"Landor's Cottage" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Published in the June 9, 1849 edition of The Flag of Our Union, the story follows an unnamed narrator as they travel through valleys, searching for the village of B—— before nightfall.
Plot "Landor's Cottage" is a first-person narrative written with lush prose and serene images, beginning with narrator's goal of reaching a village before night. They remark that if they don't find the village in time, there may be a farmhouse or "something of that kind" they could shelter in instead.
Venturing off with their dog, Ponto, "as a sentry", the narrator describes the fields and glades they encounter, finding carriage tracks in the ground. Finding the grassy, yet identifiable road beautiful, they admire it for a time, taking a seat a "blossomy" stone. "[A]ll roads, in the ordinary sense, are works of art".
When rising again, the narrator travels down a serpentine path, eventually hearing water flow and coming upon a building disguised in a waterfall's mist. It is only when the sun fully appears in the sky that the building, along with the entire valley, becomes visible. Beneath them is a wide vale that they describe, and from afar, they spot a cottage.
The narrator is dazzled by the cottage's beauty. After moving to another position for a better look, they outline its features.
Twenty-four feet long, sixteen wide, approximately eighteen feet from the ground to the "apex" of the roof. Attached to its west side is another, smaller house, "about a third smaller in all its proportions." Both buildings have pillars lifting the corners of their roofs. A third structure lies behind the first one, but not exactly in the middle. It's one-third smaller than the "western wing."
Satisfied, the narrator leaves and finds the village. A dog, "the mastiff", greets them and Ponto. They knock on a house door and a young woman opens it. Finding her attractive, the narrator recalls hearing her called, Annie. Annie invites them inside where, in the parlor, they meet Mr. Landor.
After describing his residence, the story concludes by saying "this paper" was written simply to paint a picture, "as I found it", of Mr. Landor's valley home, with the "particulars of Mr. Landor himself", possibly forming the subject for their next article.
Publication history Poe wrote the story in late 1848 or early 1849. In a letter dated January 21, 1849, he writes to Annie L. Richmond, saying "[n]ot long ago", he sent the story to Metropolitan for review. But after the magazine cancelled, with only two released issues, the story was returned to Poe and he later sent it to The Flag of Our Union in April or May of 1849.
Originally, the tale was subtitled, "A Pendant to the 'Domain of Arnheim'". "The Domain of Arnheim" being its own short story by Poe published on March 1847 in John Inman's Columbian Magazine.
In 1865, French poet, Charles Baudelaire translated and published "Landor's Cottage" in Grotesque and Serious Stories through Michel Lévy Frères.
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