Edgar Allan Poe. Born January 19, 1809 in Boston, USA - died October 7, 1849 in Baltimore, USA. American writer, poet, essayist, literary critic and editor, representative of American romanticism. The creator of the form of modern detective fiction and the genre of psychological prose.
Some of Edgar Poe's works contributed to the formation and development of science fiction, and such features of his work as irrationality, mysticism, doom, and anomalousness of the depicted states anticipated the literature of decadence.
Edgar Poe was one of the first American writers to make the short story the main form of his work. He tried to make money exclusively from literary activities, as a result of which his life and career were fraught with severe financial difficulties, complicated by a problem with alcohol.
Over twenty years of creative activity, Edgar Poe wrote two stories, two poems, one play, about seventy short stories, fifty poems and ten essays, published in magazines and almanacs, and then collected in collections.
Despite the fact that during his lifetime Edgar Poe was known primarily as a literary critic, his literary works later had a significant influence on world literature, as well as cosmology and cryptography. He was one of the first American writers, whose fame in his homeland was significantly inferior to that in Europe. Symbolists paid special attention to his work, drawing ideas for their own aesthetics from his poetry.
Edgar Poe was highly praised by Arthur Conan Doyle and Howard Phillips Lovecraft, recognizing his role as a pioneer in the genres that they popularized.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston., in the family of actors Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe Jr. Elizabeth Poe was born in Great Britain. At the beginning of 1796, she and her mother, also an actress, moved to the United States, where she began performing on stage from a very early age.
Poe's father was born in Ireland, the son of David Poe Sr., who emigrated to America with his son. Edgar Poe's grandfather had the rank of major, actively supported the revolutionary movement in the United States and was a direct participant in the War of Independence. David Poe Jr. was supposed to become a lawyer, but against the wishes of his father, he chose the profession of an actor.
Edgar was the middle child in the family, he had an older brother, William Henry Leonard, and a younger sister, Rosalie.
The life of touring actors involved constant moving, which was difficult to do with a child in hand, so little Edgar was temporarily left with his grandfather in Baltimore. There he spent the first few months of his life. A year after Edgar's birth, his father left the family. Nothing is known for certain about his further fate. On December 8, 1811, Poe's mother died of consumption.
The little boy, left without parental care, attracted the attention of the wife of John Allan, a wealthy merchant from Richmond, and soon the childless family took him in. Sister Rosalie ended up with the Mackenzie family, who were neighbors and friends of the Allans, while brother Henry lived with his father's relatives in Baltimore.
Edgar Poe's adoptive family was one of the wealthy and respected in Richmond. John Allan was a co-owner of a company that traded in tobacco, cotton and other goods. The Allans had no children, so the boy was easily and happily accepted into the family. Edgar Allan Poe grew up in an atmosphere of prosperity, they bought him clothes, toys, books, and he was taught by a certified teacher at home.
In 1815, the family (as well as Anne Valentine, the elder sister of Frances, John Allan's wife) went to Great Britain. John Allan, whose business was experiencing certain difficulties associated with the decline of the economy after the Napoleonic wars, sought to improve trade relations with Europe. Arriving in Liverpool, the family went to live with Allan's relatives in Scotland, in the cities of Erwin and Kilmarnock. A few weeks later, another move took place - to London, where Edgar Allan Poe graduated from Madame Dubois's elementary school.
In 1817, studies continued at the school of Reverend John Bransby in Stoke Newington, a suburb of the capital. Edgar Poe's memories of this period of his life are reflected in the story "William Wilson".
Edgar finished his last academic year ahead of schedule. The reason for this was a hasty return to the United States - John Allan’s business in England was not going well, serious financial difficulties arose, and his wife Frances was seriously ill. The merchant even had to borrow money for the return journey from his companion. In the summer of 1820, a transatlantic sea voyage took place, and on August 2 the family arrived in Richmond.
On February 14, 1826, Edgar Allan Poe left for Charlottesville, where he entered the newly opened University of Virginia. Education at the institution founded by Thomas Jefferson was expensive (in a letter to his stepfather, Poe calculated the total costs and indicated the amount at $350 per year), so the university students were the children of wealthy families in the state.
Upon admission, Edgar Allan Poe chose two courses to study (out of a possible three): classical philology (Latin and Greek) and modern languages (French, Italian, Spanish). The seventeen-year-old poet, who left his parents' home, was left to himself for the first time for a long time.
Edgar Poe's school day ended at 9:30, the rest of the time was supposed to be devoted to reading educational literature and preparing homework, but the offspring of wealthy parents, brought up in the “true spirit” of gentlemanliness, could not resist the temptation of the “eternally fashionable” card games and wine in the high society . Edgar Poe, educated in London and raised in a respected family, undoubtedly considered himself a gentleman. The desire to confirm this status, and later the need for a livelihood, led him to the card table. At the same time Edgar Poe started drinking for the first time.
By the end of the school year, Poe's total debts amounted to $2,500 (about $2,000 of which were gambling debts). Having received letters demanding payment, John Allan immediately went to Charlottesville, where a stormy discussion took place with his stepson. As a result, Allan paid only a tenth of the total amount (fees for books and services), refusing to acknowledge Edgar's gambling debts.
Despite Poe's obvious success in his studies and successfully passing his exams, he could no longer remain at the university and after the end of the academic year, on December 21, 1826, he left Charlottesville.
Returning home to Richmond, Edgar Poe had no idea about his future prospects. Relations with John Allan were seriously damaged; he did not want to put up with his “careless” stepson. At this time, Poe was intensively engaged in creativity. It was probably in the Allan house that many of the poems that were later included in the first collection of the aspiring poet were written. Poe also tried to find a job, but his stepfather not only did not contribute to this, but also, as educational measures, in every possible way prevented his employment.
In March 1827, the “silent” conflict escalated into a serious quarrel, and Allan kicked his adopted son out of the house. Poe settled in the Court-House tavern, from where he wrote letters to Allan accusing him of injustice and making excuses, continuing the showdown in epistolary form. Later, these letters are replaced by others - with requests for money, which the adoptive father ignored. After staying in the tavern room for several days, Poe traveled to Norfolk on March 23 and then to Boston.
In his hometown, Edgar, by chance, met a young publisher and typographer Calvin Thomas, and he agreed to publish his first collection of poems.
""Tamerlane" and other poems" written under a pseudonym "Bostonian", published in June 1827. Fifty copies of 40 pages were printed and sold for 12.5 cents each.
In 2009, an unknown collector purchased one of the surviving copies of Poe’s debut collection at auction, paying for it a record amount for American literature - $662,500.
In his first collection of poetry, Edgar Poe included the poem “Tamerlane” (which he would subsequently edit and refine several times), the poems “To ***”, “Dreams”, “Spirits of Death”, “Evening Star”, “Imitation”, “ Stanzas”, “Dream”, “Happiest Day”, “Lake”. In the preface to the publication, the author apologized for the possible low quality of the poetry, justifying this by the fact that most of the poems were written in 1820-1821, when he “was not yet fourteen.” Most likely, this is an exaggeration - Poe, of course, began writing early, but he really turned to poetry while studying at the university and later.
As one might expect, the collection did not attract the attention of readers and critics. Only two publications wrote about its release, without giving it any critical assessment.
On May 26, 1827, Edgar Allan Poe, desperate for money, signed an army contract for a period of five years and became a private in the First Regiment of Artillery of the US Army. Poe's place of service was Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, located at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, the same fort that 50 years ago proved impregnable to the British army. The nature of the island where the writer spent a year was subsequently reflected in the story "Golden Bug".
Edgar Allan Poe served at the headquarters and handled paperwork, which is not surprising for a man who was literate (a rather rare phenomenon for the army of that time) and had neat handwriting. And his “gentlemanly” origin, good upbringing and diligence ensured sympathy among the officers.
At the end of February 1829, Frances Allan's condition worsened. The disease, which made itself felt back in England, only progressed. On the night of February 28, when his wife's condition became critical, John Allan wrote a short letter in which he asked his adopted son to come immediately. Frances Allan died on the morning of the same day. Edgar Allan Poe was able to arrive in Richmond only on March 2, not even having time to attend the funeral of his adoptive mother, whom he loved very much.
Remaining at home until the end of his leave, Poe again approached Allan, and this time they reached an understanding. Having received the necessary documents from his adoptive father, Poe returned to the army, where the process of releasing him from service immediately began. The order was signed, and on April 15, 1829 he was discharged from the army.
After returning from Washington, where he went to hand over the papers and recommendations necessary for admission to West Point, Edgar Poe went to Baltimore, where his relatives lived: brother Henry Leonard, aunt Maria Klemm, her children Henry and Virginia, as well as Elizabeth Poe is the elderly widow of David Poe Sr. Not having enough money to rent his own home, the poet, with the permission of Maria Klemm, settled in their house.
The time spent waiting for a response from Washington was spent caring for his consumptive brother (who aggravated the disease with alcoholism) and preparing for the publication of a second collection of poetry. Poe edited the existing material and conducted active correspondence with magazines and publishing houses. And the efforts were not in vain - at the end of December 1829 the collection was published. 250 copies “Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and short poems” were published by the Baltimore publisher Hatch and Dunning.
Around Christmas, Edgar Poe returned home to Richmond, where in May 1830 he received confirmation of his enrollment at West Point. In the same month, a fatal quarrel occurred between him and his adoptive father. The reason for her was a letter that was not intended for John Allan and should not have been in his hands. In it, Edgar Poe spoke impartially about his guardian, unequivocally accusing him of drunkenness. The hot-tempered Allan could not stand this and kicked Edgar Allan Poe out of the house for the second and last time. They still corresponded after this breakup, but never saw each other again. Soon John Allan married for the second time.
At the end of June 1830, Edgar Allan Poe became a cadet at the US Army Military Academy. The training was not easy (especially the first 2 months of camp life), but the army experience helped the poet quickly get used to it. Despite the strict daily routine and almost full daily employment, Edgar Allan Poe found time for creativity.
Among the cadets, pamphlets and satirical parodies of mentor officers and life within the walls of the academy were especially popular. The third collection of poems was being prepared for publication. The studies were successful, cadet Poe was in good standing and had no complaints from the officers, but in January he wrote a letter to John Allan, in which he asked for his help to leave West Point. Probably the reason for such a drastic decision was the news of the marriage of his guardian, which deprived Edgar Poe of the slimmest chances of being officially adopted and inheriting anything.
