Lyric Poem · Life
An Enigma
"Seldom we find," says Solomon Don Dunce,
"Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet.
Through all the flimsy things we see at once
As easily as through a Naples bonnet —
Trash of all trash! — how _can_ a lady don it?
Yet heavier far than your Petrarchan stuff —
Owl-downy nonsense that the faintest puff
Twirls into trunk-paper the while you con it."
And, veritably, Sol is right enough.
The general tuckermanities are arrant
Bubbles — ephemeral and _so_ transparent —
But _this is_, now — you may depend upon it —
Stable, opaque, immortal — all by dint
Of the dear names that lie concealed within't.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“An Enigma” by Edgar Allan Poe — quilloak.com/poems/an-enigma
Quick facts
- Poem
- An Enigma
- Poet
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Life
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Lines run 10-12 syllables (median 11). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849
- Source record
- PoetryDBAn Enigma by edgar-allan-poe, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 a40aca629843973f…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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