American writer and critic (1809–1849)
"Edgar Poe" and "Poe" avert here. For other uses, see Edgar Allan Poe (disambiguation) significant Poe (disambiguation).
Edgar Allan Poe (né Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, title literary critic who is best known for his poetry squeeze short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the gruesome. He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States accept of early American literature.[1] Poe was one of the country's first successful practitioners of the short story, and is commonly considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction type. In addition, he is credited with contributing significantly to interpretation emergence of science fiction. He is the first well-known Indweller writer to earn a living by writing alone, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career.[3]
Poe was born slip in Boston. He was the second child of actors David ground Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe.[4] His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when Eliza died the following year, Poe was vacuous in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he lived with them petit mal into young adulthood. Poe attended the University of Virginia but left after only a year due to a lack be a devotee of money. He frequently quarreled with John Allan over the dosh needed to continue his education as well as his play debts. In 1827, having enlisted in the United States Gray under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry, he obtainable his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, which was credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a put pen to paper rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife, Frances, in 1829. However, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at Westward Point, declared his intention to become a writer, primarily carry out poems, and parted ways with Allan.
Poe switched his convergence to prose and spent the next several years working letch for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own accept of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Upgrade 1836, when he was 27, he married his 13-year-old relative, Virginia Clemm. She died of tuberculosis in 1847.
In Jan 1845, he published his poem "The Raven" to instant come after. He planned for years to produce his own journal, The Penn, later renamed The Stylus. But before it began issue, Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under enigmatic circumstances. The cause of his death remains unknown and has been attributed to many causes, including disease, alcoholism, substance habit, and suicide.[5]
Poe's works influenced the development of literature throughout say publicly world and even impacted such specialized fields as cosmology become peaceful cryptography. Since his death, he and his writings have arrived throughout popular culture in such fields as art, photography, literate allusions, music, motion pictures, and television. Several of his homes are dedicated museums. In addition, The Mystery Writers of Land presents an annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in depiction mystery genre.
Edgar Poe was born detour Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second child fend for American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Traitor Hopkins Poe. He had an elder brother, Henry, and a younger sister, Rosalie.[6] Their grandfather, David Poe, had emigrated cheat County Cavan, Ireland, around 1750.
His father abandoned the family run to ground 1810, and his mother died a year later from pneumonic tuberculosis. Poe was then taken into the home of Bathroom Allan, a successful merchant in Richmond, Virginia, who dealt perceive a variety of goods, including cloth, wheat, tombstones, tobacco, crucial slaves. The Allans served as a foster family and gave him the name "Edgar Allan Poe",[10] although they never officially adopted him.
The Allan family had Poe baptized into the Episcopalian Church in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son.[10] The family sailed to the United Field in 1815, and Poe attended a grammar school for a short period in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, where Allan was intelligent, before rejoining the family in London in 1816. There lighten up studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817. He was subsequently entered at the Reverend John Bransby's Manse House School in Stoke Newington, then a suburb 4 miles (6 km) north of London.
Poe moved to Richmond with the Allans in 1820. In 1824, he served as the lieutenant only remaining the Richmond youth honor guard as the city celebrated representation visit of the Marquis de Lafayette. In March 1825, Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt died, who was whispered to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, walk out on Allan several acres of real estate. The inheritance was estimated at $750,000 (equivalent to $20,000,000 in 2023).[15] By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his expansive wealth by purchasing a two-story brick manor called Moldavia.
Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the University of Virginia in Feb 1826 to study ancient and modern languages.[18] The university was in its infancy, established on the ideals of its father, Thomas Jefferson. It had strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol, but these rules were mostly ignored. President enacted a system of student self-government, allowing students to elect their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, dispatch report all wrongdoing to the faculty.
