Edgar Allan Poe

[Cameron]

To BabyBird

Hi BabyBird,

I drew the Poe illustration for an exhibition. You guessed right when you said the animal impulses of man, but I also merged his portrait with a cat for the story he wrote, "The Black Cat" (although I used one of my own cats, a tortoiseshell, as a model). I think Poe had a tortoiseshell or a calico cat named Caterina.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for the compliment. I wasn't aware Poe's trunk was found. I've never been to the Poe Museum, but I will one day. What was in his trunk? Anything noteworthy?

Maybe it's fitting that his death is a mystery...

Hi Cameron

Evidently all of the expected contents were in the trunk when found, including, presumably, clothes and definitely manuscripts and annotated copies of his books. The latter contents became part of a dispute between Poe's literary executor, Rufus W. Griswold, and Poe's cousin, lawyer (and later Judge) Neilson Poe.

Griswold wrote to Neilson Poe requesting the manuscripts and annotated editions from the trunk to be used in Griswold’s upcoming edition of Poe’s collected works. Finally, Neilson finally passed the manuscripts and books to Griswold and the trunk to Poe's sister, Rosalie.

While Poe's attending physician, Dr. J. J. Moran, later denied there were any clothes in the trunk, it is not clear whether the doctor actually opened the trunk, and there are a number of reasons to doubt his later version of events. In fact in a letter to Poe's mother-in-law, Mrs. Maria Clemm, on November 15, 1849, five weeks after the writer's death, he informed her that Poe did not know "what had become of his trunk of clothing". This letter is important because it is probably closer to the truth than the doctor's later versions of events when he was trying to protect Poe's reputation by denying that drinking led to the writer's death. In that letter of Nov. 15, 1849, Moran hints darkly that Mrs. Clemm would know of what ailment he died ("Presuming you are already aware of the malady of which Mr. Poe died . . .") -- which most scholars take to mean the writer had taken to drink while in the city and alcoholism played a part in his demise. The drinking question and Moran's different versions of the circumstances of Poe's death are discussed here: http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm

See the following for further discussion of the saga of the trunk: Jeffrey A. Savoye, "Two Biographical Digressions: Poe's Wandering Trunk and Dr. Carter's Mysterious Sword Cane," Edgar Allan Poe Review, Fall 2004, 5:15-42.

All the best

Chris

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi BabyBird,

I drew the Poe illustration for an exhibition. You guessed right when you said the animal impulses of man, but I also merged his portrait with a cat for the story he wrote, "The Black Cat" (although I used one of my own cats, a tortoiseshell, as a model). I think Poe had a tortoiseshell or a calico cat named Caterina.

There is some discussion of the cat named Caterina in various Googled references with one person characterizing the feline as "a tortoise shell cat named Cattarina" and another as a black cat, as in Poe's famous short story, "The Black Cat."

C

[belinda]

I had no idea his Trunk had been found either.

What a shame it's empty now.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Cameron!

Do you have an illustration, presenting E.A.Poe as The Raven?!

All the best
Jukka

[Cameron]

Poe & The Raven

j.r-ahde,

No. I don't have an illustration of Poe as The Raven. It's a cool idea though. I've always felt that Poe was a victim of The Raven. I sort of see The Raven as Poe's "monkey on his shoulder", always there menacing him.

[Cameron]

Hi ChrisGeorge,

Many thanks again for the information about Poe's trunk...I knew you smart people of Casebook would know all of this great stuff! It's such a shame nothing is left in the trunk though. Man, what incredible find's have been lost!

-Cameron

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Cameron!

j.r-ahde,

No. I don't have an illustration of Poe as The Raven. It's a cool idea though. I've always felt that Poe was a victim of The Raven. I sort of see The Raven as Poe's "monkey on his shoulder", always there menacing him.

I guess we all have had our Ravens on our shoulders!

All the best
Jukka

[rain]

Hi Cameron

Evidently all of the expected contents were in the trunk when found, including, presumably, clothes and definitely manuscripts and annotated copies of his books. The latter contents became part of a dispute between Poe's literary executor, Rufus W. Griswold, and Poe's cousin, lawyer (and later Judge) Neilson Poe.