Without waiting for an answer, Edgar Allan Poe decided to act on his own. In January 1831, he began to ignore inspections and training, did not go on guard duty and sabotaged formations. The result was an arrest and subsequent trial, at which he was accused of “gross violation of official duties” and “ignoring orders.” On February 8, 1831, Poe was discharged from the service of the United States, and on February 18 he left West Point.
Edgar Allan Poe went to New York, where in April 1831 the poet's third book was published - a collection "Poems", which, in addition to the republished “Tamerlane” and “Al-Aaraafa,” included new works: “Israfel”, “Paean”, “The Condemned City”, “To Helen”, “Sleeping”. Also on the pages of the collection, Poe turned to literary theory for the first time, writing “A Letter to...” - an essay in which the author discussed the principles of poetry and the problems of national literature. The "poems" contained a dedication to the "U.S. Army Cadet Corps." 1,000 copies of the book were printed at the expense of West Point cadets who subscribed to the collection in anticipation of the usual parodies and satirical poems with which their classmate had once entertained them.
Having no means of subsistence, Edgar Poe moved to relatives in Baltimore, where he made futile attempts to find work. Desperate lack of money prompted the poet to turn to prose - he decided to take part in the competition for the best story by an American author with a prize of 100 dollars.
Edgar Poe approached the matter in detail: he studied magazines and various publications of that time in order to determine the principles (stylistic, plot, composition) of writing short prose that was popular with readers. The result of the research was “Metzengerstein”, “Duke de L'Omelette”, “On the Walls of Jerusalem”, “Significant Loss” and “Failed Deal” - stories that the aspiring prose writer sent to the competition. The results, disappointing for their author, were summed up on December 31, 1831 of the year - Edgar Poe didn't win. Over the next year, these stories were published without attribution (those were the conditions) in the newspaper that organized the competition.
Failure did not force Edgar Allan Poe to abandon the form of short prose in his work. On the contrary, he continued to hone his skills, write stories, from which at the end of 1832 he formed a collection that was never published "Folio Club Stories".
In June 1833, another literary competition was held, with prizes of $50 for the best story and $25 for the best poem. It was known that the jury included competent people - famous writers of the time, John Pendleton Kennedy and John Latrobe.
Edgar Allan Poe participated in both categories, submitting 6 stories and the poem “The Colosseum” to the competition. On October 12, the results were announced: Edgar Poe's "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle" was awarded as the best short story., the best poem - "Song of the Winds" Henry Wilton (under this pseudonym was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper that organized the competition).
Subsequently, John Latrobe confirmed that the author of the truly best poem was also Edgar Allan Poe. The jury spoke highly of the young writer's work, noting that it was extremely difficult for them to choose one best story out of his six. In fact, this was the first authoritative recognition of Edgar Allan Poe's talent.
Despite winning the competition, Poe's financial situation in 1833-1835 remained extremely difficult. There was no regular cash flow, the writer continued unsuccessful attempts to find work related to literature. The only source of income in the family was the pension of the paralyzed widow of David Poe Sr. - $240 a year, which was paid irregularly.
In August 1834, Richmond printer Thomas White began publishing a new monthly magazine, the Southern Literary Messenger, with the help of famous writers of the time, including John Kennedy. He, in turn, recommended Edgar Poe to White as a promising talented writer, marking the beginning of their collaboration.
Already in March 1835, the story “Berenice” appeared on the pages of the monthly, and in June the first hoax written by Poe was published - "The Extraordinary Adventure of a Certain Hans Pfaal".
On May 16, 1836, Edgar Poe married Virginia Clemm. She was his cousin and was only 13 years old at the time of their marriage. The couple honeymooned in Petersburg, Virginia. Around this time, Edgar Allan Poe began to write his greatest prose text - "The Tale of the Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym". The decision to write a voluminous work was dictated by reader preferences: many publishing houses refused to publish his stories, citing the fact that the small format of prose was not popular.
In May 1837, an economic crisis broke out in the United States. It also affected the publishing sector: newspapers and magazines were closed, and there were massive layoffs of employees. Edgar Allan Poe also found himself in a difficult situation, being left without work for a long time. But the forced idleness was not in vain - he could finally concentrate on creativity.
During the New York period, the writer wrote the stories “Ligeia”, “The Devil in the Bell Tower”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “William Wilson”, and work continued on “Arthur Gordon Pym”. The rights to the story were sold to the reputable New York publishing house Harper and Brothers, where it was published on July 30, 1838. However, Poe's first voluminous prose work was not a commercial success.
In early December 1839, Lea & Blanchard published Grotesques and Arabesques, a two-volume collection of 25 stories written by Poe up to that time.
In April 1841, Graham's Magazine published a story that later brought Poe worldwide fame as the founder of the detective genre - "Murder in the Rue Morgue". “The Descent into Maelström” was published there in May.
In January 1842, Edgar Poe's young wife suffered her first severe attack of tuberculosis, accompanied by throat bleeding. Virginia found herself bedridden for a long time, and the writer again lost his peace of mind and ability to work. The depressed state was accompanied by frequent and prolonged binges.
All subsequent time, the condition of Edgar Allan Poe's wife had a huge impact on his mental health, which was extremely susceptible to the slightest deterioration of the situation. A repeated exacerbation of Virginia’s illness occurred in the summer of the same year, and again the writer’s deep experiences and mental anguish were reflected in his work - they permeated the stories “The Well and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” written shortly after the incident. Poe found salvation in writing.
In November 1842, the story of Auguste Dupin's investigations was continued. The magazine Snowden's Ladies' Companion published the story "The Mystery of Marie Roger", based on a real murder that occurred in New York in 1841. Using all the materials available to the investigation, he conducted his own investigation on the pages of the story (moving the action to Paris and changing the names) and pointed to the killer. Soon after this, the case was solved, and the correctness of the writer’s conclusions was confirmed.
It is worth noting that during the difficult period of 1842, Edgar Poe was able to personally meet with, whose work he rated very highly. They discussed literary issues and exchanged opinions during the latter's short visit to Philadelphia. Dickens promised to help publish Poe's works in England. Even though nothing came of it, Dickens noted that Edgar Poe was "the only writer whom he was willing to help publish".
Finding himself without a job, and therefore without a livelihood, Edgar Allan Poe, through a mutual friend, turned to the son of President Tyler with a request to help get him a job at the Philadelphia Customs House. The need was great, since the writer began to look for work other than literary work, which brought an unstable income. Poe did not receive the position because he did not show up for the meeting, explaining this by his illness, although there is a version that the reason for the absence was heavy drinking. The family, which found itself in a difficult situation, had to change their place of residence several times, as there was a catastrophic lack of money and the debts grew. A case was brought against the writer, and on January 13, 1843, the Philadelphia District Court declared Edgar Allan Poe bankrupt, but a prison sentence was avoided.
Despite the difficult financial situation and loss of spirit associated with his wife’s illness, Edgar Allan Poe’s literary fame grew steadily. His works were published in many publications throughout the country and received critical reviews, many of which noted the author’s extraordinary talent and the power of his imagination. Even literary enemies wrote laudatory reviews, making them even more valuable.
Having devoted himself entirely to prose, he did not turn to poetry for three years (the last published poem was “Silence”, published in 1840). The “poetic silence” was broken in 1843 with the release of one of the writer’s darkest poems, “The Conquering Worm,” which seemed to contain all the mental anguish and despair of recent years, the collapse of hopes and illusions.
In February 1843, the New York publication The Pioneer published the famous "Linor". Poe returned to poetry, but short prose continued to be the main form of his work.
In July 1844, the New York newspaper Dollar Newspaper organized a competition for the best story, with a prize of $100 for first place. The winner was "Golden Bug" Edgar Poe. The work, in which the author revealed his talent as a cryptographer, became the property of Dollar Newspaper and was subsequently reprinted many times.
On April 6, 1844, Edgar and Virginia Poe moved to New York. A month later, Maria Klemm joined them. It is difficult to overestimate the role of the mother-in-law in the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Her thriftiness, hard work and endless care with which she surrounded her son-in-law and daughter were noted by many contemporaries who knew the family personally. Edgar loved his “Muddy” (probably short for “mummy” (“mom”) and “daddy” (“daddy”), as he often called her in letters, because with her appearance in his life she truly became like a mother to him .
In 1849, he dedicated a poem to her, full of tenderness and gratitude, “To My Mother.”
A week after the move, Edgar Allan Poe becomes the hero of a sensation: he caused a huge stir in reading circles "The Balloon Story", which was published in a special edition by the New York Sun. Originally intended as a hoax, the story was stylized as a news article. The idea for the plot was unknowingly suggested to Poe by the then famous aeronaut John Wise, who announced in one of the Philadelphia newspapers that he was going to make a transatlantic flight. The writer managed to achieve the desired effect - the next morning after publication, people literally “stormed” the publishing house.
Poe's hoaxes, in which great attention was paid to details based on technical innovations of the time, gave impetus to the subsequent development of the science fiction genre in literature.
Some time after reuniting with Maria Klemm, the family moved to new housing: the Brennan family rented them part of their mansion located outside the city. Poe continued to collaborate with many publications, offering them his articles and critical reviews. During this period, he had no problems with publications, but his income still remained modest. At the Brennan mansion, Poe wrote the poem “Dreamland,” which reflected the beauty of the nature that surrounded him. It was there that work began on the work that became the writer’s poetic magnum opus - a poem "Crow".
It is unknown whether Poe wrote The Crow with the goal of gaining final and unconditional recognition, inspired by the success of The Gold Bug and The Balloon Story, but there is no doubt that he approached the process of creating this work scrupulously and carefully.
It was an immediate and resounding success: publications across the country reprinted the poem, it was talked about in literary circles and beyond, and numerous parodies were written about it. Poe became a national figure and a frequent guest at social events, where he was asked to recite the famous poem. According to the writer's biographer Arthur Quinn, "The Raven made an impression that perhaps no other poetic work in American literature could surpass." Despite the enormous success among readers and widespread public recognition, the poem did little to improve the writer’s financial situation.
On February 21, 1845, Poe became part owner of the Broadway Journal, the head of which believed to increase sales of the publication by attracting a new celebrity to cooperation. According to the terms of the contract, Poe received a third of the magazine's sales, and the cooperation promised to be mutually beneficial.
At the same time, Poe began lecturing, which would become an important source of income for him. The first theme of the performances in New York and Philadelphia was “The Poets and Poetry of America.”