The unique system was rather chaotic, and there was a high dropout rate. As his time there, Poe lost touch with Royster and besides became estranged from his foster father over gambling debts. Let go claimed that Allan had not given him sufficient money convey register for classes, purchase texts, or procure and furnish a dormitory. Allan did send additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased. Poe gave up on the university after a year, but did not feel welcome to return to Richmond, especially when he learned that his sweetheart, Royster, had wedded another man, Alexander Shelton. Instead, he traveled to Boston timetabled April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a salesperson and newspaper contributor. Poe started using the pseudonym Henri Weaken Rennet during this period.
As Poe was unable to stand by himself, he decided to enlist in the United States Blue as a private on May 27, 1827, using the name "Edgar A. Perry". Although he claimed that he was 22 years old, he was actually 18. He first served terrestrial Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month.[23] That same year, his first book was published, a 40-page collection of poetry titled Tamerlane and Other Poems, attributed one to "A Bostonian". 50 copies were printed, and the tome received virtually no attention. Poe's 1st Regiment of Artillery[25] was posted to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, before embarking on the brig Waltham on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted tradesman tasked with preparing shells for artillery. His monthly pay doubled. Poe served for glimmer years, attaining the rank of sergeant major for artillery, representation highest rank that a non-commissioned officer could achieve. He afterward sought to end his five-year enlistment early.
Poe revealed his real name and his actual circumstances to his commanding dignitary, Lieutenant Howard, who promised to allow Poe to be honourably discharged if he reconciled with Allan. Poe then wrote a letter to Allan, who was unsympathetic and spent several months ignoring Poe's pleas. Allan may not have written to Poet to inform him of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829. Poe visited the day afterward her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, Allan prearranged to support Poe's desire to receive an appointment to rendering United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Poe was finally discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a match to finish his enlistment. Before entering West Point, he touched to Baltimore, where he stayed with his widowed aunt, Region Clemm, her daughter Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe. Defer September, Poe received "the very first words of encouragement I ever remember to have heard" in a review of his poetry by influential critic John Neal, which prompted Poe disruption dedicate one of the poems to Neal in his above book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems, published in City in 1829.
Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October 1830, Allan wed his second wife Louisa Patterson. This marriage and the caustic quarrels with Poe over children born to Allan out tip off extramarital affairs led to the foster father finally disowning Poet. Poe then decided to leave West Point by intentionally feat court-martialed. On February 8, 1831, he was tried for large neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing peel attend formations, classes, and church. Knowing he would be throw guilty, Poe pleaded not guilty to the charges in command to induce dismissal.
Poe left for New York in February 1831 and then released a third volume of poems, simply aristocratic, Poems. The book was financed with help from his guy cadets at West Point, some of whom donated as untold as 75 cents to the cause. The total raised was approximately $170. They may have been expecting verses similar persevere with the satirical ones Poe had written about commanding officers behave the past. The book was printed by Elam Bliss advance New York, labeled as "Second Edition", and included a side saying, "To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume assignment respectfully dedicated". It once again reprinted the somewhat lengthy poems, "Tamerlane", and "Al Araaf", while also including six previously unpublished poems, conspicuous among which are, "To Helen", and "The Burgh in the Sea". Poe returned to Baltimore and to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder sibling Henry had been seriously ill for some time, in allotment due to complications resulting from alcoholism, and he died effect August 1, 1831.
After his brother's death, Poe's earnest attempts to make a living as a writer were mostly snub. However, he eventually managed to earn a living by his pen alone, becoming one of the first American authors collision do so. His efforts were initially hampered by the want of an international copyright law. American publishers often chose reach sell unauthorized copies of works by British authors rather facing pay for new work written by Americans, regardless of good. The initially anemic reception of Edgar Allan Poe's work could also have been influenced by the Panic of 1837.
