Demogorgon
04-29-2003, 10:27 AM
I have tried to post this question on the "who said this" topic, but few people seem to find it there. I'm sorry if I repeat my question here, but I think this is a matter of some importance. Here we go:
Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers and I have pondered weak and weary over the origins of a quaint and curious quote that has puzzled me for some time. Could someone please help me solve this mystery?
This is the qoute:
"Sleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death.... "
(some variations with "Dreams, How I loathe..." and such may occur)
It seems to be a widely spread opinion that this quote is from Poes work. Sometimes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is credited, but as far as I know it is commonly believed to originate from Edgar Allan Poe.
I have been searching through Poes complete works (all his poems, novels, short stories, long stories, some material that seemed to be scripts for different plays, some letters and articles) and I can't seem to find this sentence or anything remotely like it anywhere in his work. It could be something he actually said or something he wrote in a letter or article that I don't know of. Possible, yet not very likely. A quote as famous and well spread as this one would probably be ea
sy to pinpoint if it really came from Poe.
I haven't found anything that resembles this quote in Longfellows complete poems either, but I haven't been as thorough in my research as in the case of Mr Poe.
What I did find was "The Columbia World of Quotations 1996" and a sequence from the 1959 film "Journey to the Center of the Earth. It goes like this:
"I don’t sleep. I hate those little slices of death."
ATTRIBUTION:
Journey to the Center of the Earth 1959 (based on the novel by Jules Verne)
Walter Reisch (1903–1963), Austrian screenwriter, Charles Brackett (1892–1969), U.S. and Henry Levin.
The character Count Saknussemm (Thayer David) at the edge of the sea, explaining to Lindenbrook why he isn’t resting.
Not exactly the same quote, but very close indeed. The scriptwriters are credited for the quote with no reference to Poe or Longfellow or anyone else. It is not to be found in the english translation of the original novel by Jules Verne either.
Any suggestion or information on the origins of this qoute? Does it come from Poe? If it does, where can I find it? If it doesn't, who said/wrote it and how did Poe end up with the credit (Nightmare on Elm Street III might be a good guess)?
It is a long "question" but I thought I might provide you with all the information I have gathered so far to make things easier for you. I have tried almost everything else (including unanswered e-mail to the Poe experts on e-note, e-mail to Poe expert Terence Whalen of the University of Illinois at Chicago etc), and now I'm turning to you.
Please help my poor soul...
Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers and I have pondered weak and weary over the origins of a quaint and curious quote that has puzzled me for some time. Could someone please help me solve this mystery?
This is the qoute:
"Sleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death.... "
(some variations with "Dreams, How I loathe..." and such may occur)
It seems to be a widely spread opinion that this quote is from Poes work. Sometimes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is credited, but as far as I know it is commonly believed to originate from Edgar Allan Poe.
I have been searching through Poes complete works (all his poems, novels, short stories, long stories, some material that seemed to be scripts for different plays, some letters and articles) and I can't seem to find this sentence or anything remotely like it anywhere in his work. It could be something he actually said or something he wrote in a letter or article that I don't know of. Possible, yet not very likely. A quote as famous and well spread as this one would probably be ea
sy to pinpoint if it really came from Poe.
I haven't found anything that resembles this quote in Longfellows complete poems either, but I haven't been as thorough in my research as in the case of Mr Poe.
What I did find was "The Columbia World of Quotations 1996" and a sequence from the 1959 film "Journey to the Center of the Earth. It goes like this:
"I don’t sleep. I hate those little slices of death."
ATTRIBUTION:
Journey to the Center of the Earth 1959 (based on the novel by Jules Verne)
Walter Reisch (1903–1963), Austrian screenwriter, Charles Brackett (1892–1969), U.S. and Henry Levin.
The character Count Saknussemm (Thayer David) at the edge of the sea, explaining to Lindenbrook why he isn’t resting.
Not exactly the same quote, but very close indeed. The scriptwriters are credited for the quote with no reference to Poe or Longfellow or anyone else. It is not to be found in the english translation of the original novel by Jules Verne either.
Any suggestion or information on the origins of this qoute? Does it come from Poe? If it does, where can I find it? If it doesn't, who said/wrote it and how did Poe end up with the credit (Nightmare on Elm Street III might be a good guess)?
It is a long "question" but I thought I might provide you with all the information I have gathered so far to make things easier for you. I have tried almost everything else (including unanswered e-mail to the Poe experts on e-note, e-mail to Poe expert Terence Whalen of the University of Illinois at Chicago etc), and now I'm turning to you.
Please help my poor soul...