In July 1845, Poe published a story entitled "No Contradiction". The discussions on the topic of human nature, which are contained in its preamble, allow us to well understand the nature of the contradictory nature of the author himself. Tormented by his own “demon,” he repeatedly committed rash and illogical actions throughout his life, which inevitably led him to collapse. This happened at the peak of his fame, when, it seemed, nothing foreshadowed trouble.
On the pages of the magazine, of which he became a co-owner, Edgar Allan Poe did not publish any of his new works; he only reprinted old ones (which were edited and finalized each time). The lion's share of his work at that time consisted of literary articles, reviews, and criticism. It is not known what caused this, but Poe became more ruthless than ever in his criticism: he got it not only from authors he personally disliked, with whom he conflicted, but also from those who treated him favorably. As a result, within a short period of time, subscribers began to refuse Broadway Journal and authors turned away, and the publication became unprofitable. Soon both of Poe's companions abandoned him, leaving him as the sole owner of the struggling magazine.
Poe desperately tried to save it, sending many letters to his friends and relatives asking for financial help. Most of them were not satisfied, and the money that he did receive was not enough. On January 3, 1846, the last issue was published, and Edgar Poe closed the Broadway Journal.
In April 1846, Poe started drinking again. Realizing the destructive role that alcohol played in his life, he still took the fatal step. The time of clouded consciousness came again: lectures were disrupted, public conflicts arose, and the reputation seriously suffered. The situation became even more complicated with the publication in May 1846 of Poe's first essays from the series "New York Writers". In them, Poe gave personal and creative characteristics of famous authors - his contemporaries, which for the most part were extremely negative. The reaction followed immediately: newspapers, at the suggestion of the “victims,” began a war against Poe - they denigrated his reputation, accusing him of immorality and godlessness. The press was dominated by the image of Poe as a deranged alcoholic with no control over his actions. They also recalled his literary affair with the poetess Frances Osgood, which ended in scandal. Among those affected by Poe's criticism, Thomas English especially distinguished himself. In the past, a friend of the writer, he published “Answer to Mr. Poe” in one of the newspapers, in which he added an accusation of forgery to the image of a poor, godless alcoholic.
The publication with which Poe collaborated advised him to go to court, which he did. On February 17, 1846, Poe won a libel case against the Mirror magazine, which published the Reply, and received $225 in damages.
In May 1846, Edgar Poe moved to a small cottage in Fordham, a suburb of New York. The family was again in poverty, there was a desperate lack of money - Poe did not write anything in the summer and autumn. In one of the letters he refers to his illness - literary “wars” and scandals did not pass without a trace. Virginia's bedridden condition only worsened.
Virginia's condition seriously deteriorated in January 1847: the fever and pain intensified, and hemoptysis became more frequent. On January 29, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a desperate letter to Mary Shew, in which he asked her to come and say goodbye to Virginia, who had become so attached to her. Mrs. Shew arrived the next day and managed to find her alive. On January 30, 1847, towards nightfall, Virginia Poe died.
After the funeral of his wife, Edgar Allan Poe himself found himself bedridden - the loss was too severe for his sensitive, sensitive nature.
The central work of the last years of Edgar Poe’s life was "Eureka". “A poem in prose” (as Poe defined it), which spoke about subjects “physical, metaphysical, mathematical,” according to the author, was supposed to change people’s understanding of the nature of the Universe.
At five o'clock in the morning on October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died. According to Dr. Moran, before he died, he uttered his last words: “Lord, help my poor soul.”
Edgar Allan Poe's modest funeral took place at 4 p.m. on October 8, 1849, at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground Cemetery, now part of the grounds of the University of Maryland College of Law. The ceremony, attended by only a few people, was presided over by the Rev. W. T. D. Clemm, Virginia Poe's uncle. It lasted only three minutes due to the cold and dank weather. Psalmist George W. Spence wrote: “It was a gloomy and cloudy day, no rain, but damp, and a thunderstorm was approaching.” Poe was buried in the far corner of the cemetery, next to the grave of his grandfather, David Poe Sr., in a cheap coffin, without handles, nameplate, blanket or pillow under his head.
On October 1, 1875, the remains of Edgar Allan Poe were reburied in a new place, not far from the facade of the church. The new monument was made and erected with funds from residents of Baltimore and fans of the writer from other US cities. The total cost of the monument was a little more than $1,500. The festive service took place on November 17, 1875. On the 76th anniversary of Poe's birth, January 19, 1885, Virginia Poe's remains were reburied next to her husband's.
The circumstances preceding the death of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as its immediate cause, remain unclear to this day. All medical records and documents, including the death certificate, if they existed at all, were lost. There are several different theories about the cause of Poe's death, with varying degrees of plausibility, ranging from hypoglycemia to murder conspiracy.
There is another theory that is highlighted by many biographers of the writer. Elections to Congress and the Maryland State Assembly were scheduled for October 3 in Baltimore. At that time, there were no voter lists, which was used by opposing candidates and parties who formed special groups of voters. People under the influence of alcohol were gathered in special places, and then forced to vote several times. It is likely that Poe, the victim of a criminal scheme similar to the "voting carousel", was rendered useless by his condition and was abandoned near the 4th District polling station, where he was found by Joseph Walker. However, this theory also has its opponents, who claim that Poe, as a very well-known person in the city, would find it difficult to participate in such a scheme.
Every year, since 1949, an unknown person visited Edgar Allan Poe’s grave, paying tribute to the writer’s talent. Early on the morning of January 19, a man dressed in black came to Poe's grave, made a toast and left a bottle of cognac and three roses on the gravestone. Sometimes notes of various contents were found on the tombstone. One of them, left in 1999, reported that the first secret admirer had died the previous year and the responsibility for continuing the tradition was assigned to his “heir.” The tradition continued for 60 years until 2009, when the secret admirer was last seen at the grave.
On August 15, 2007, 92-year-old Sam Porpora, a historian at Westminster Church where Poe is buried, said he started the tradition of visiting Poe's grave every year on his birthday. He said that the purpose of his action was to raise funds for the needs of the church and increase interest in it. However, his story was not confirmed - some of the details he expressed were not consistent with the facts.
In 2012, Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House Museum, who had previously denied rumors that he was a fan, declared the end of the tradition.
Edgar Poe's biography is full of blank spots. This is due to the disdainful attitude of many of his contemporaries and the plight of the writer. In fact, the poet’s history began to be restored impartially only in the 20th century, but by that time little information remained about his life. Today Edgar Allan Poe remains one of the most mysterious personalities. There were many speculations about the circumstances of his death already in 1849, but the real reason for the poet’s death will most likely remain forever unsolved. However, this fact does not prevent millions of people today from enjoying the prose and poetry of the great writer.
Loss of parents, foster care
The story of Edgar Allan Poe begins on January 19, 1809 in Boston (USA). A future writer appeared in a family of traveling artists. Edgar did not have a chance to live with his parents for long: his mother died of consumption when he was only two years old, his father either disappeared or died even earlier. Then the boy, by and large, was lucky for the only time in his life - he was taken in by his wife Allana. Frances, the adoptive mother, fell in love with the baby and persuaded her husband, the wealthy merchant John, to adopt him. He was not happy about Edgar's appearance, but gave in to his wife, who could not give birth to her own son.
Edgar Allan Poe spent his childhood in Virginia. He did not need anything: he was dressed in the latest fashion, he had dogs, a horse and even a servant at his disposal. The future writer began his studies in a London boarding school, where he was sent at the age of 6. The boy returned to the USA with his family when he turned eleven. There he went to college in Richmond, and then, in 1826, to the University of Virginia, which had opened the year before.
The end of luck
Edgar quickly absorbed knowledge, was distinguished by physical endurance and a passionate, nervous character, which later caused him a lot of trouble. As biographers note, the latter feature predetermined his quarrel with his father. The exact reasons are unknown: either the young writer forged his stepfather’s signature on bills, or he was angry because of his adopted son’s gambling debts. One way or another, at the age of 17, Poe was left without funds and left the university, having studied only in his first year.
The young man returned to Boston, where he took up poetry. Edgar Poe decided to publish poems written during that period under the pseudonym “Bostonian”. However, his plan failed: the book was not published, and his already meager funds ran out.
Short military career
In such a situation, Edgar Allan Poe made an unexpected decision. He entered military service under an assumed name. Poe spent about a year in the army. He received the rank of sergeant major and was considered one of the best, but could not stand such a regimented life. Presumably, at the beginning of 1828, the young poet turned to his stepfather for help. After persuasion from his wife, he helped Edgar free himself from service. The writer did not have time to thank his stepmother: she died on the eve of his arrival in Richmond. So the poet lost his second truly dear woman.
Baltimore, West Point and the long-awaited publication
Having safely parted with the army, Edgar went to Baltimore for some time. There he met his paternal relatives: aunt Maria Klemm, uncle Georg Poe, his son Nelson. Finding himself in a tight financial situation, the writer settled with his aunt, and a little later returned to Richmond.
While in Baltimore, Edgar met W. Gwin, the editor of a local newspaper, and through him, J. Neal, a writer from New York. Po passed on his poems to them. Having received positive reviews, Edgar decided to try to publish them again. The collection entitled “Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Small Poems” was published in 1829, but did not become widely known.
The stepfather insisted on continuing his adopted son's education, and in 1830 the young man entered the Military Academy at West Point. Despite the strict daily routine, Edgar Allan Poe found time for creativity and entertained his fellow students with satirical poetic sketches of life at the academy. He was supposed to serve for five years, however, like last time, he realized at the very beginning of his training that a military career was not for him. Edgar tried to turn to his stepfather again, but another quarrel disrupted his plans. However, the poet was not at a loss: having ceased to comply with the charter, he achieved exclusion from the academy in 1831.
Attempts to gain recognition
The biography of Edgar Poe is extremely sparse in information about his life in the period from 1831 to 1833. It is known that he lived for some time in Baltimore with Maria Klemm. There he fell in love with her daughter and his cousin Virginia. The girl was only 9 years old then. Since the autumn of 1831, practically nothing has been known about the poet’s life. Some researchers of his biography believe that he could have gone on a trip to Europe. This fact is indirectly supported by numerous detailed descriptions of the Old World found on the pages of the writer’s works. However, there is no other evidence to support this theory. Many biographers note that Poe was very limited in funds and could hardly afford the expenses of the trip.