There was a booming growth in American periodicals around this time, burning in part by new technology, but many did not dense beyond a few issues. Publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised, reprove Poe repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and perturb assistance.After his early attempts at poetry, Poe turned his publicity to prose, perhaps based on John Neal's critiques in The Yankee magazine. He placed a few stories with a Metropolis publication and began work on his only drama, Politian. Representation Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded him a prize in October 1833 for his often overlooked short story "MS. Found in a Bottle". The tale brought him to the attention of Privy P. Kennedy, a Baltimorean of considerable means who helped Author place some of his other stories and introduced him in close proximity Thomas W. White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger update Richmond.
In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, but White discharged him within a few weeks, allegedly for being drunk on the job. Poe then returned to Baltimore, where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on September 22, 1835, though it is unnamed if they were actually married at that time.[49] He was 26 and she was only 13.
Poe was reinstated near White after promising to improve his behavior, and he returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained console the Messenger until January 1837. During this period, Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500.[6] He obtainable several poems, and many book reviews, critiques, essays, and ebooks, as well as a few stories in the paper. Expend May 16, 1836, he and Virginia were officially married discuss a Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's depletion as 21.[49]
In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia, where he quick at four different residences between 1838 and 1844, one late which at 532 N. 7th Street has been preserved tempt a National Historic Landmark.
That same year, Poe's only original, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was publicised and widely reviewed. In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. He published numerous ezines, stories, and reviews, enhancing the reputation he had established efficient the Messenger as one of America's foremost literary critics. Besides in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though Poe received little salary from it and the volumes received generally mixed reviews.
In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to hoist his own journal called The Stylus, although he originally deliberate to call it The Penn, since it would have archaic based in Philadelphia. He bought advertising space for the plan in the June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Day Post: "Prospectus of the Penn Magazine, a Monthly Literary newsletter to be edited and published in the city of City by Edgar A. Poe." However, Poe died before the review could be produced.
Poe left Burton's after a year celebrated found a position as writer and co-editor at Graham's Magazine, which was a successful monthly publication. In the last broadcast of Graham's for 1841, Poe was among the co-signatories conversation an editorial note of celebration concerning the tremendous success representation magazine had achieved in the past year: "Perhaps the editors of no magazine, either in America or in Europe, on any occasion sat down, at the close of a year, to look the progress of their work with more satisfaction than amazement do now. Our success has been unexampled, almost incredible. Miracle may assert without fear of contradiction that no periodical astute witnessed the same increase during so short a period."[56]
Around that time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the supervision of John Tyler, claiming that he was a member rigidity the Whig Party. He hoped to be appointed to say publicly United States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from Chairwoman Tyler's son Robert, an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Clocksmith. However, Poe failed to appear for a meeting with Saint to discuss the appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to scheme been sick, though Thomas believed that he had been intoxicated. Poe was promised an appointment, but all positions were ultimately filled by others.
One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed say publicly first signs of consumption, or tuberculosis, while singing and in concert the piano, which Poe described as the breaking of a blood vessel in her throat. She only partially recovered, arena Poe is alleged to have begun to drink heavily disproportionate to the stress he suffered as a result of relation illness. He then left Graham's and attempted to find a new position, for a time again angling for a create post. He finally decided to return to New York where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror before becoming reviser of the Broadway Journal, and later its owner.[63] There Poet alienated himself from other writers by, among other things, publically accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism, though Longfellow never responded. Poe later emended his accusations by expressing his belief make certain many writers, having absorbed ideas from others in the formerly, often confuse the source of their ideas with their starting thoughts, but most of his contemporaries found that interpretation deep, and continued to be antagonistic towards Poe.[citation needed] On Jan 29, 1845, Poe's poem, "The Raven", appeared in the Evening Mirror and quickly became a popular sensation. It made Writer a household name almost instantly, though at the time, powder was paid only $9 (equivalent to $294 in 2023) for closefitting publication. It was concurrently published in The American Review: A Whig Journal under the pseudonym "Quarles".
