Edgar Allan Poe Obituary

Edgar Allan Poe was inarguably one of the most well known American poets. His criticisms, stories, and poems far out lived the man, but not his reputation. Even today any search of the poet Edgar Allan Poe will bring up facts that are dark, disputable, disgusting, and at times tragic. Mr. Poe wrote words of love, despair, anger, and mystery. He wrote what he knew best and he left behind a legacy that is unique, riveting, and thought provoking, even today. The question is did Edgar Allan Poe deserve the scathing final review that was his obituary? Are his beautiful and disturbing words the ravings of a mad man? It is generally accepted that he suffered from alcoholism and that was the reason of his death. However, his reputation was such that

it was a short leap to believe all the horrible rumors outlined by his detractors and believe them as fact.. We hope to come to some conclusion by examining the facts we have available to us and the works left behind.
Mr. Poe definitely had a slightly unsavory reputation for womanizing, alcohol, and drugs, but during that era drug use was not seen as the pariah on society that it is today. His heart had been broken not once but twice before his death. First with the broken engagement to his beloved Sarah Emira Royster by her father and second by the death of his young bride at only 24 years of age.
Edgar Allan Poe did have enough of a following to have rivals that seemed to be quiet bitter as to his success.

Rufus Griswold was one and wrote the infamous defamatory obituatory and quiet often used the terms, womanizing, madman with no morals and no friends. Mr. Poe’s fans should thank Mr. Griswold for adding that little bit of extra mystique to the legend that was evolving as Edgar Allan Poe, mysterious and macabre. Mr. Griswold’s obituary piqued people’s curiosity enough at the time and ‘evermore’ for them to investigate the man behind the prose. The obituary was so dark that Rufus Griswold wouldn’t even sign his name to it. He wrote and published under the pseudonym

‘Ludwig’.

"Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it. The poet was known, personally or by reputation, in all this country; he had readers in England, and in several of the states of Continental Europe; but he had few or no friends; and the regrets for his death will be suggested principally by the consideration that in him literary art has lost one of its most brilliant but erratic stars." (1 New York Tribune)

In trying to understand whether Poe was indeed everything Griswold said he was we need to look closer at his rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold.
“Griswold, not content with his handiwork in the obituary, also published a libelous Poe biography full of lies shortly after the poet's untimely death. Add all that to the tall tales that Poe told about himself during his lifetime, and you might begin to understand how Edgar Allan Poe has become, in death, one of the best-loved but least understood writers in American literature.” (Shmoop Editorial) .
There were further accounts that Mr. Griswold had rewrote his letters and some memoirs and almost anything that had not be published prior to his death. Rufus Griswold was what Mr. Poe would call a libelous slanderer.
Mr. Poe, unlike some of our literary icons, did obtain some international recognition as a literary figure of note but his ultimate success as one of America’s premier writers came after his death. Since the man died 166 years ago we have some articles written about him and a few first hand accounts of his behavior, state of mind, and possible psychosis, but none seem very reliable based on the sources. We may never know the truth about the last days of his life but by examining his works we can decide for ourselves if he was mad or haunted by what could have been. “He is acknowledged today as one of the most brilliant and original writers in American literature. His skillfully wrought tales and poems convey with passionate intensity the mysterious, dreamlike, and often macabre forces that pervaded his sensibility." ("Poe, Edgar Allan").
The poem “A Dream within a Dream” shows lots of imagery and meaning. The first few lines of the poem are, “Take this kiss upon the brow! /And, in parting from you now, /Thus much let me avow /You are not wrong, who deem” (Graham). These lines specifically tell a lot about the poem. The poem is obviously about a woman whom he is going to kiss, and about to leave. The first stanza does not tell as much about the setting like the second one does. The first stanza talks about how Poe's days on earth are done, and he wants to kiss her before he leaves. In the second stanza he uses words like, surf-tormented shore, golden sand, and pitiless wave. This talks and explains the setting of the poem. It is a dreary, ocean shore scene. Within this stanza he reminisces on his past, hoping it is all just a dream. He is hoping that none of this is actually happening. Like the title of the poem, and the last lines of the poem, he asks a question. “Is all that we see or seem /But a dream within a dream?” (Graham). This line means that he has nothing left in life but the memories, or dreams he had. This last line explains the whole poem. He is trying to say he is leaving this world. Poe is trying to grasp the fact that he has nothing here but the faded memories and the dreams he has. It’s a love and death poem all in one. Edgar All Poe has such a beautiful, but dark way of writing. His words, imagery, and rhyme really set off his poems. The words he uses to describe the settings, or the way he feels makes you visualize.
Although there appears to be lots of imagery and reasoning behind why Poe writes how he does, this poem shows lots of meter within it. This poem contains something called a three feet. A feet, in literature means it has stressed and unstressed syllables. The poem not only contains meter, but it contains something called a couplet. A couplet is where two end words rhyme. In this poem there are actually three lines that rhyme in a row, every time. These are called triplets. "Poe’s poetry is not worth a second glance. They find it overly derivative, sentimental and redundant in theme, and too technical—that is, obsessed with meter, rhyme, and poetic stylistics. Much of this criticism seems appropriate." (Magistrale 36). With this being said, many people enjoy Poe's writing. His way of using meter, punctuation, and rhyme expresses his poems to be a lot deeper.