. The drinking question and Moran's different versions of the circumstances of Poe's death are discussed here: http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm

See the following for further discussion of the saga of the trunk: Jeffrey A. Savoye, "Two Biographical Digressions: Poe's Wandering Trunk and Dr. Carter's Mysterious Sword Cane," Edgar Allan Poe Review, Fall 2004, 5:15-42.

All the best

Chris

thanks for the links-

This reminds me of 'Rosebud' in Citizen Kane.

Moran also claims that on the evening prior to his death, Poe repeatedly called out the name of “Reynolds.” Substantial efforts have been made to identify who Reynolds may have been, with unimpressive results. At least one scholar felt that Poe may have instead been calling the name of “Herring” (Poe’s uncle was Henry Herring) (W. T. Bandy, “Dr. Moran and the Poe-Reynolds Myth,” Myths and Realities: The Mysterious Mr. Poe, Baltimore: E. A. Poe Society, 1987, pp. 26-36

[ChrisGeorge]

thanks for the links-

This reminds me of 'Rosebud' in Citizen Kane.

Moran also claims that on the evening prior to his death, Poe repeatedly called out the name of “Reynolds.” Substantial efforts have been made to identify who Reynolds may have been, with unimpressive results. At least one scholar felt that Poe may have instead been calling the name of “Herring” (Poe’s uncle was Henry Herring) (W. T. Bandy, “Dr. Moran and the Poe-Reynolds Myth,” Myths and Realities: The Mysterious Mr. Poe, Baltimore: E. A. Poe Society, 1987, pp. 26-36

I've probably posted this here before but there was an explorer named Jeremiah N. Reynolds whose accounts Poe used as source material for his sea novella The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Could a delirious Poe on his deathbed have thought he was on the high seas with Reynolds?

In my research, I found a more mundane and Poe-like explanation for his calling out the name. According to Baltimore City street directories, around the time of Poe's death, a "Washington Reynolds" was a gravedigger living on Greene Street. Poe was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in the Presbyterian graveyard at the corner of Fayette and Greene Streets.

Chris

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Yes, Poe was a mysterious drunk and drug-addict.

But some years ago I read a piece of information, that surprised me completely;

He was also known as a good stand-up comedian at the time!

Well, maybe Hopfrog tells, how he really felt about this kind of reputation...

All the best
Jukka

[ghoulstonstreet]

Alcoholism

Another very good bio on Poe is the one by Symonds. I believe the extreme paranoia and negativity saturating Poe's writing clearly indicates a tortured mind. This is not criticism (I LOVE reading Poe). But whether it was depression, unpurged grief (loss of Mom and Dad Allen), schizophrenia or Bi Polar disorder really doesn't matter. Like poor Brian Jones and many others, Poe used alcohol to deaden the pain. When you are an alcoholic you are a very vulnerable person. People rob you, beat you up, use you to do things that would normally be against your will and you lose your sense of self preservation. I believe Poe simply died as the result of being a very advanced alcoholic. Was there any evidence to refute this? Thanks

[belinda]

I thought Poe had a troubled relationship with Allen though he was very attached to his step Mother

Wasn't it Allen who forced Poe into a miserable stint in the army?

[ChrisGeorge]

I thought Poe had a troubled relationship with Allen though he was very attached to his step Mother

Wasn't it Allen who forced Poe into a miserable stint in the army?

Hello Belinda

Yes Poe did have a very troubled relationship with his stepfather, Richmond tobacco merchant John Allan, although, as you note, he was attached to his stepmother, who unfortunately passed away.

Poe lost his birth mother, English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Poe, to consumption at a young age. His father, actor David Poe Jr., seems to have just disappeared but it might be assumed that he died as well.

Allan probably hoped that by helping Edgar to enroll at West Point, at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and finally in the Army at Fort Moultrie might straighten out his young ward and correct his disippated ways.

While Eddie was at the university, Allan had to pay off the young man's gambling debts which no doubt caused much of the bitterness between them.

To read Poe's beseeching letters to Allan and various friends begging for money makes for pitiful reading.

Chris

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

I've just read about Henry Poe, the elder brother of Edgar Allan from Wikipedia.

He was a promising writer, who died of tuberculosis (so Poeish! ) at the age of 24.

But what happened to their kid-sister, Rosalie?

All the best
Jukka