However, all researchers agree that the three years following his expulsion from West Point were productive. Edgar Poe, whose books were not yet popular, continued to work. In 1833, he submitted six stories and poems to a competition in the Baltimore weekly Saturday Visitor. Both were recognized as the best. For the story “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle,” Poe was rewarded with a cash prize of $100.
In addition to money, Edgar received some fame, and with it invitations to work in magazines. He began collaborating with the Saturday Visitor and then with the Southern Literary Messenger, published in Richmond. In the latter, the writer published the short stories “Morella” and “Berenice” in 1835 and a little later - “The Adventures of Hans Pfall”.
Magnificent Virginia
That same year, Poe, whose works were already more famous than before, received an invitation to become editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. To take up the $10-a-month position, it was necessary to move to Richmond. Poe agreed, but before leaving he wanted to marry his beloved Virginia, who was then less than 13 years old. A girl of extraordinary beauty captivated the writer for a long time. You can guess her image in the heroines of many of his works. Virginia's mother agreed, and the young people secretly got married, after which Poe left for Richmond, and his beloved lived in Baltimore for another year. In 1836, an official ceremony took place.
Less than a year later, after a quarrel with the publisher of the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe resigned as editor and moved to New York with Maria Klemm and Virginia.
New York and Philadelphia
The two years he lived in New York were controversial for the writer. Edgar Poe, whose poetry and prose were published in several magazines in the city, received very little for his work. He published works such as Ligeia and The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, but made most of his money from his chronology manual, which was an abridged version of the Scottish professor's work.
In 1838 the family moved to Philadelphia. Edgar got a job as editor of Gentleman's Magazine, where he published several of his works. These included The Fall of the House of Esher and the beginning of the unfinished Notes of Julius Rodman.
Dream and reality
Working in different publications, Edgar Allan Poe was looking for something more. He dreamed of his own magazine. The closest he came to realizing the idea was in Philadelphia. Advertisements were published for a new magazine called Penn Magazine. What was missing was a little money, but this obstacle turned out to be insurmountable.
In 1841, Gentleman's Magazine merged with The Casket to create a new magazine, Graham's Magazine, with Edgar Allan Poe as editor-in-chief. He had recently combined the stories, poems and novellas he had written earlier into two volumes and published the collected works “Grotesques and Arabesques” at the end of 1840. This was a short period when everything seemed to be going well. However, already in March 1842 Edgar was again unemployed. The magazine disbanded, and Rufus Wilmot Griswold was invited to the editorial office of Gentleman's Magazine. The latter, according to one version, was the reason for Poe’s departure: to put it mildly, he did not like Griswold.
Then there was work at the Saturday Museum and the publication of several fairy tales and short stories for mere pennies. The only exception, perhaps, was the “Golden Bug”. Edgar sent him to a literary competition. “The Gold Bug” won and brought its author $100. Afterwards, the story was republished many times, which, however, did not bring income to the writer, since then it was a matter of the future.
New misfortune
Edgar Poe's biography is full of sad events. As researchers of his life note, the reason for many of them was his passionate character, tendency to depression and alcohol. However, one of the main tragedies - the death of Virginia - was not his fault. The poet's wife was sick with tuberculosis. The first sign of a serious illness, throat bleeding, appeared in 1842. The patient was on the verge of death, but after some time she recovered. However, consumption, which took Edgar’s mother, did not give up. Virginia slowly died over several years.
For the writer’s unstable nervous system, this was a heavy blow. He practically stopped writing. The family was again in dire need of money. In 1844 they returned to New York. New works written by Edgar Allan Poe were published here. "The Raven", the poet's most famous poem, was published in the Evening Mirror magazine.
The culmination of creativity
Today Edgar Poe is considered one of the best American authors. He laid the foundation for the “science fiction” genre; the writer’s books became the first examples of mystical detective fiction. Poe's main work, which brought him fame and recognition, but not wealth, was “The Raven.” The poem perfectly conveys the writer's attitude towards life. A person has only a short moment filled with suffering and hard work, and all his hopes are in vain. The lyrical hero yearns for his dead beloved and asks the talking bird if he will ever be able to see her again. This is Edgar Poe: “The Raven” is distinguished by a special internal tension and tragedy that completely captivates the reader, despite the almost complete absence of a plot.
The writer received $10 for publication. However, "The Raven" brought him more than money. The poet became famous, he began to be invited to lectures in different cities, which somewhat strengthened his financial position. During the year that his “white” streak lasted, Poe published the collection “The Raven and Other Poems,” published several new short stories, and was invited to join the editorial staff of the Broadway Journal. However, even here his irrepressible character did not allow him to prosper for long. In 1845, he fell out with other publishers and remained the only editor, but due to lack of funds he was soon forced to resign his position.
Last years
Poverty came to the house again, and with it cold and hunger. Virginia died early in 1847. Many biographers note that the suffering poet was on the verge of madness. For some time he was unable to work due to grief and alcohol and survived only thanks to the care of a few loyal friends. But sometimes I gathered strength and wrote. This period saw the creation of such works as “Yulalyum”, “Bells”, “Annabel Lee” and “Eureka”. He fell in love again and shortly before his death he was planning to marry again. In Richmond, where the writer lectured on “The Poetic Principle,” his literary work, Edgar Allan Poe met his childhood friend Sarah Elmira Royster. He swore to his bride that he was done with binge drinking and depression. Before the wedding, all that remained was to settle some affairs in Philadelphia and New York.
The Mystery of Edgar Poe
On October 3, 1849, Edgar Poe was found half-insane on a bench in Baltimore. He was taken to the hospital, where he died without regaining consciousness on October 7. There is still no consensus on the reasons for the writer’s death. Many researchers of the issue are inclined to the version of the so-called cupping. Poe was discovered on election day. At that time, groups were rampant in Baltimore, driving citizens into secret shelters. People were pumped with alcohol or drugs, and then forced to vote for the “right” candidate several times. There is information that Edgar Allan Poe was drunk at the time of discovery, and not far from the ill-fated bench there was one of these shelters. On the other hand, the writer was famous in Baltimore at the time and would hardly have been chosen as a victim.
Possible causes today include various diseases, from hypoglycemia and brain tumors to alcoholism and laudanum overdose. The reason for this confusion is the lack of medical documents and the first biography of Edgar Allan Poe, written by Griswold, an enemy of the writer. He exposed the poet as a drunkard and a madman, not worthy of trust and attention. This view of Poe’s personality prevailed until the end of the 19th century.
Creative heritage
One version says that Poe's death was planned by the writer himself, as a last spectacular gesture for the public, greedy for mysticism and horror. The poet subtly felt what the reader wants. He understood that romanticism was much inferior in popularity to mysticism, which tickled the nerves and kept one in suspense. Edgar Poe, whose stories were full of fantastic incidents, skillfully combined imagination and logic. He became a pioneer of the genre. Science fiction occupies a significant place in the writer’s works. Edgar Allan Poe's books are distinguished by their combination of imagination and logic. He laid the tragic tradition in American literature, formulated the principles of science fiction, and gave the world a mystical detective story.
Today Edgar Allan Poe, whose books are an inspiration for many people, is considered a representative of intuitionism - a philosophical movement that recognizes the primacy of intuition in the process of cognition. However, the writer knew well that creativity is also painstaking work. He created his own aesthetic paradigm and several works on the theory of poetry: “Philosophy of Creativity”, “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novels”, “Poetic Principle”. In “Eureka” the writer presented philosophical and epistemological ideas. Edgar Allan Poe's contribution to the development of literature, including many genres beloved by modern readers, is invaluable. Studying his biography makes you think about fate and purpose. Who knows if Edgar Poe would have created so much if life had been more favorable to him?
Edgar Allan Poe(English) Edgar Allan Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer.
Brilliant prose writer. Brilliant poet. A tragic fate from birth to death. The very concept of genius - capacious and difficult to precisely define - was precisely for Edgar Allan Poe. His influence as a writer and poet on world literature is enormous - Charles Baudelaire and French Symbolism, almost the entire Russian Silver Age.
For more than 150 years separating us from the death of the brilliant writer, many biographies of him have been written - voluminous books and small notes, serious studies and erroneous theories. Despite their significant number, the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe continues to remain a mystery. It is difficult to imagine whether it will be solved in the future. The lack of documents (there is not even a certificate of his birth), the inconsistency of memories, and the desire of some authors to either hide the facts or adjust them to their own assumptions also have an effect.
Edgar's parents, actors David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, married in 1806. The eldest son - William Henry - was born in 1807, Edgar - on January 19, 1809, a year later their sister Rosalie was born. Edgar's mother died in December 1811 in Richmond (the most likely cause being pneumonia). Around the same time, their father died, having left the family shortly before. The story of the death of Edgar Poe's parents in the fire of the Richmond Theater is nothing more than a legend.
The children ended up in different families. Edgar Poe was taken in by tobacco businessman John Allan and his wife Frances. Allan Edgar received his middle name at baptism in 1812. Allan did not officially adopt him. From 1814, Edgar attended various schools in the USA and England (1815-1820).
The first (documented) work dates back to 1824. This is a two-line poem, not included in any of the collections. In 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia, from which he was expelled for large gambling debts. John Allan refused to pay them, and subsequently did not mention Edgar in his will. There was a break between them. At the same time, his engagement to Elmira Royster, who married someone else, broke down.
Poe enlisted in the army under the name Edgar Perry. In 1827 in Boston in the amount of 50 copies. His first book, “Tamerlane and Other Poems,” was published, signed “The Bostonian.” For many years, the search for this book was unsuccessful (which allowed Rufus Wilmot Griswold - the “black demon” in the fate of Poe’s legacy - to declare that this book did not exist at all, and Poe himself was a deceitful person). In 1880, one of the copies of this book was found in the British Museum.
Having risen to the rank of artillery sergeant, Poe left the service and settled in Baltimore with his aunt Mary Poe Clemm (whose daughter Virginia later became his wife). Here he published his second collection of poems.
In 1830, Edgar entered the West Point Military Academy, but since he no longer liked his military career, he began to skip classes, and was expelled by decision of a military court. In 1831, Poe's poems were published in New York. His short stories are published in Philadelphia, although without indicating the author's name. In 1833, he received his first fee ($50) for the story “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle.” In 1836-37 Poe served as editor of the Richmond Southern Liyerary Magazine. In 1836 he married Virginia. They moved to New York, and a year later to Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia period of creativity was the most fruitful. Poe wrote poems and stories. He worked as editor of "Gentlemen's Magazine", then "Graham's Magazine". Attempts to organize his own Penn magazine ended in failure.