Poe’s poems are very unique and sometimes address the darker side of love and life. His history was not exactly cheery. Poe was actually born to traveling actors. By the time he was 3 years old, both of his parents had died and he was adopted by a wealthy family in Richmond, Virginia. He had a dream of becoming a writer, but his family did not approve. He went off to college and pursued his dream, and his family dismissed him. This caused Poe to become very depressed, which is where his writing style came from. Quoted from ?

Edgar had a hard life before he was even 5 years old. Both his mother and father died when he was still a toddler. Edgar was then taken in by his god father. He started his education in Europe and then later came to the United States. "He showed remarkable scholastic ability in classical and romance languages but was forced to leave the university after only eight months because of quarrels with Allan over his gambling debts. Poverty soon forced him to enlist in the army." ("Poe, Edgar Allan"). Poe was discharged from the army and shortly thereafter married his 14 year old cousin. All reports indicate that they were devoted to each other and had a good marriage. She had only lived to the age of 24.
Annabel Lee one of his more famous romantic and macabre poems was published after his death.

Some believe that Annabel Lee was written for his wife, but others think that the love of his life, Sarah Emira Royster, that he was parted from as a youth of 18, was the true recipient for the beautiful but morbid poem. . Mr. Poe was scheduled to wed the same Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton just days before his death. “The significance of “Annabel Lee” to their relationship may, however, be reflected in the account of his desire to have it published for the first time with their wedding announcement in the local papers. Since Poe died just ten days before they would have been married, the poem was instead first printed at the end of his obituary written by Rufus Griswold in the New York Daily Tribune” (Poe Museum)

Poe became a huge role model in American romance literature. "Edgar Allan Poe helped to establish the image of the Romantic artist as a being who not only created art from the essence of his own personal suffering but also came to define him through this suffering." (Magistrale 1). Poe's life and all his heartbreaks and suffrage through it all are what made him such a good writer. He wrote about sad, depressing, dreary feelings because that is how his childhood and later life was. Quoted from ? Poe

Museum?
Edgar Allan Poe certainly seemed to have lived a bit of a difficult life so perhaps he was permitted to be a little more macabre than others of his time. Did he deserve the dark obituary written by his colleague upon his death? I would prefer to think of Rufus being the man in the Tell Tale Heart and the truth is the beating heart that he buried under his lies and deceit. We may dig but we will never know for sure if he was mad as a hatter or just had a tortured soul that allowed him to make beautiful if dark prose.