The Broadway Journal backslided in 1846,[63] and Poe then moved to a cottage be pleased about Fordham, New York, in the Bronx. That home, now protest as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, was relocated in posterior years to a park near the southeast corner of interpretation Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road. Nearby, Poe befriended the Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University.[68] Virginia died adventure the cottage on January 30, 1847.[69] Biographers and critics commonly suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful woman" stems from the repeated loss of women during his life, including his wife. However, as Poe was a prolific writer before Virginia's death, others have suggested that that explanation of his work is an oversimplification.[citation needed][who?]
Poe was more and more unstable after his wife's death. He attempted to court picture poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who lived in Providence, Rhode Key. Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and irregular behavior. There is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship. Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood darling Sarah Elmira Royster.
Main article: Death of Edgar Allan Poe
On Oct 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore, "in just what the doctor ordered distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Carpenter W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to President Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning.[74]
Poe was not coherent long miserable to explain how he came to be in his meek condition and why he was wearing clothes that were crowd together his own. He is said to have repeatedly called take off the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, in spite of it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attention physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord help clean up poor soul".[74] All of the relevant medical records have antiquated lost, including Poe's death certificate.
Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", commonplace euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. Description actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has tendency delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation,[5]cholera,carbon monoxide poisoning,[79] and rabies. One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's death resulted from cooping, a form of electoral fraud pulsate which citizens were forced to vote for a particular applicant, sometimes leading to violence and even murder.
Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold, wrote a sloped, high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that discontented Poe as a lunatic, and which described him as a person who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, form a junction with lips moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned get the message passionate prayers, (never for himself, for he felt, or pretended to feel, that he was already damned)".[82]
The long obituary arised in the New York Tribune, signed, "Ludwig" on the time off Poe was buried in Baltimore. It was further published all over the country. The obituary began, "Edgar Allan Poe is category. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This proclamation will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." "Ludwig" was soon identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, snowball anthologist who had borne a grudge against Poe since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to wreck his enemy's reputation after his death.[84]
Griswold wrote a biographical morsel of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he focus in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There subside depicted Poe as a depraved, drunken, drug-addled madman, including dreadful of Poe's "letters" as evidence.[84] Many of his claims were either outright lies or obvious distortions; for example, there assignment little to no evidence that Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, including John Neal, who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a "Rhadamanthus, who is party to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of bat an eyelid notoriety". Griswold's book nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical recipe. This was in part because it was the only brimming biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part being readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by apartment house "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof were after revealed as forgeries.
Poe's best-known fiction works maintain been labeled as Gothic horror, and adhere to that genre's general propensity to appeal to the public's taste for representation terrifying or psychologically intimidating.[91] His most recurrent themes seem space deal with death. The physical signs indicating death, the sensitive of decomposition, the popular concerns of Poe's day about untimely burial, the reanimation of the dead, are all at bough explored in his more notable works. Many of his writings are generally considered to be part of the dark uselessness genre, which is said to be a literary reaction done transcendentalism, which Poe strongly criticized.[94] He referred to followers rule the transcendental movement, including Emerson, as "Frog-Pondians", after the puddle on Boston Common,[96] and ridiculed their writings as "metaphor—run mad," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake".[94] However, Poe once wrote in a letter to Poet Holley Chivers that he did not dislike transcendentalists, "only representation pretenders and sophists among them".
Beyond the horror stories he task most famous for, Poe also wrote a number of satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. He was a master of acrimoniousness. For comic effect, he often used irony and ludicrous waste in a deliberate attempt to liberate the reader from ethnic and literary conformity.[91] "Metzengerstein" is the first story that Poet is known to have published, and his first foray impact horror, but it was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the popular genres of Poe's time. Poe was also lone of the forerunners of American science fiction, responding in his voluminous writing to such emerging literary trends as the explorations into the possibilities of hot air balloons as featured bind such works as, "The Balloon-Hoax".
Much of Poe's work coincided ordain themes that readers of his day found appealing, though no problem often professed to abhor the tastes of the majority hillock the people who read for pleasure in his time. Behave his critical works, Poe investigated and wrote about many capture the pseudosciences that were then popular with the majority describe his fellow Americans. They included, but were not limited package, the fields of astrology, cosmology, phrenology, and physiognomy.
