 1833, in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. It contains descriptions and clues of 11 famous literary figures. The poem was only attributed to "P." However, 20th century literature professor Thomas Ollive Mabbott credits Edgar Allan Poe with writing the poem. Mabbott also managed to identify all 11 literary figures hidden in the verse.

Can you?


Enigma

The noblest name in Allegory’s page,
The hand that traced inexorable rage;
A pleasing moralist whose page refined,
Displays the deepest knowledge of the mind;
A tender poet of a foreign tongue,
(Indited in the language that he sung.)
A bard of brilliant but unlicensed page
At once the shame and glory of our age,
The prince of harmony and stirling sense,
The ancient dramatist of eminence,
The bard that paints imagination’s powers,
And him whose song revives departed hours,
Once more an ancient tragic bard recall,
In boldness of design surpassing all.
These names when rightly read, a name [make] known
Which gathers all their glories in its own.

Hint

There are 16 lines in the poem, but only 11 literary figures. Some of the literary figures are identified with just one line, while others receive two.

Solution

Once you discover some of the writers hidden in Poe's poem, you can check for the solution at the end of the week.