"Morning on the Wissahiccon," also called "The Elk," is an 1844 work by Edgar Allan Poe describing the natural beauty of Wissahickon Creek which feeds into the Schuylkill River in eastern Pennsylvania. It borders between being a short story and a travel essay.
Poe criticizes tourists who focus on "the most beaten thoroughfares of the country" and do not look at the beauty of sites "far away from the track." He describes the area in detail and its...
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"Morning on the Wissahiccon," also called "The Elk," is an 1844 work by Edgar Allan Poe describing the natural beauty of Wissahickon Creek which feeds into the Schuylkill River in eastern Pennsylvania. It borders between being a short story and a travel essay.
Poe criticizes tourists who focus on "the most beaten thoroughfares of the country" and do not look at the beauty of sites "far away from the track." He describes the area in detail and its wild beauty, in particular the Wissahiccon Creek itself. On one visit, he sees an elk on a cliff. The majesty of this "oldest and boldest" of elks is ruined when he realizes it was a domesticated pet, not a wild creature, belonging to "an English family occupying a villa in the vicinity."
Poe refers to the writing of actress Fanny Kemble in this essay, saying it was she who first brought the beautiful area to people's attention in her "droll book" about the United States.
The work was first published as "Morning on the Wissahiccon" in the...
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