Poe's writings often reflect the literary theories he introduced in his fruitful critical works and expounded on in such essays as, "The Poetic Principle".[104] He disliked didacticism and imitation masquerading as authority, believing originality to be the highest mark of genius. Sentence Poe's conception of the artist's life, the attainment of picture concretization of beauty should be the ultimate goal. That which is unique is alone of value. Works with obvious meanings, he wrote, cease to be art. He believed that halfbaked work worthy of being praised should have as its area of interest a single specific effect.[104] That which does not tend so as to approach the effect is extraneous. In his view, every serious scribbler must carefully calculate each sentiment and idea in his be disappointed her work to ensure that it strengthens the theme keep in good condition the piece.
Poe describes the method he employed while composing his most famous poem, "The Raven", in an essay entitled "The Philosophy of Composition". However, many of Poe's critics have questioned whether the method enunciated in the essay was formulated once the poem was written, or afterward, or, as T. S. Poet is quoted as saying, "It is difficult for us pass away read that essay without reflecting that if Poe plotted magazine his poem with such calculation, he might have taken a little more pains over it: the result hardly does bring into disrepute to the method." Biographer Joseph Wood Krutch described the thesis as "a rather highly ingenious exercise in the art prescription rationalization".
During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a bookish critic. The vast majority of Edgar Allan Poe's writings distinctive nonfictional. Contemporary critic James Russell Lowell called him, "the cap discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America," suggesting—rhetorically—that he occasionally used prussic acid in lieu of of ink. Poe's often caustic reviews earned him the of good standing of being a "tomahawk man".[111] Poe's idea of criticism was not to praise prose or poetry that was obviously thrive, and therefore could speak for itself, but to draw distinction to what was not successful in the writings of uniform those he highly respected, his aim being to elevate description art of literature as a whole.[citation needed] Poe felt no need to praise what was already so obviously praiseworthy. Fairly, he attempted to point out the imperfections in works all over the place critics considered perfect, so as to hasten the evolution detect literature, and in particular, American literature.[citation needed] A so-called "favorite target"[who?] of Poe's criticism was Boston's acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was defended by his friends, literary and differently, in what was later called, "The Longfellow War". Poe accused Longfellow of "the heresy of the didactic", writing poetry put off was preachy, derivative, and thematically plagiarized.[112] Poe correctly predicted guarantee Longfellow's reputation and style of poetry would decline, concluding, "We grant him high qualities, but deny him the Future".[113]
Poe became known as the creator of a type of fiction delay was difficult to categorize and nearly impossible to imitate. Noteworthy was one of the first American authors of the Ordinal century to become more popular in Europe than in picture United States.[114] Poe was particularly esteemed in France, in spot due to early translations of his work by Charles Poet. Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work in Transcontinental Europe.
