Poe is famous for his mastery of the macabre and the mysterious. If you've ever read his books, you'll never forget the beating heart of guilt in the "Tell-Tale Heart." How sad he died, under still unexplained circumstances, this day in 1849, yet appropriate for the Halloween season when his stories are told and re-told everywhere including spooky camp fires. His poem "The Raven" is a hauntingly beautiful example of one of his most famous works.
In his time, he was a famous literary critic and also published cryptograms in newspapers, a tradition now in most daily newspapers. This hobby influenced his work "The Gold Bug."
His stories and works speak for themselves and they are timeless, classic pieces. Poe lived and died almost twenty years before the Civil War. He was a HUGE early influence on literature and many future writers to come. It is a fact that Edgar Poe created the modern detective story. Arthur Conan Doyle, mastermind of the Sherlock Holmes stories, credited Poe for wholly re-inventing the genre. Poe pioneered science fiction and the short story format with Jules Verne and H.G.Wells counting themselves admirers and fans of Poe's work each praising Poe as ahead of his time. Poe also was the first person in America to write for a living full time. He was successful, famous and popular in life.
He is buried in Baltimore where every January 19th (Poe's Birthday), the Poe Toaster leaves cognac and roses at his grave. This mysterious man has created a legend of itself for his annual midnight homage of Poe.
Not all was gloom and doom in Poe's work. His love poems are lovely. Here's an excerpt from "The Bells"
"Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, And an in tune, What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells,bells, Bells, bells, bells- To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!"
For fun road trips:
The Edgar Allen Poe memorial in Baltimore. Or....
The Edgar Allen Poe NY Cottage.
Read more of his work:
Poe Stories
Read about his life:
wikipedia article
Christopher Walken's reading of The Raven:
Update:
Poe "Funeral" to be held in Baltimore - Finally a fitting and deserving honor!
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/10/160-years-late-poe-will-get-a-grand-funeral.html
1 comment:
Love, love , LOVE Poe! I still want to read Eureka.
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