In April 1841, Graham's magazine presented Edgar Poe's story "Murder in the Rue Morgue" - the first detective story. A new literary genre is born.
In 1842, Poe left Graham. It seemed to him that he was not paying enough for his work, but in the future he would not be able to earn even the money that he received from Graham. In 1846 Poe moved to New York. Attempts to open a new magazine - "Stylus" - remained unfulfilled. Due to financial problems, the Broadway magazine closed in 1846, the owner of which had by that time become Edgar Allan Poe. Poe moved to Fordham. Here Virginia dies in January 1847 (currently there is a museum of the writer there). In 1848, Edgar proposed to poet Sarah Whitman, but she rejected him due to Poe's addiction to alcohol. Then he proposes to his ex-fiancee Elmira Royster Shelton, who was widowed by that time. She agrees, and Poe begins to attend the anti-alcohol society “Sons of Temperance.”
On September 28, 1849, Poe arrived in Baltimore. A few days later, he was discovered in serious condition and in someone else's clothes by a random passer-by on a city bench. Delivered to the hospital, he died there on October 7, 1849.
The death of Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most insoluble mysteries. He was discovered by Joseph Walker, who, at his request, contacted Dr. Snodgrass and the writer's uncle, Henry Herring. The doctor's first impression was that Poe was in a state of severe alcohol intoxication.
The first (and most common) version of death is alcoholic. The writer's father and older brother were chronic alcoholics. It is common knowledge that Poe drank, but his addiction was of a binge nature. He could drink for weeks (as during his wife’s illness) or go without touching alcohol for months. This version is supported by the testimony of doctors who treated Edgar and warned him about the possibility of serious consequences from alcoholism. In addition, it is difficult to explain otherwise why Edgar ended up in Baltimore again if he had left it the day before. The only reason that came to mind to many researchers was that Edgar mixed up the trains and took the return train to Baltimore.
The second version (also medical) is based on the possibility of a mental disorder. In the last years of his life, Edgar suffered from mental disorders of the brain. The third (weakest) version insisted that the writer could have become an accidental victim of gangster violence. In those days, unscrupulous politicians often hired thugs to intimidate voters. Since local elections were taking place in Baltimore in those days, Poe could have been accidentally injured, and the stranger’s clothes on him should have made identification difficult.
The latest version talks about a banal robbery. According to one account, Poe had $1,500 on him to start a new magazine, and the money was not found on him. Poe's detractors, unable to comprehend the scope of his talent, found an explanation for his imagination in alcohol and drugs. Allegations about drug addiction were based solely on the writer’s creative manner of telling the story from the first (including in those works where opium was mentioned). Thus, there was an erroneous identification of the narrator of the works with the personality of the author himself.
Poe's detective work is small in volume - a cycle of three stories about Auguste Dupin: "Murder in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Roger" (1842-1843), "The Stolen Letter" (1844) ; a short story “You are the man who did this” (1844) and, considered by some researchers to be one of these works, “The Golden Bug” (1843). But the writer’s creative discoveries in these several works became invaluable for the development of a new genre. This is a logical analysis used to solve a crime, a method of highlighting the unusual mental abilities of the investigating hero against the background of the presence of a close friend, acquaintance or police officer, and much more.
Poe's misadventures did not end after his death. On the day of his funeral, a slanderous obituary was published in the New York Tribune, signed "Ludwig." Behind him was the same Rufus Griswold, who, with the consent of Poe’s aunt (and mother-in-law), for many years arrogated to himself the sole right to publish the writer’s works.
In 1860, Sarah Whitman (the same one who once rejected a marriage proposal) published the book “Edgar Allan Poe and His Critics” in defense of the writer. Griswold's monopoly was ended in 1874 (by that time he had already died), and the publication of books began to be led by John Henry Ingmar, who found Poe's first book in the British Museum and wrote a two-volume biography of the writer.
In 1910, Edgar Allan Poe was inducted into the New York Hall of Fame. In 1922, the writer's museum, Old Stones, opened in Richmond, so named because it was built from blocks from Poe's house and the building of his first magazine.
In memory of the great writer, the highest award of the Crime Writers Association of America began to bear the name of Edgar Allan Poe.
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Biography of Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe, (1809 - 1849)
Edgar Allan Poe's life is short and shrouded in mystery - just like the heroes of his stories. And just like his fictional heroes, Poe was passionately fascinated by the painful, strange, dark manifestations of the human soul. Contradictory and fickle, subject to extravagant whims and binges, he seemed to have decided to correspond to the romantic stereotype of a suffering hero captured by self-destruction.
Without a doubt he was a genius. During the forty rebellious years of his life, he created a number of works that are increasingly appreciated over the years. His poems are among the best written in English; he became the founder of the modern detective genre; his stories, addressing the otherworldly and supernatural, raised Gothic prose to the level of high art.
The son of traveling actors David and Elizabeth Poe, he was born on January 19, 1809. He was not even three years old when his parents died, and his older brother and little sister found themselves in the care of relatives. Edgar was given to his godfather, a wealthy merchant John Allon from Richmond, Virginia. Allan was guided more by a sense of duty than by love for his pupil, whom he never legally adopted. But Allan's wife Frances fell in love with the boy - it was thanks to her that he learned what maternal love was, which he yearned for throughout his childhood.
The Allans belonged to high society in Richmond and gave Edgar an education that he could hardly have expected without them. He moved among the best families in the city and received an excellent education - first in Richmond and then in England, where the family lived from 1815 to 1820. In 1826, Edgar, who by this time had secretly become engaged to Sarah Royster, the daughter of their neighbor, entered the University of Virginia. He showed himself to be a gifted student with pronounced abilities for literature. Unfortunately, he was not such a gifted card player: by the end of his first year, he had more than two thousand dollars in debt and a reputation as a drunkard. When John Allan refused to pay his debts, Poe was forced to abandon his studies and return home, where he discovered that Miss Royster was engaged to someone else.
At the beginning of 1827, tensions between Allan and his pupil turned into open conflict, and Edgar left home to pursue literature - this was now his main goal. He moved to Boston, but steady work was hard to find and his money soon ran out. In desperation, he joined the army under the name Edgar A. Perry and in November 1828 was sent to Sullivan Island, South Carolina. There he remained for more than a year, his condition becoming more and more alarming and restless, and he resumed correspondence with John Allon in the hope that his guardian would agree to buy him his release from the army. After some time, Allan agreed, partly because Poe expressed a desire to enter West Point, partly in fulfillment of the last will of Frances Allan, who died in February 1828: she wanted them to reconcile.
Poe's appointment was duly arranged: in July 1830 he was to enter the Military Academy. After several months of tedious formalities in Richmond, Edgar went to Baltimore to visit relatives and stayed for a long time with his aunt, Mrs. Maria Clemm, in whom he found warmth and generosity that eased the grief for Frances Allan. Moreover, he fell in love with Mrs. Clemm's eight-year-old daughter Virginia, who six years later became his bride. At the same time, several magazines accepted his poems, tempting him to continue writing. But Poe intended to enroll at West Point, seeing this as the only way to retain the financial support of John Allan, and so he reported to the academy in July 1830. However, hope for a future inheritance soon collapsed. In October, John Allan married and made it clear that he did not consider Edgar a member of his new family. Soon after, in the heat of a furious quarrel, he abandoned his pupil once and for all.
Having no more reason to remain at West Point, Poe obtained expulsion from the academy and left early in 1831. He moved in with Mrs. Klemm in Baltimore and lived mostly there for the next four years, trying his hand at writing stories, while he was desperate for money. One of his first experiments, “Metzengerstein,” appeared in January 1832 in one of the Philadelphia magazines, and others followed. The fees were small, but the stories attracted the attention of the public, and the author gradually became famous in literary circles.
In 1835 he was offered the position of editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, which he accepted, although it meant a temporary separation from Mrs. Clemm and, most importantly, from thirteen-year-old Virginia, for whom their mutual attraction had turned into an all-consuming, almost painful love.
Poe became a brilliant editor; his reviews, poems, essays, and short stories increased the magazine's readership and established its fame. His personal life also changed. Mrs. Klemm and Virginia moved from Baltimore to live with him in Richmond, and in May 1836 Edgar and his young cousin were married. However, he was still short of money, and he fell into depression and binges, which not only took away his health, but also caused immeasurable suffering to two women who deeply loved him. Internal problems turned into severe mental illness, which Poe decided to treat by changing his place of residence.
A world much larger than Richmond and an audience much wider than the readers of the Southern Literary Messenger were waiting for him, and in January 1837 he moved to New York with Virginia and Mrs. Klemm. They settled in Lower Manhattan, and Poe began looking for permanent work, but was not successful. From time to time he wrote for magazines, but there was not enough money, and in 1838 the family moved again, this time to Philadelphia. After another year of freelance work, Poe found a position as co-editor of Burton Gentlemen's Magazine, for which he wrote the stories "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "William Wilson." Then, in January 1841, he became editor-in-chief of Graham magazine, which with his help became the most popular in America, increasing its circulation from eight thousand copies to forty thousand by the spring of 1842.
The success of the magazine brought Poe fame in the literary world. Financial difficulties and heavy drinking continued - and worsened when his wife, whose health had always been fragile, was found to be suffering from tuberculosis. In May 1842, Poe left Graham, deciding to publish his own magazine. However, he failed to find an investor, and a new painful period of depression and alcoholic breakdowns soon began. Even then, he had flashes of creativity that produced some brilliant, innovative stories - among them "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Gold Bug" - which would serve as a model for countless future writers, from Arthur Conan Doyle to Agatha Christie.
In April 1844, Poe returned to New York. Again, despite chronic lack of money and mental troubles, he writes a lot - articles, fiction, poetry. His most famous poem, "The Raven", published in 1845, created a sensation - the next morning he woke up famous. For several dizzying months, he was the darling of the city - he published a magazine, published new collections of stories and poems, and moved in the highest circles of New York.