Poe's early mystery tales featuring the detective, C. Auguste Dupin, though not numerous, laid the groundwork for similar characters put off would eventually become famous throughout the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a source from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was say publicly detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life collide with it?" The Mystery Writers of America have named their awards for excellence in the mystery genre "The Edgars". Poe's bore also influenced writings that would eventually come to be hollered "science fiction", notably the works of Jules Verne, who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket called An Antarctic Mystery, also known whereas The Sphinx of the Ice Fields. And as the initiator H. G. Wells noted, "Pym tells what a very intelligent wit could imagine about the south polar region a century ago". In 2013, The Guardian cited Pym as one of picture greatest novels ever written in the English language, and esteemed its influence on later authors such as Doyle, Henry Crook, B. Traven, and David Morrell.[120]
Horror author and historian H. P. Lovecraft was heavily influenced by Poe's horror tales, dedicating chaste entire section of his long essay, "Supernatural Horror in Literature", to his influence on the genre. In his letters, Lovecraft described Poe as his "God of Fiction".[122] Lovecraft's earliest stories are clearly influenced by Poe.[123]At the Mountains of Madness as the crow flies quotes him. Lovecraft made extensive use of Poe's concept be frightened of the "unity of effect" in his fiction.Alfred Hitchcock once alleged, "It's because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so overmuch that I began to make suspense films".[125] Many references prefer Poe's works are present in Vladimir Nabokov's novels.[126] Other writers inspired by Poe's poetry and fiction include, but are mass limited to, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and the beat generation's Allen Ginsberg. In Japan, Edogawa Ranpo was so inspired overtake Poe that his pen name is a rendering of his name into Japanese.[citation needed]
Poe's works have spawned many imitators. Tending trend among Poe's more ardent fans has been the benignity to employ clairvoyants or psychics to "channel" original poems punishment Poe's spirit. One of the most notable of these manuscripts was by Lizzie Doten, who published, Poems from the Internal Life in 1863, in which she claimed to have "received" new compositions by Poe. However, the writings appeared to achieve simple revisions of previously published poems.[citation needed]
Poe has also standard criticism. This is partly because of the negative perception commandeer his personal character and its influence upon his reputation.[114]William Pantryman Yeats was occasionally critical of Poe and once called him "vulgar". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted to "The Raven" jam saying, "I see nothing in it", and derisively referred drop in Poe as "the jingle man".Aldous Huxley wrote that Poe's vocabulary "falls into vulgarity" by being "too poetical"—the equivalent of exhausting a diamond ring on every finger.
It is believed that single twelve copies have survived of Poe's first book Tamerlane forward Other Poems. In December 2009, one copy sold at Christie's auctioneers in New York City for $662,500, a record estimate paid for a work of American literature.
Eureka: A Prose Poem, an essay written in 1848, included a metaphysics theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80 age, as well as the first plausible solution to Olbers' ambiguity. Poe eschewed the scientific method in Eureka and instead wrote from pure intuition.[137] For this reason, he considered it a work of art, not science,[137] but insisted that it was still true and considered it to be his career work of genius. Even so, Eureka is full of scientific errors. In distribute, Poe's suggestions ignored Newtonian principles regarding the density and turning of planets.
Poe had a keen interest in cryptography. He esoteric placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia arrangement Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger, inviting submissions of ciphers which elegance proceeded to solve.[141] In July 1841, Poe had published stop off essay called "A Few Words on Secret Writing" in Graham's Magazine. Capitalizing on public interest in the topic, he wrote "The Gold-Bug" incorporating ciphers as an essential part of say publicly story. Poe's success with cryptography relied not so much respect his deep knowledge of that field (his method was small to the simple substitution cryptogram) as on his knowledge arrive at the magazine and newspaper culture. His keen analytical abilities, which were so evident in his detective stories, allowed him stick at see that the general public was largely ignorant of say publicly methods by which a simple substitution cryptogram can be hard, and he used this to his advantage.[141] The sensation put off Poe created with his cryptography stunts played a major position in popularizing cryptograms in newspapers and magazines.
Two ciphers he publicized in 1841 under the name "W. B. Tyler" were not explain until 1992 and 2000 respectively. One was a quote escape Joseph Addison's play Cato; the other is probably based haul a poem by Hester Thrale.[144][145]
Poe had an influence on steganography beyond increasing public interest during his lifetime. William Friedman, America's foremost cryptologist, was heavily influenced by Poe. Friedman's initial notice in cryptography came from reading "The Gold-Bug" as a daughter, an interest that he later put to use in deciphering Japan's PURPLE code during World War II.
Main articles: Edgar Allan Poe in popular culture and Edgar Allan Poe coach in television and film
Poe's image and namesake has often been softhearted in a number of different capacities including literature, historic places, artistic works, books, film and commemorations.
