Show Ji jV 4 t I A I U LL I r I Z fI f f I Fail i I 4 ty l' l I 1 1 i. i p v. v I s. s fJ r II P e i l' l r. r of f rl I k d Jh t 1 i ii i J I I lID HI mystery ana aa of ot genius f g rite ere orr ig again ln brought homo boo to celebrating cele cele- worlds world's memory as ai wo arc brating the hundredth anniversary of ot Edgar Allan Poc's Poca birth There are those who n-bo account him bUn as our greatest man of ot letters In point of ot In Influence only oDly Hawthorne Haw V thorne nail and Emerson rank with him In q 4 point of 01 originality only WRit Walt Whitman 1 who called him poor wonderful Poe Seldom Beldom bun baR an on equal amount of biography an and aid literary criticism been en compressed Ompre tle k into Jeto three throe words no lIt was wu one oe of tb the It greatest of Immortals and one of ot the most maat miserable mortals that ever eser trod i this earth ned and hl bI bis ow own words may ay fittingly tit fit tingly be applied to himself The fever called livin le living Is over o nt lit last lut Po roe Poe was as born In Boston Baltimore is the eft city most closely linked to his life lite where bere be hl lies burled Philadelphia 1 Is III associated as with Uh hU s finest nest literary achievement achievement achieve c ment nod and nd with the posthumous defamation t e tion Hon of or his bis character New ew Tork rork saw his i deepest misery end and contains contains' the most interesting in In- tl ter memorial of or his career the cot cottage i ts tage taga e at nt This poor shanty may yet fet be the chief chIer literary shrine of ot America Amer Arner o I 1 ica tc like Burns Burns' humble bumble cottage at atIt Ayr i It was wa here hero that his hi angelic Virginia ln h tu W b blI b.-blI b J- J married ed when she was but 14 tied died of consumption on a I coach of F 1 she ebe bad bd nothing but n 11 coit nod a CUt cat to tt keep her crr f fo Poverty was the specter that pursued f Poc Poe through nil all his bh days LII Like most mol of ot Y the poets poet he be was TB a n wretched band nt tt business Improvidence and Intemperance r again and n again brought him to the brink of ot destitution If It not Ills death wan wn on one of or the saddest aldest of or moral morn I trl tragedies I cd Ics Barrett Wendell gives given the generally gen gen- emily y accepted acc version of ot It In the following following fol tal fol- fol lowing Ion words word tIe lIe was passing through Baltimore either on OD bi hIs bis way l to sec I c his bis betrothed or oron oron oron on his way s-cy from torn a visit to her bel In that city an on election wa wan about to tale take place c and some petty politicians in search of ot repeaters picked ed him up got lOot him bim drunk drun and made him vote ote all nil over oer town tiny Hav Having ing lug thus thug exhausted ted his political usefulness useful useful- ness they left him in the gutter butter from whence he bl found his bis way soy to the hospital where t be died led In recent years the rehabilitation of or Poe Poc bag hns been going forward with I vigor or but there la Ia no use blinking the nets facts of his hla folly and nud weakness and md there seems eem eem no doubt that his misfortunes mIsfortune were mostly his own fault The most that C can n bo said In 10 condonation Is that nn an appetite for or liquor was Implanted in him as ns n a child by a 11 nurse Durse who gave e him gin glo to I keep him I quiet later Inter b by bl bi hIM to who I to show off ort tho the clever er lad Ind would t often orten place him upon the table to drink touts toasts I Ito to the guests ue i The Tue Poe Poo Con Controversy It would hardly pay to t jo 10 into the nn nn- edifying lne subject of ot Poes Poe's habits haul had not noto do o much exaggeration provoked so a acon con controversy 1 On 00 the one ODe band the foulest lies and libels were given utterance and credence Ills His life was one wild debauch u lie He bl his bis wHo and broke her heart beart v r s t t f fiL I 1 i F 11 Z J nd T o 2 lie He bud bad no faith In man nor woman lie was naturally Irascible envious lous Ito Ho lIo displayed a reckless nb nb- senco seDCO of or all nil the quo qualities HUes of ot social tudo tude Self willed proud passionate with 1111 meager mener moral sense he