Then suddenly the euphoria gave way to depression, and he plunged into an abyss of misery and despair, deeper than he knew. Despite all his fame, he was stuck in debt. The Raven brought him exactly twenty dollars; his wife's illness progressed; his own health was deteriorating. Apparently driven by speed and self-destruction, in 1846 he wrote a series of articles attacking nearly every New York literary figure, making countless enemies and instigating at least one lawsuit. After that, he withdrew from literary life and found himself isolated - impoverished, unable to write, he lived with his wife and Mrs. Klemm in an unheated house in the Bronx.
Virginia became a victim of winter cold and half-starvation: she died in January 1847, at twenty-four years of age.
Completely devastated, Poe fell into mental and physical breakdown, from which he never fully recovered. But by the end of 1847 he began to write poetry again and over the next year entered into relationships with women. While in Richmond on a lecture tour in 1849, he met his boyhood love, Sarah Royster, who was now a widow. Their romance flared up again, Poe managed to lead a sober lifestyle for several months, and by the end of the summer they decided to get married. On the twenty-seventh of September he went to New York to pick up Mrs. Klemm. Edgar's poem innovative story
Poe did not make it to New York. He got off the train in Baltimore, and it is still unknown where he wandered until the third of October, when he was found, feverish and delirious, next to some tavern. Taken to the nearest hospital, he never regained consciousness and died four days later - an unfortunate victim of his own tormented soul.
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The “black aroma” of madness and sadness, which only a select few, or rather, the doomed, can feel. Brutal murders committed by non-human beings (whether an unknown entity or an orangutan). Mysterious beauties - more frightening than attractive, who return from the world of the dead only to call out, or even take away with them those who, by the whim of fate, lingered in this world. All these are images from the macabre texts of Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe's posthumous fame is enormous: his characters filled the collective unconscious, his plots became wandering, his works inspired not just many followers, but gave birth to entire movements in literature and cinema. The raven from Poe's most famous poem spread his wings in Hollywood, inspiring the dark films of the same name. The story about a black cat avenging his own death and the murder of his mistress has become firmly established in... Soviet children's folklore: the Octobrists and the pioneers, who frightened each other with this horror story (which acquired a completely modern flavor among children), hardly knew that they were retelling the plot, created in the 19th century by a consistent supporter of black slavery. And these are just a couple of many examples. A romantic poet who, as befits a romantic poet, wore elegant black outfits and amazed many women with his “poetic madness.” The founder of the detective genre, who brought into literature the private detective Dupin, a worthy predecessor of Sherlock Holmes (although, of course, if you nitpick, the elements of the detective story and unusual forms of this genre - the Chinese detective story, for example - appeared before Poe). And besides everything else. Edgar Poe is one of the founders of science fiction, black fantasy, horror novels, thrillers and suspense.
It would seem that the life of such a person should be shrouded in a cocoon of the mystical. This assumption is so obvious that a number of screenwriters and writers “invited the late writer to the pages of their works, where the ghost of Poe is eager to unravel the terrible secrets of the past, or Edgar himself, alive and well, helps the inspector find a maniac who commits bloody crimes under the influence of his terrible works.
The authors were echoed by biographers who expected mysticism and mystery from Poe’s life. Many of them willingly transferred to the pages of the writer’s biographies his own memories of fascinating and incredible things... which never happened to him in reality. Among these gullible and admiring people was Charles Baudelaire, who highly revered Edgar Allan Poe, translated his works and was inspired by them to create his own decadent and psychedelic texts. And also the romantic Konstantin Balmont, who decorated the essay about Poe’s life with an incredible number of poetic images.
In fact, there was little mysterious in the life of Edgar Allan Poe (although unusual things still happened from time to time), for the most part it was the tragedy of a man who, despite talent and perseverance, did not know how to take into account either people, or circumstances, or even yourself.
The paths of fathers, the crossroads of children
The favorite of Europe, Edgar Allan Poe, was born in America, in Boston, on January 19, 1809. Relatively soon, one of the few mysterious events connected with his fate occurred: Edgar’s father disappeared without a trace when the boy was two years old. Later there were rumors that David Poe had died (they even named the probable cause of death: transient consumption), interspersed with gossip that he simply left his wife after learning that their youngest daughter Rosalie was not his child. It was not possible to find out what really happened to David Poe.
On September 27, 1849, 38 years after the disappearance of David Poe, forty-year-old writer Edgar Poe set off on a short (it was supposed to last 24 hours) business trip from Richmond to New York. On September 28, he suddenly disappeared. On October 3 in Baltimore (!), a kind-hearted passer-by found a man unconscious and sent him to the hospital, not knowing that in front of him was a writer lost by his fiancée and relatives. A few days later, Edgar Allan Poe died in his hospital room. What happened to him in those days “erased” from his life and his memory (when he came to his senses, he claimed that he did not remember what happened to him) is still unknown.
A short tragedy by Elizabeth Arnold
Konstantin Balmont wrote about Edgar Allan Poe’s mother that she was “a girl without any country”: “... she was born in the middle of the ocean when her mother, crossing the Atlantic, left England for America. The mother died after giving birth to her, the girl had no father, and someone stranger, taking pity on the child, sheltered her, raised her and prepared her for the stage." The reality is not so poetic: Elizabeth Arnold's mother was a widowed English actress who went to try her luck in America. Following family tradition, Elizabeth appeared on stage early (she played her first role at the age of ten) and served very successfully in the theater. Her short life was difficult and full of losses: the girl’s mother died, and later, just a few years after the wedding, Elizabeth’s first husband, actor Charles Hopkins, died of a fever. The young widow married a second time to David Poe. This young man from a good, albeit poor, family left law for the stage. According to one version, he did this because he fell in love with Elizabeth, according to another, he dreamed of theatrical fame, according to a third, he had no luck in legal matters and hoped that he would become a successful actor. Unfortunately, he did not shine on stage, and, probably, if he had the opportunity to return to law, he would have done so - if not for himself, then for the sake of his wife, who was in poor health, and three small children. It is possible that this would have happened one day, but... David Poe disappeared, and Elizabeth found herself in a completely disastrous situation. David's parents took care of her eldest son, William Henry, but the two younger ones, Edgar and Rosalie, remained with their mother, whose health was steadily deteriorating: she suffered from consumption. Elizabeth Poe appeared on stage as much as she could, and when she became completely ill, spectators and colleagues tried to help her financially. The talented actress died at 23, tormented in addition to her own suffering by fear for the future of her children. An unimaginable tragedy.
Allan family
Two kind-hearted women - sisters Frances and Anne - visited Elizabeth during her illness. Anne was unmarried and lived with her sister's family, and Frances was the wife of John Allan. She felt sorry for Elizabeth, and with all her soul she became attached to little Edgar. Frances did not have any children of her own, so after the death of the young woman, Mrs. Allan took the orphaned boy into her care.
Edgar's childhood in the Allan house was happy. He was well off: no matter how things went in the Ellis and Allan trading company (and during the years of Poe’s growing up, there were ups and downs in the commercial business of the partners on the verge of bankruptcy), this did not affect the boy’s life, Edgar had the best clothes, trinkets and books, excellent teachers, your own pony, the opportunity to invite groups of friends. The boy, with his adoptive parents and aunt, crossed the ocean twice and spent five years in England and Scotland, the homeland of John Allan.
But it was not just about material wealth. Edgar’s adoptive parents instilled in him that he was talented, capable of great achievements, and in their habit of being condescending to his pranks and whims, the women of this family perhaps went too far: All his life he believed that no matter what he did, he would certainly be forgiven, and, moreover, most likely, without even an apology on his part.
"The Evil Genius" by Edgar Poe
Almost all biographies of Edgar Allan Poe do not spare dark colors, portraying the merchant John Allan as a callous and cruel person, almost the evil genius of the future writer. In fact, it is difficult to say who was the evil genius for whom. John Allan was an orphan from Scotland. He began his career in commerce from the very bottom, working for a wealthy uncle, but his enviable hard work and undoubted talent allowed him to open his own business together with his former colleague Ellis.
Pity for the orphaned child, public opinion, and most of all the great desire of his wife and her sister to keep the baby with them forced him to agree that Edgar settled in their house. He became deeply attached to the boy, but... John Allan, who went through a difficult school of life (orphanhood, hard work, emigration, which forced him to leave his homeland and relatives), was accustomed to being grateful for the relatively little that his relatives did for him, and not to wait more. The boy who lived in his house took everything he received for granted and never felt particularly grateful for anything.
Mr. Allan knew the value of money, and Edgar spent it recklessly. With age, his demands grew, and yet he, a fairly mature guy, continued to treat dollars like a spoiled child.
John Allan was hardworking - Edgar, it seemed, did not strive for any work, not particularly hiding the fact that he was counting in life on the inheritance that he would one day receive from his adoptive father (over time, this amount became significant: Allan’s rich uncle unexpectedly left his nephew an impressive portion his condition). At the same time, John had two illegitimate children, whom he generously helped financially all his life and to whom he was going to bequeath (and bequeathed) a significant part of his money.
John Allan knew how, if necessary, to cope with his feelings, while his adopted son easily fell into hysterics and could shower anyone with insults. Mr. Allan believed (and this was the natural state of affairs at that time) that the minor youth for whom he was responsible should live by his rules, and Edgar Allan did not think of taming his capricious temper and adapting to the demands of the head of the family. Note that this was not the relatively democratic and psychological 20th century, but the terry 19th century - a time when obedience to elders was considered an absolutely necessary quality of a young man. Moreover, it took place in the slave-holding south of America, with its rather patriarchal and cruel morals. Even the kindest Aunt Polly in Mark Twain’s novel says about her favorite little Tom Sawyer: “He who does without a rod ruins a child,” heartily blaming himself for whipping his nephew too rarely and thus spoiling him. By such standards, John Allan showed miracles of gentleness towards his adopted son.
Let's add one more thing to this: throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe let down people with whom he had business or personal relationships, was extremely arrogant, loved to manipulate others, suffered from mood swings, came out of most business ventures with a scandal, blaming his partners for everything , employers and mysterious “enemies” (in a word, anyone, just not himself), and could slander anyone, without, it seems, having anything sacred. For example, soon after the death of his beloved wife Virginia, he wrote to a potential lover that he had never loved his wife and married her only for her happiness, neglecting his own. So he betrayed the woman he loved with one stroke of his pen. But letters have been preserved where he wrote that if he does not marry Virginia, then he has no reason to live. In short, Edgar Allan Poe was, to put it mildly, no gift. Of course, there is a possibility that Poe acquired all these unattractive qualities as an adult. But it seems that they developed in him already in his early youth, and John Allan watched with alarm as yesterday's nervous and difficult boy turned into a rather unpleasant and childish young man, looking at whom his adoptive father, perhaps, increasingly found himself relieved that this young man is not his own son.
