Tamerlane by Poe: Inspiration for Young Writers
Review of Tamerlane by Edgar Allan Poe
I thought I had read every that Poe had published. I had never heard of this book before I read The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. She makes many book recommendations in that tale of two book lovers falling in love.
Tamerlane’s obscurity is well deserved. This thin and feeble attempt at poetry has no hint of the compelling rhythms of The Raven and Bells. And the longish title poem Tamerlane has no story and makes no point. There is not a single passage that I would like to highlight either for being strikingly good or strikingly bad. All 40 pages are uniformly mediocre.
But if you are a young aspiring poet, short story writer or novelist, you should read this. It could be the inspiration that you need.
Poe published this abomination at the age of 18. Only 50 copies were printed and mercifully few were ever purchased and read.
That he went on to become a great writer should give you hope that you too might rise far above your earliest attempts. In that sense, this book is so bad that it’s good.
