Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe!
Today we celebrate the 205th anniversary of renowned poet and author Edgar Allan Poe. Although Poe himself was not born in Baltimore, a large portion of his family had roots in our great city and Poe spent significant years of his career here as well as his infamous and mysterious death.
Many of the details of Poe's life are shrouded in uncertainty, discord, and sadness, but it was most likely in Baltimore that Poe began to move away from poetry and to focus more on the short stories that became etched on the walls of American literary history.
The tiny home was shared by Poe's aunt, two first cousins, his invalid grandmother, and Poe himself. At the time the house sat on the edge of town and was surrounded by countryside and pastureland.
It was here that Poe turned his focus from writing poetry to writing fiction in a number of stories including "Berenice".
In 1833, Poe submitted a number of stories, known as “The Tales of the Folio Club,” and won $50 in a contest for the Baltimore Saturday Visiter with his tale, “Manuscript found in a bottle.” Not only did winning this contest help Poe financially, but it also helped to gain Poe the important friendship of John Pendleton Kennedy, a prominent member of Baltimore literary society at the time. According to his journal shortly after Poe's death in 1849, Kennedy provided Poe with clothes, food and access to a horse. He also helped Poe to gain employment with the Southern Literary. Poe was married in Baltimore to this then thirteen-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm on September 21st, 1835.
Poe then moved from Baltimore, but his most famous return to the city was his mysterious death in 1849. Poe stopped in Baltimore on his way from Richmond to Philadelphia. The boat Poe allegedly took from Richmond to Baltimore arrived on September 28th, and he was seen drinking at a favorite pub, the Horse You Came in On. Poe was found, semi-conscious on October 3rd, outside of a polling place called Gunner's Hall, located at 44 E Lombard Street and was taken Washington College Hospital. He passed in and out of consciousness but was never able to articulate what had happened to him. He died on Sunday, October 7th.
The death notice printed by The Sun read as follows:
“Death of Edgar A. Poe. We regret to learn that Edgar A. Poe, Esq., the distinguished American poet, scholar and critic, died in this city yesterday morning, after an illness of four or five days. This announcement coming so sudden [sic] and unexpected, will cause poignant regret among all who admire genius, and have sympathy for the frailties too often attending it. Mr. Poe, we believe, was a native of this State, though reared by a foster-father at Richmond, Va., where he lately spent some time on a visit. He was in the 38th (sic) year of his age.”(He was actually 40 years old)
Poe is buried in the Westminster Burial Ground, located at 519 W Fayette St in Baltimore.
Sources:
http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1921/quinn00c.htm
Poe's works are available for free on sites such as the Gutenberg Project. They can be read online or downloaded into files compatible with most e-readers
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/481?sort_order=title
