"A Valentine"
by Edgar Allan Poe
- For her this rhyme is penned whose luminous eyes,
- Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
- Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
- Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
- Search narrowly the lines!-they hold a treasure
- Divine-a talisman-an amulet
- That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure-
- The words-the syllables! Do not forget
- The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor
- And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
- Which one might not undo without a sabre,
- If one could merely comprehend the plot.
- Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
- Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
- Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
- Of poets, by poets-as the name is a poet's, too,
- Its letters, although naturally lying
- Like the knight Pinto-Mendez Ferdinando-
- Still form a synonym for Truth-Cease trying!
- You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do.
What is the best description of a Gordian knot in lines 10 and 11?
by Edgar Allan Poe