After Edgar completed his schooling in Richmond, he continued his studies at the University of Charlottesville. By this time, Edgar was a handsome and athletic young man, an excellent swimmer, well versed in academic subjects, and even wrote poetry.
At the university, Edgar studied brilliantly, which did not stop him from running up huge debts in stores (where he had unlimited credit under the responsibility of his adoptive father), no less gambling debts, and indulging in drunken revelry. When an enraged Allan reprimanded Edgar for his behavior towards the end of the school year, instead of an apology he received... reproaches. It turns out that he himself is to blame: after all, Edgar, according to him, played only because he did not have enough money. Considering the fact that his mother and aunt usually generously provided the young man with cash (both friends and teachers at school were always surprised at the large sums of his pocket money), and also taking into account the same unlimited credit in local stores and the fact that a significant part of the taken borrowed from shopkeepers and spent on partying with friends, the young man’s self-whitening version does not stand up to criticism. To top it all off, it turned out that Poe tried to forge his adoptive father's signature on the bill. John Allan repaid the young man’s loans in stores, but flatly refused to pay the “debts of honor,” believing that the young gambler should extricate himself.
It is not surprising that at the end of the school year, John Allan said that he did not want Edgar to continue his studies at the university - the young rake already received a fairly good education, much better than Allan himself had. With such knowledge it is quite possible to earn money and make a career. And if you want to continue your education, well, great: self-education will help! Yes, not an all-forgiving approach, but not a frighteningly cruel approach either.
For the next six months, Poe lived at home on his adoptive father's money, making only rather feeble attempts to find a job to pay off his huge gambling debts, and not showing a shadow of remorse, only blaming Allan for ruining his life "on the influence of a momentary whim."
Edgar's antics, the troubles he got into, the tense home environment, aggravated by constant quarrels between the two men, worsened the already poor health of Frances Allan: her consumption progressed (a disease in which, as is known, any stress is destructive) . John probably thought a thousand times that if 15 years ago he had shown perseverance and refused to accept little Edgar into the family, his wife would have suffered for some time and calmed down, but because he, succumbing to weakness, let him into their family The life of this boy, his beloved woman, is doomed to constant experiences that will probably bring her death closer.
Elmira Royster - lost love
In addition to the loss of the opportunity to study, Edgar experienced the loss of his beloved girl. Even before leaving for university, he fell in love with a young neighbor, fifteen-year-old Elmira Royster. The feeling was mutual, and the young people secretly got engaged from their parents. But the girl’s father did not consider Edgar a suitable match for his daughter, so he intercepted love letters that the young man wrote to his bride from the university, making Elmira believe that Edgar had forgotten about her. At the same time, he systematically prepared the ground for his daughter’s marriage to another young man, Alexander Shelton - wealthy, independent and balanced. Royster's plan worked: he separated the young couple. Elmira married someone else.
Edgar, having learned that his beloved girl had left him, was inconsolable. Moreover, for him this was already the second loss of his beloved: very young, almost a teenager, he was in love with the mother of his classmate, Jane Stanard. There was a lot of filialness in this feeling with a bit of romance, but often such relationships, while remaining platonic, grow into friendship with a hint of flirtation. But this story had a truly sad ending: the unfortunate woman, whom Edgar poetically called “Helen” in poems and notes (by analogy with the beautiful Queen of Troy), lost her mind and died of an unknown illness a year after they met. And now he has lost Elmira too, considering, moreover, that she left him of her own free will. ...Oddly enough, some biographers (for example, Hervey Allen) manage to blame John Allan for this tragic event. They say that if he had told Royster that he would leave his adopted son a good inheritance, the girl’s father would have agreed to the marriage of Edgar and Elmira. First of all, it’s not a fact. Besides money, there was also a character factor: Royster may have been observant enough to draw his own conclusions about young Edgar. Secondly, Edgar never asked John Allan to help his marriage with Elmira, he did not even inform his adoptive father that he had proposed to the girl.
And finally, Hervey Allen does not take into account that facilitating this marriage could be contrary to the sincere convictions of John Allan: he saw perfectly well that his adopted son was an unreliable young man with incipient bad habits and a difficult character, not inclined to repent of his mistakes or learn from them . Perhaps this responsible and well-lived man simply did not want such a husband for a very young and inexperienced girl, the daughter of his good friend. So why should John Allan go against his conscience in such a matter? By the way, if Allan was guided precisely by these considerations, then he was absolutely right: Edgar Allan Poe’s future wife tasted in full his irresponsibility, his drunkenness, and his nasty antics. Moreover, the story of Elmira Royster was not a situation where parents simply allowed young people to make their own mistakes - initially this marriage could only take place if John Allan actually signed that he would pay for Poe’s mistakes. After all, Edgar himself did not earn money (as practice has shown, in the future he could not adequately support his family for any long time, and what he did earn, he often drank away), therefore, it was possible to defend the possibility of his marriage to Elmira, only by providing (and continuing to provide, since he has already undertaken) Poe’s future family financially.
"One Bostonian"
After another quarrel with his adoptive father, Edgar Allan Poe left home. John finally posed the question bluntly: either you live by my rules, find a job, pay off your debts - or leave.
In a letter sent the next day, the young man announced that he was acting not under the influence of impulse, but out of long-standing and mature reflection and did not want to have anything to do with Allan. He also asked... to send money and a chest with his clothes. John left the letter unanswered. Two days later, Edgar again asked for money, saying that he was poor and starving. John Allan reminded him that less than a week had passed since Poe broke with him “forever,” refusing to live according to the laws of his house.
For some time, Edgar lived on the money that his mother and aunt gave him, and then he went to try his luck away from his hometown. First he went to Boston, where he published a book of poems under the pseudonym “One Bostonian” - it was a collection of his early, not yet very mature works, some passages of which, however, were quite figurative and interesting in form.
For some time he lived in the family of relatives of David Poe, and then, having failed to achieve success in other fields (he could not find a job, the book was not popular: as it turned out, it was not enough to print, it was also necessary to advertise, and for this there were no connections, no material opportunities), entered the army.
Edgar Allan Poe served under an assumed name and was successful: he was transferred to headquarters and received non-commissioned officer stripes. His contract was signed for 5 years, but after 2 years he wrote to John Allan asking him to help him leave the garrison. Edgar could only do this by informing his superiors that he had reconciled with his relatives, and also by paying the person who was supposed to replace him in the service. After much hesitation (it seemed to John that the army could “make a man” out of a spoiled boy - a common point of view, which sometimes even justifies itself), his adoptive father agreed to intervene in the situation. True, there was a hitch: the payment to a replacement colleague was usually 12 dollars, and Poe paid his... 75. Otherwise, he had to wait, and he was in a hurry to leave the service. This surprise was not, of course, ruinous for Allan, who had become rich, but it evoked not very pleasant memories of Edgar’s unjustified expenses and frauds that had taken place in the past. By the way, Allan’s suspicions were justified: Poe incurred gambling debts in the army, and his creditors turned to Allan in the following years. The ambiguity of the situation did not improve the relationship between father and son. Edgar claimed that he wanted to enter the military academy, and his adoptive father, with the help of letters of recommendation and regular expenses, helped him do this.
During his studies, Edgar experienced a terrible loss for the second time: his second mother, Frances Allan, the woman who gave him the fullness of maternal love, died of consumption, like the first. It’s scary to imagine how this affected the young man: it’s not for nothing that in Poe’s texts the image of a dying or deceased woman is so often found, destroying with her death the life and/or mind of the lyrical hero; It’s not for nothing that in general his texts have such a strong theme of frightening and all-powerful death, conquering life, love, and hope. Life for Poe always loses to decay, and, given his life and moral experience, this is not at all surprising.
Poe was only a day late in Richmond, missing out on seeing Frances before he died. The common grief briefly softened the two men: John warmly welcomed Edgar at home, completely updated his secular wardrobe, thought about how he could help the young man in life, and even Edgar began to call John “pa” in his letters, which had not happened for a long time.
West Point Military Academy was a quality educational institution: cadets were trained for 4 years in the natural sciences, chemistry, advanced mathematics, engineering, ballistics, drafting, law, foreign languages and philosophy. Edgar hoped that, thanks to his brilliant abilities, he would be able to complete his studies in a short time (in any other place he most likely would have succeeded). But it turned out that this was simply impossible: in addition to theory, there was also military practice, designed for the entire training period. Poe was not ready for this and a year later began to demand that Allan take him away from the academy.
To say John was disappointed would be an understatement. He hoped that Edgar had finally come to his senses and become interested in something. Let's not forget that it was very difficult to get Poe into the academy: the competition exceeded 10 people per place, and we had to wait more than a year. In addition, at this time, John Allan received several demands to pay Edgar’s next “debts of honor” made while still in the army, and he was also given a letter from Edgar, in which he described Allan as a man who “is rarely sober” - this lie was as ridiculous as it is pointless. Offended to the core, John Allan stopped responding to Edgar's letters.
He, without receiving the support of his adoptive father, deliberately abandoned his studies in order to be expelled from the academy. And he succeeded. If Edgar Poe had been as successful in creation as in destruction, he would have been second to Mark Twain in terms of wealth and success.
Mrs. Klemm
A short stay in New York (no friends, no certainty, but big health problems: a cold and severe otitis media) ended with the publication of the author’s second book, called simply “The Poems of Edgar A. Poe” and even causing several good reviews, but not brought money.
In search of shelter, Edgar moved to Baltimore, to the house of his aunt, David Poe’s younger sister, Mrs. Klemm. Maria Clemm was a widow with two children, single-handedly supporting a large, unhappy family: grandmother Poe lived out her last years, lying paralyzed, Maria's eldest nephew, Edgar's brother Henry William, was dying of tuberculosis and alcoholism, Mrs. Clemm's son Henry drank bitters, and her youngest daughter Virginia was still a little girl of nine years old.
Edgar spent the next few years virtually dependent on this courageous woman with a highly developed maternal instinct. Edgar was exceptionally lucky with mothers: having accepted him into the family, Maria became his kind genius until the end of his days. Mrs. Klemm was an ideal housekeeper, knew how to save every penny, cooked well “from nothing,” was very neat, loved her family and never lost heart. Unfortunately, all these wonderful qualities did not provide a means of livelihood. At the slightest opportunity, she earned money by sewing, and when this did not help, Mrs. Klemm had to beg food from relatives and friends. She did this without losing her dignity, and they helped her. Henry's family lived on these food donations and rare earnings.