forfeited success by bis perversity and md his bis vices On the tile other baud band there has been heen extravagant extravagant ex ex- ex trl deification Sarah Helen Whitman Whit man whom Thom he was engaged to marry declared that even en In ID the delirium of drink his hl words were the words of ot a princely intellect t overwrought and of or a Q heart only too sensitive end ontI too finely Of ly strung There Is 19 ollo something humorous In the anecdote that he be would never nc go JO to bed becJ bedat bedat at nt night without asking his bis In mother law for Cor her and If It be bad displeased her In lii any way be would kneel at nt her ber feet and hum humbly lily Implore her pardon There can cnn lie he no 00 doubt however of or his bis chivalry chiv nil aIry alry toward woman his bis purity of or heart wd and his and his hi tender and sensitive spirit And there t Is even ie leas leu doubt douht about his bis poetic genius 1 although h Emerson In In n D with called him the Jingle man IDan Mrs Browning told of ot people eople who by hy the Nevermore Nov Nev c t. t of ot Poes Poe's Raven naven and one of ot her ber who has the acquaintances misfortune tune tunc of possessing a n bust of or Palms Pallas cannot cannot can enn not bear bent to loot look at It In the twilight Thomas Bailey Aldrich said that hla fame tame Is 19 in 10 all nil lands Swin burne declared over oer a quarter of ot n a century century cen cen- tur tury ago no that Time the eternal enemy enem of ot small nur and nud reputations will vIll prove the constant and ond trusty friend and keeper of n a true poets poet's fame Is there another poem so popular another another an no- other more noro often otten quoted nod and parodied than Hoven for tor which h Poe received re reo 10 while the tho owner of or the tho MSS ISS some tome years n ago o demanded for or It Are there coy any other olber poems like Tho Thu Bells Hells The Haunted Palace A Annabel An n. n nn bel Leo and ADd Lenore with Ith fIb Kiu-h uncanny wizardry of ot word nord music No other poet In tho the world except perhaps per hops haps Gray Gry and end Sappho has bJ built MO so high and nud enduring a U fa fame rame mo upon so 80 few tew and brief poems Ills lib Theory of Poetry This is quite In harmony with own theory of ot poetry Ue He has written an elaborate essay CURY QU the subject telling how bow U Ut tAft composed d his hi own ot to Illustrate the theory The fundamental principle la is that n a truo true poem must be short abort n a long poem Is a n contradiction in terms Words orl were vere chosen chonen en for tor their nui den I value not for tor their definite moan Ins lug ing One Ono might describe oil nil of or Poes Poe's poetry as 15 silver trumpets sounding through nod and Blake Blako hn had n a golden mist Coleridge done this tbt before him but Lut he be first did It consciously and supremely well Tell Yet his story of how bow ho he wrote The Raven mn must t be taken with several eral grain of at salt snit If It that story tory bo be true trot and Poes Poe's tbt theory admitted poetry Is a mathematical science and the poet who determines to write l n Q perfect poem can cnn only repeat repent The nn Raven cn Tho The tact fact Is 18 that Byron and Moore Ioor the Idols of ot literary tt fashion blon at that time Influenced Poe Poo In fn ho beginning when ben benat at nt tho the age of ot 18 he published Tamerlane Tamer lane nud his bis somber Bomber Imagination with his bl histrionic bent Inherited from iii hla actor actor act act- or parents brought this quality ity to the strange flowering of at wad nand morbid mor bid music III Ills genius corresponded almost exactly to that of ot his French translator tor Baude laire author of or the Flowers of ot Evil and victim of ot as Poe Poc was waa of ot opium That explains one of or the strouge O phenomena of ot literature Poe lIterature Poe no an a l French author Through the marvelous translation trans trans- lation of ot himself a word wizard wiz wizard ard Poe Pee has hns become as well known as any French poet and portraits of ot Poe Poc arc are not uncommon In 10 which ho he looks weirdly Poo Poe Is almost the thc only American author well v. ell known In Fm Franco ace of ot the Tales The same morbid and