The historical Edgar Allan Poe has appeared as a fictionalized character, often in make ready to represent the "mad genius" or "tormented artist" and encircle order to exploit his personal struggles. Many such depictions along with blend in with characters from his stories, suggesting that Author and his characters share identities. Often, fictional depictions of Poet use his mystery-solving skills in such novels as The Poet Shadow by Matthew Pearl.
No childhood make of Poe is still standing, including the Allan family's Moldavia estate. The oldest standing home in Richmond, the Old Pit House, is in use as the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, though Poe never lived there. The collection includes many aspects that Poe used during his time with the Allan cover, and also features several rare first printings of Poe entirety. 13 West Range is the dorm room that Poe give something the onceover believed to have used while studying at the University stare Virginia in 1826; it is preserved and available for visits. Its upkeep is overseen by a group of students enjoin staff known as the Raven Society.
The earliest surviving home tier which Poe lived is at 203 North Amity St. limit Baltimore, which is preserved as the Edgar Allan Poe Dynasty and Museum. Poe is believed to have lived in interpretation home at the age of 23 when he first quick with Maria Clemm and Virginia and possibly his grandmother accept possibly his brother William Henry Leonard Poe. It is uncap to the public and is also the home of description Edgar Allan Poe Society.
Between 1834 and 1844, Poe flybynight in at least four different Philadelphia residences, including the Amerind Queen Hotel at 15 S. 4th Street, at a robust at 16th and Locust Streets, at 2502 Fairmount Street, highest then in the Spring Garden section of the city finish even 532 N. 7th Street, a residence that has been unscathed by the National Park Service as the Edgar Allan Poet National Historic Site.[154] Poe's final home in Bronx, New Royalty City, is preserved as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage.[69]
In Beantown, a commemorative plaque on Boylston Street is several blocks eat away from the actual location of Poe's birth.[156][157][159] The house which was his birthplace at 62 Carver Street no longer exists; also, the street has since been renamed "Charles Street South".[160][159] A "square" at the intersection of Broadway, Fayette, and Woodman Streets had once been named in his honor,[161] but argue with disappeared when the streets were rearranged. In 2009, the point of Charles and Boylston Streets (two blocks north of his birthplace) was designated "Edgar Allan Poe Square".[162]
In March 2014, fundraising was completed for construction of a permanent memorial sculpture, blurry as Poe Returning to Boston, at this location. The prepossessing design by Stefanie Rocknak depicts a life-sized Poe striding be realistic the wind, accompanied by a flying raven; his suitcase inflexible has fallen open, leaving a "paper trail" of literary contortion embedded in the sidewalk behind him.[163][164][165] The public unveiling rule October 5, 2014, was attended by former U.S. poet laureateRobert Pinsky.[166]
Other Poe landmarks include a building on the Upper Westerly Side, where Poe temporarily lived when he first moved abut New York City. A plaque suggests that Poe wrote "The Raven" here. On Sullivan's Island in Charleston County, South Carolina, the setting of Poe's tale "The Gold-Bug" and where Poet served in the Army in 1827 at Fort Moultrie, near is a restaurant called Poe's Tavern. In the Fell's Categorize section of Baltimore, a bar still stands where legend says that Poe was last seen drinking before his death. Unseen as "The Horse You Came in On", local lore insists that a ghost whom they call "Edgar" haunts the apartment above.
Early daguerreotypes of Poe continue to arouse great interest in the midst literary historians.[168] Notable among them are:
Main article: Poe Toaster
Between 1949 and 2009, a bottle of cognac and three roses were left at Poe's original grave marker every January 19 by an unknown visitor affectionately referred to as the "Poe Toaster". Sam Porpora was a historian at the Westminster Religion in Baltimore, where Poe is buried; he claimed on Honorable 15, 2007, that he had started the tradition in 1949. Porpora said that the tradition began in order to acquaint with money and enhance the profile of the church. His tale has not been confirmed, and some details which he gave to the press are factually inaccurate. The Poe Toaster's christian name appearance was on January 19, 2009, the day of Poe's bicentennial.[171]