Morning on the Wissahiccon

"Morning on the Wissahiccon" (also called "The Elk") is an 1844 work by Edgar Allan Poe describing the natural beauty of Wissahickon Creek, which flows into the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

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", Journal, in 1835.

The work was first published as "Morning on the Wissahiccon" in the annual The Opal: A Pure Gift for the Holy Days in 1844.

[1] Like Poe's previous "The Island of the Fay," it was originally a "plate article," a work written specifically to accompany an engraving.

The Opal , 1844, edited by N.P. Willis. John C. Riker, New York.
Illustration by John Gadsby Chapman in The Opal: A Pure Gift for the Holy Days , 1844.