Courtyard of the Poe Museum, Richmond, VA

“Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered weak and weary,
over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore……”

Thus begins one of the most well known American poems- “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.

In advance of the movie coming out next weekend “The Raven” with John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, I decided to learn more about one of my favorite American authors and see if I could figure out what motivated his writings.

What I found was a tale of a man who had a difficult life, embraced individuality and whose works reflected the numerous loves and losses that permeated his life.

Edgar Allan Poe moved frequently and had lived all up and down the East Coast (and even in Great Britain) before his mysterious death at age 40. Thirteen of his 40 years were spent in Richmond, Virginia.

I set off on a two hour trip south to Richmond and to visit the Poe Museum, which boasts the most Poe memorabilia and artifacts.

The Poe museum is in “The Old Stone House” with a plaque stating it is the oldest standing house in Richmond. It is beleived that Poe was part of a military escort that lead Lafayette to the house; although Poe probably did not enter it. The front of the stone house also advertised that they would be holding an “unhappy hour” to celebrate its 90 years in existence this coming week.

Off to what I learned—

Poe was born in Boston, the middle child to two actors who performed up and down the East Coast. His father abandoned the family when Poe was very young (and he died shortly therafter). His mother brought her three children to Richmond with her to perform a play. Although his mothers profession was not considered reputable- she was one of the more famous actresses of her day and her peformances were frequently reviewed in local papers. Eliza Poe fell ill with Turbuclosis and died in Richmond at the age of 24- when Poe was almost 3 years old. Her three children were taken in by different families-Edgar became a foster child of the Allan’s, for whom his middle name is taken.

As a child, Poe was both admired for his intellect and athletic ability (he had his school record for the broad jump and was considered a great boxer) but he was also looked down upon for being the orphaned son of actors (they were called “players” and it was not considered reputable to be a player or the child of a player). It was noted that although he did not remember his mom, he later wrote that he was proud of her and what she had accomplished in her short life.

Poes’ foster family, The Allan’s, were very wealthy and sent Poe to the best schools. Although Poe loved his foster mother very much he did not get along with his foster father, John Allan. His foster father thought Poe was “ungrateful” for all that he had given him and would remind Poe of his lowly station in life. Poe would later have a falling out with his foster father after Poe was expelled from the United States Military Academy at West Point for failure to attend formations and classes. Shortly after leaving West Point, his beloved foster mother died and Poe would be cut off from the family for good.

Poe earned a difficult living as a writer, editor and critic. He was one of the first American writers to earn a living solely off of his writings and as a result was frequently destitute. In addition to the gothic horror stories that he is probably most known for today, he wrote detective stories, science fiction and science theory essays and poetry. Poe considered his best work to be a scientific essay called “Eureka”.

He took various jobs up and down the midatlantic and moved frequently. His writings were looked down upon by the writers in the North but Poe was not concerned with trying to gain any admiration from them. Poe was a critic of many of the established northern writers and went so far as to call Longfellow a “plagiarist” and accuse other established writers of “quackery”. Poe did not make many friends in the writing circles up North but he cared more about keeping his individual voice than winning over his literary peers.

Poe was engaged a few times- but only married once- to his cousin Virginia who was 13 when he was 26. They never had any children. She also died young, at age 25 of tuberculosis. It is said that his wife’s illness led Poe to drinking and despair. Poe’s older brother died of illness also at a young age, leaving only Poe and his devoted younger sister Rosalie. In later years, after Poe had reached some measure of fame, Poe would supply his sister with autographed pictures that she would sell to make a little extra money.

At 40 years old, Poe was asked to come from Richmond to Philadelphia to do some editting. Five days after leaving Richmond, Poe was found incoherent in Baltimore- wearing clothing that was not his own. Some say he was found in a tavern and other reports say he was found on a street. No one knows where he was in those 5 days since leaving Richmond. His Baltimore relatives refused to help him and he was brought to a hospital where he yelled “Reynolds!” several times at the doctor before becoming comatose and then dying 4 days later. There is much speculation as to what he died from including alcoholism and rabies. At the time of his death, all of his worldly possessions were contained in a small trunk- it contained clothes, a mirror and some manuscripts.

One of the things claimed for years was that Poe was a drug user, like many writers of his day, and might have died of a drug overdose. This was discounted as his friends came forward to say he was not a drug user. A Poe critic was found to have circulated many of the rumors after Poe’s death. He did not have a toleration for
alcohol and would get drunk off of a single glass of wine and then be bedridden for days afterwards. This did not seem to discourage him from several bouts of drinking later in his life.

On day two of my Edgar Allan Poe journey, I went to Baltimore. It was a rainy and dreary day. As I was looking for parking near Edgar Allen Poe’s gravesite, in a small cemetary by Westminster Hall & Burial Ground in downtown Baltimore, I saw a sign pointing to the Poe House .55 miles away.

I hadn’t planned on going there because the reviews indicated it was in a rough section of town, reminiscent of the show “The Wire”; but I decided to throw caution to the wind since it was so close. Sure enough, as soon as I crossed over Martin Luther King Blvd. I found myself in the projects. I am sure I looked suspicious, as I at first missed the signs to the house Poe had lived in for two years with his wife and mother in law. I was circling the neighborhood slowly a few times and then noticed I was not the only one circling the neighborhood- so were several police cars. I finally found the small brick house- indiscernable from the other run down brick houses in the projects except for a plaque on the door. As I got to the door, I noticed the sign showing the hours and they did not include Sunday hours. Disappointed, I got back in my car and headed back to the cemetary.

Poe’s final resting place, which he shares with his wife, grandfather and mother in law is right by a side gate to the small cemetary. There are some plaques around it describing the history of the site. Once a year, on Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday of January 19th a mysterious person named the “Poe Toaster” shows up at the grave and leaves a bottle of cognac and three roses. There is some debate as to when the tradition started- many reports say it started as long ago as 1949 and there is some debate as to whether it was the same person doing the birthday toast. In any event, the Poe Toaster stopped showing up at the gravesite in 2009. Still, people come from all over the world to pay respects to the final resting place of a great American writer.

Oftentimes destitute, an outcast by many of his writer peers, an orphan, excommunicated by his foster family and haunted by the early deaths of many of his loved ones, you have to marvel at the legacy Edgar Allan Poe carved out for himself in American Literature.