histrionic breathes in III his hili tales fantastic full of It horror JD Ingenious wielding n a weird spell The Cask of ot Amontillado Fa Fall of ot th thc tho lIou house e of ot Usher Tuo rho rut Hit and aDd the Pendulum The of lit tho Red fled Death ore are examples of ot this Tho The little lad In Grimms Grimm's Fairy airy rales who to learn bow to shiver have bare e read orne of ot these tales tale at midnights midnight's mid wId nights night's silent hour bour The finest tribute to p Poe's Poes s 's genius a as n 4 1 1 I 3 t 1 4 M Mr kt r r 3 4 Ti 4 t h I r P rR r POt COC the supreme original story short writer of ot nil all time la Is paid him b by Doyle who says GaYs Not ot only Is Poc Poe the originator tor of ot the detective tory all nil treasure hunting solving cryptogram yarns trace hack to his Gold Dull Bug Just as ns nil all pseudo title and Wells stories have their prototypes In la the Voyage to the Moon and aed the Cne of ot Monsieur If Ir every man moo who receives a 11 check for tor fora tora a story atory which owes OT Its springs to Leo Poo 00 were to pay tithe to n a monument for tor forthe the master be would bare a 11 pyramid as ss big as that of ot The allusion to the cryptogram In tD The Gold Bug recalls the fact that unravelIng unravel unravel- log InS messages eH van waa one ODD of or fads WhIlo In la Philadelphia bo he challenged challenged chal chal- lenge hl his bin readers to him any cipher message he could not readily rendy solve let the phrase key be in any nay language the they liked About ciphers were tent sent In 10 and be he made good tood his bis boast bout by solving every everT one The Poe roe Cult Po Poes Poe's s 's salary alary during bl his bis editorial labors on the Southern So Literary Messenger where he be first Ut-st won a 0 prize of ot for or astory n a story on Grahams Magazine whose circulation be br raised from to on the tho Mirror of ot N. N P P. P Willis In which The Raven Haven appeared was probably ably never ne moro more than 10 10 a week Today the slightest t of or his bli handwriting commands a higher price Ills Ilia letters have ha a 8 market value twice tt that of or Sholly's ShellY's live times that of nr Byrons Byron's n a hundred times that of or LOD The original manuscript of or Tho The Bells bought for tor some rears yeara ago would I probably bring ten times that price te to day A single copy COPT of first book boot Tamerlane printed In has hns been boun sold at auction for or 2050 It looks look a as asif asif if It tho the admirers of at Poe might go 0 as ta farOs far faras as Os did Lafayette to express his veneration for lor Poes Poe's revolutionary grandfather and kiss the sod upon bis his rave grave During this this- week of memorial addresses ad dresses s monument meat unveilings special numbers and even cven n a Poo drama It Is worth while to reread William Winters Winter's poetic tribute penned 5 o years ego oco CoM Cold Is a tb the vein mn r es lien And chill It J. e Icy 11 And p pale le tho the u A d Memory Memo To Ta cr cc U the Iron dC doors deer ct Cl Death r Fame FIco lone Joor 51 and ISOL 1011 The Tho p of prill th that thit t deck th tho pill Th Tb plaudits of th 11 Oce Oe e nord tord ct d l lois 1010 e l Ii 13 worth them tU IU U. U With d des des' f cf of our eyes CK m era aro ro Ah Au let tt u. the CAT cf d cUd Urt lIft And boner to Ia tad sad 14 him bin Tb Tb great cat sod aDd od tender human buman b heidi mini a t cf ef want D sni niJ nt wt I BU lIb frenzied w I Till ill kind Und laId Uld him low And UnfeD i IU its ch d. d I m rany fi ny e. e year bit hi Ime b hag Like midnight m f fut t. t like Uke Till Ini now DOTT kit his lis b a throne thron And ADI sUon mure at h hb hi feet Out Otis tz tt d cf ct tattle lo Ion tang delye Ono One crowning grace enro bl his virtues cnn cnn- Ah Au t take teke k thou them cr if great tit t ted ird 2 th hi ahda i Tb lOge iDe that n th the l lOod God percy nercy mart hi m r ful ses' ses The Tb duet duat that tUt beret And while hn around thia tomb we w. e o God Goo blua for r u. u th the monn tilt triTt Ard Md ms hb Mi horning nigh Vierce tho the d due ns n. cloud clond of cf darkness A And know with faE thit cannot nl tl dI die llo Be hu hi-a Ii h worlds world's ol affection cuon tool |