Tamerlane Book Reviews

Tamerlane by Edgar Allan Poe Book Summary

"Tamerlane" is an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which follows a fictionalized accounting of the life of a Turkic conqueror historically known as Tamerlane. The poem was first published in the 1827 collection Tamerlane and Other Poems. That collection, with only 50 copies printed, was not 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.
The poem follows the life of a Turkic conqueror historically known as Tamerlane. The name is a Latinized version of "Timur Lenk", the 14th-century warlord who founded the Timurid Empire, though the poem is not a historical depiction of his life.
Tamerlane ignores the young love he has for a peasant in order to achieve power. On his deathbed, he regrets this decision to create "a kingdom for a broken heart". The peasant is named Ada in most of Poe's original version of the poem, though it is removed and re-added throughout its many revised versions. The name "Ada" is likely a reference to Ada Lovelace, 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.

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Tamerlane (Edgar Allan Poe) Book Reviews 2024

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