Sad events—deaths—were rid of extra mouths to feed: Poe’s old grandmother suffered torment, family consumption claimed the life of brother Edgar. Mrs. Klemm's son hired himself as a sailor on a ship, left his father's home and, with no small probability, died in foreign lands.
Meanwhile, luck flashed for Edgar Allan Poe: he sent his story “Metzengerstein” to a literary competition, did not receive first place, but was noticed. He became a journalist in several publications, and his stories began to be published. A little later, his work “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle” received first place in another literary competition, and Poe won one hundred dollars, which actually saved the family from starvation.
Sow character, reap destiny...
After Frances' death, John Allan decided to marry his late wife's sister. He was an elderly man, he did not count on crazy passions, and a calm, family-filled marriage with a woman whom he had known for a long time (they got along well, learned each other’s habits while living under the same roof), seemed to him a welcome quiet haven.
This supposed marriage was destroyed by... Edgar Allan Poe. The aunt's favorite, he passionately convinced her not to agree to an alliance with Allan, recalled all the sins of her adoptive father, and insisted that getting married only a year after Frances' death was a crime. Anna refused John Allan.
A couple of years later, it turned out that Edgar Poe had outdone himself: while visiting friends, John Allan met thirty-year-old Louise Patterson, fell in love with her and proposed. The feeling turned out to be mutual, Miss Patterson said yes, married Allan and bore him two children.
Aunt Anna would have defended Edgar's interests to the last drop of blood, and Louise Allan had no obligations to the stranger Poe.
Over the years, Poe received money from John Allan several times, although he agreed to help only in the most critical situations - for example, when Edgar was threatened with prison time for debts.
Deciding to make peace with his adoptive father and ask for permanent benefits, Edgar returned to Richmond, but... had a row with John's second wife. An ugly scene ensued in which Edgar Allan Poe seemed to play all the cards necessary to lose: he declared that Louise Allan had no right to turn his room into a guest room (that is, to dispose of his own house), accused her of marrying Jonah, only for mercantile reasons (it was especially disgusting to hear this from the “unmercenary” Poe, who dreamed of his adoptive father’s money), told her nasty things about her and her children, not even sparing the baby in the cradle. And he didn’t even find the courage to wait for John Allan, whom his family had called from the office with a note, he simply ran away cowardly, insulting the woman. Reconciliation did not work out.
The last time Edgar came to the already seriously ill John Allan, who ordered that his former pupil not be allowed in: the old man wanted to save his nerves. But Edgar broke into the house for the sake of... another ugly scene, which ended with John Allan driving him out with a stick. After this difficult episode, the patient’s condition deteriorated sharply, and a short time later John Allan died, providing for his wife, legitimate and illegitimate children and leaving nothing for Edgar Allan Poe.
There is one book that Edgar Allan Poe could never have written: “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Unless, of course, we are talking about a positive influence.
Poet, writer, journalist
Without stopping his poetic creativity, Poe began to develop as a journalist and prose writer. His short stories and short stories appear in newspapers, and he publishes reviews of books and articles. In 1835, he received an offer of permanent cooperation from the Southern Literary Messenger, a small publication that had only 700 subscribers, and moved to Richmond. Editor-in-chief Mr. White is endlessly pleased with the new employee: Invaluable. He is talented, hardworking, and his work attracts more and more readers and subscribers. He is developing as a critic (in the first year of work in the magazine alone, 37 of his reviews were published) and as a prolific writer. During the few years that he worked at Southern Literary Messenger, the number of subscribers soared to 3,500 people!
But all this is true only for those periods when Poe is sober. His sprees cancel out everything. Unfortunately, this was Poe's constant style of work. Poe's criticism was interesting, original, beautifully written and... invariably angry. During his long work in this field, he had few good things to say about anyone, and the extreme bile with which he usually wrote about the texts of his victims betrayed completely undisguised envy of others’ success.
His abilities as a writer are expanding: he publishes the classic textbook “The First Book of the Conchiologist” - an illustrated guide to mollusk shells (by the way, went through 4 reprints), and a lot of extraordinary stories - from “Maelzel’s Chess Machine”, where Poe scientifically accurately described a mechanical chess player who across America with its creator and always defeating human chess players, to the mystic-romantic “Ligeia”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
Virginia - Lady Ligeia
Edgar Poe and Virginia Klemm were married in secret when the writer's cousin was 13 years old. Edgar Poe was in love with Virginia, the young girl reciprocated his love and admiration. Maria Klemm loved “dear Eddie” like a son.
At first, it was decided to postpone the wedding for several years, but Maria's brother Nelson Poe unexpectedly wanted to take his niece into his family to help his sister living in poverty.
Edgar, frightened by another loss of his beloved, as well as the loss of a family that gave him no less love and forgiveness than Francis and Anna, insisted on immediate marriage as a kind of guarantee of his position. Most likely, Edgar and Virginia's relationship did not become sexual until Virginia was 15. Then they had another wedding - it was easier than explaining to relatives and friends back home that they had been deceived for the previous two years. Moreover, Mrs. Klemm’s brother helped his sister financially, but it is one thing to help two single women, and another to support Edgar Allan Poe’s wife and mother-in-law. A fifteen-year-old bride is, by our standards, too young, but Edgar Allan Poe’s mother was the same age when she got married for the first time. This was a fairly early, but quite acceptable age for marriage at that time.
Virginia Poe was a kind, meek, hardworking girl: she helped her mother run the house and save the family by sewing when times got tough. She loved to play music, playing the harp and harpsichord, was happy when Edgar read aloud to her, and loved to grow flowers.
Meanwhile, life threw Poe from city to city. He got work in magazines in Richmond, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and traveled to give lectures in the northern states. His creativity grew stronger, and against the backdrop of constant literary successes, real masterpieces appeared. The only problem was that money was just as bad almost all the time.
Writing as such in America at that time could not be a source of livelihood. As a rule, writers had some other source of income - a wife's dowry, a position in the government or journalistic service. Poe was no exception. He published several collections, the poem “The Raven” enjoyed wild, exceptional popularity, but all these successes brought practically no money. Journalism opened its arms to Poe, but the story of his first magazine was repeated with some variations throughout his life: he was an excellent employee who was either fired during a binge (or after a series of patience-weary binges), or he left on his own, full of desire to publish his own magazine (These attempts were never crowned with significant success).
The Poe-Klemm family, however, kept afloat - until in 1842, Virginia, who played the harp and sang, suddenly started bleeding from her throat. The girl was hastily put to bed, the doctor was called (who did not know who to give first aid - the girl coughing up blood or the man, almost mad with horror). Edgar Allan Poe's nightmare was repeated... yet again. In 1848, Poe wrote to a friend: “ You ask if I can “at least give you a hint” of what the “terrible misfortune” was that caused those “oddities in behavior” that I so deeply regret. Yes, I can answer you, and not just with a hint. “Misfortune” was the most terrible of those that can befall a person. Six years ago, my wife, whom I loved as no mortal had ever loved, damaged an internal blood vessel while singing. Her condition was considered hopeless. Having already said goodbye to her forever, I experienced all the torment that her death brought me. However, she got better, and hope returned to me. A year later, her blood vessel burst again. Everything happened again for me. Then again, again, again and again - at different intervals. And every time death approached, I was tormented by the same torment. With each new exacerbation of the disease, I loved my wife more and more tenderly and clung to her life more and more desperately. But, being a naturally sensitive and unusually nervous person, I at times fell into madness, followed by long periods of terrible enlightenment. In these states of complete unconsciousness I drank - only God knows how much and how often. Of course, my enemies attributed madness to the abuse of wine, but not the other way around. And, truly, I had already given up all hope of healing when I found it in the death of my wife. I was able to meet her death as a man should. The terrible and endless oscillations between hope and despair - that is what I was unable to withstand without completely losing my mind. With the death of what was my life, I was reborn to something new, but - merciful God! - what a sad existence».
This bitter letter is a brief synopsis of a long and terrible tragedy. Poe was madly in love with Virginia and held on to her as his only salvation. Unfortunately, instead of support in her own suffering, she received only the entire abyss of his despair. Poe had drank before, and had ruined his well-being and their shared life before. But now periods of drunkenness and almost madness began to become more frequent: Poe disappeared from home for a long time, returning a few days later, not always sober. He was seen wandering around the streets with a detached look. Sometimes he appeared at the homes of acquaintances or people who had forgotten about him for a long time (for example, at the ex-fiancée Mary Devereaux), and started sudden brawls and proceedings (for example, he assured the long-married Mary that she did not love her husband, but loved only him). Over the years, he had several platonic lovers - usually literary ladies and poetesses, relationships with whom sometimes also led to scandals.
All this had a deplorable effect on Poe’s earnings, people’s attitude towards him, and his work. But most importantly, all this was killing Virginia. Even Mrs. Klemm's patience could not stand it at times, and she - always extremely loyal to "dear Eddie", always justifying and extolling him - several times told family friends that Edgar was killing her daughter.
However, at the same time, Poe tried to deny himself everything so that his wife would have food and medicine. A family friend, writer Gove Nichols, left a touching and sad memory of the sick Virginia: “ There was no cover on the straw mattress - only a snow-white bedspread and sheets. The weather was cold, and the patient was shaken by the terrible chills that usually accompany consumptive fever. She lay wrapped in her husband's coat and clutched a large motley cat to her chest. The wonderful animal seemed to understand what benefits it brought. The coat and the cat only gave warmth to the poor thing, except for the fact that her husband warmed her hands in his palms, and her mother warmed her feet.».
Virginia died in 1847. Edgar Allan Poe outlived her by two years. Shortly before his death, rushing from one woman to another, going crazy and almost completely despondent, he met his youthful love Elmira Royster (now Shelton). She, like him, was widowed. Now nothing stopped them from getting engaged. Elmira was rich, forgotten feelings quickly revived in both, it seemed that youth had returned to them. Mrs. Klemm was happy for her Eddie, and he did not hide from the bride that his late wife’s mother would always be by his side, and Mrs. Shelton agreed with this. The official engagement was to follow after Edgar returned from a short trip. On an autumn day the ship was taking away a famous writer...