| Show A C J i L 14 J JI JF I F Uc r I r I lj I F 4 J i fr frt t 1 I I 1 k h I 4 i I fl 1 m HE TIE mystery and ot of genius at are arc again brought home bome to tho worlds memory ns as wo we are ore cele cete celebrating brating hundredth anniversary of oC p Edor lIon Allan Poes birth There ore are those who account him him as our greatest man of oC letters In point of ot Influence only How Haw Hawthorne Howthorne howthorne thorne and ond Emerson rank with him In Ini i point r of oC originality only Walt Whitman who called cuffed him poor wonderful Poe Poc Seldom has hos an on equal cunI amount of at biography nod and literary criticism been compressed Into three words rIo no was one of oC the greatest of ot Immortals and oDd ono one of oC the most miserable mortals that over ever trod this earth and his own words or s may moy lit fit fittingly tingly be applied to himself The fever teer called living lI ln IB ItS over at ot lost last I Poe Poc was born In ID Boston Doston Baltimore Is IB isI I I the tho city most closely linked to hla life UCe where be he lies burled buried Philadelphia Is Js as associated with his finest t literary achieve achievement merit ment and oDd the tho posthumous defamation defamation tion of or his bis character New York saw MW his deepest misery and contains the most In ID Interesting memorial of or his hili career the cot cottage cottage tage at Fordham This poor shanty may nitty yet ret be the duct chief literary shrine of or Amer America AmerIca ica lea lute like Burns humble cottage at nt Ayr It was here tiara that his angelic Virginia whom he hull bud married when she was but 11 14 died of ot consumption cou on OD a Ll couch conch of or where she hall had nothing but a n coat coot and a cat to keep her warm Poverty was the specter that pursued Poo loe through all oil his days Like most of oC the poets pools ho was a wretched hand band at nt I business Improvidence and aDd Intemperance again n alD and again o brought him to the brink of ot destitution If Jt not starvation His Dis death was ono one of ot tho the saddest of oC moral tragedies Barrett Wendell gives the gen geDo emily accepted version erslon of oC It In tho the fol tal following lowing words ITo Ho was passing through Baltimore either on his biB way vay wa to see his betrothed or oron oron oron on his hi way from a n visit vist to her In 10 that city an nn election was WOH about to take tole place some SOniC petty politicians In search of or repeaters picked him up got ot him drunk and made mode him vote oto all nil over ocr town Hay Ilav Ua lag Jog thus exhausted his political useful usefulness usefulness ness they the left lett him him In the gutter utter from whence ho he found his way to the tho hospital where ho lie died In recent years the rehabilitation of or Poe Poo has hOB been going forward with vigor hor but there Is no use uso blinking the tho facts of oC his bis folly buy and aUth weakness anti and there seems no DO doubt that his misfortunes were mostly his OWn own OW fault The most that can bo o said In condonation Is that an nn for liquor was wag Implanted In ID him as a child by a I nurse who gave gao him gin to keep him quiet and later Inter by b his who to show off ocr tho the clever loll lad would often otten place pla c him upon the table to drink toasts to the thu guests The Tue Toe Poe Con It would hardly pay poy to go Into the tho un UD edifying subject of or Poes habits had hod not Dot Dotso so 80 much exaggeration provoked so 50 a controversy coo On OD Vie one hand tho the foulest lies and ls were given glen utterance and credence Ills His life ll was one ODe wild willi debauch lie starved l his and broko her heart j IP f Af F A r k J t j dd t e t poi 11 I 44 i V P Il i k St 1 5 1 a 3 7 S v I Ho n His had no faith In man nor no woman He De was wag 13 naturally irascible envious lIe He a n reckless s ab absence nonce sence of ot all the qualities of oC social rectitude tude tulle proud passionate with meager moral sense senile he forfeited success by his perversity and his vices On the other hand band there has ban beep been ex ox extravagant deification del Sarah Whit Whitman Whitman man whom whew be he was engaged to marry declared d claret that even III hi tho the delirium of ot drink his hU words wore tho the words of oC n a princely intellect overwrought and of ot a n heart only too sensitive and too lady finely strung l There Is also something In lu the anecdote that he ho would never Deler go O to bed bedat bedat bedat at night without asking his for tor her blessing and aud If It be he had displeased her In any way ho would kneel at her feet and humbly Implore her pardon There I can COD be no doubt however of or his chiv chivalry airy alry toward woman his purity of ot heart and null his tender ten tIer and oud sensitive spirit And there t Is 18 even enn less les doubt about his poetic genius although Emerson In a n conversation with Howell called colle him the Jingle man DI n Mrs Browning Drowning told of ot people who were haunted by b the Nov Nev Never er mo ro of or Poes Raven nil yen and ant ono one of or her acquaintances who has the misfortune tune tuno of oC possessing a n bust of ot Pallas cnn can cannot on not bear to look at ot It in the twilight Thomas Bailey alle ldrich said that his Imperishable fame C me Is In all nil lands Swin burne burno declared over a n quarter of or a neeD cen century century tury tur ago that Time the eternal enemy of oC small and shallow reputations will prove the constant and trusty friend and keeper of ot a true poets fume fame Is Iii there another aDother poem so BO popular an another another another other moro more often quoted anti and nm parodied than thuD Tho Raven Bayou for tor which Poe re reo received 10 while the owner of ot the MSS rss some years ago ngo D O demanded for tOr It 7 Are Arc there any other poems poem like The Bells The Haunted Palace An Annabel n Lee and ant Lenore poems with such uncanny wizardry of ot word wort music No Xo other poet In the world except per perhaps perhaps haps Imps Gray and Sappho has bas built HO so high enduring a fame famo upon so few tow and brief poems HIM III Theory of Poetry This Is Ls quite In harmony with Poes own theory of or poetry Ho has hag written an nn elaborate essay essny on the tho subject telling how ho he be composed his hb own Raven to Illustrate the theory Tho The fundamental principle Is that a true poem must be short a long Ion poem Is a n contradiction In terms Words were chosen for tor or their musical value not for tor their thuir definite mean lug IuS One Due might describe all of or Poes poetry as sliver silver through jolden n mist mIaL Coleridge and Bloke Blako bad done this before him hut hilt ho ha first did It consciously and supremely well vell Yet his story of ot lion how he be wrote roto Tho The Raven must be lie taken with several grains of at salt till It If It thAt story be true and locH theory admitted poetry is a n mathematical science and aull the poet who determines to write a n perfect poem can only ODI repent repeat The Tho Raven The fact Is 19 that Byron yron and anil Moore tho the Idols of ot literary fashion at nt that time Poo loo In the beginning when rhen nt at the age of ot 18 ho published Tamer Tamerlane lane Inne ned nud his bis somber Imagination with his bis histrionic bent Inherited from his Ills act actor actor or brought this mellifluous quality qualIty quality ity to tho the strange flowering of or mad mall mor morbid morbid morbid bid music Ills IUs genius corresponded almost exactly to that of oC isis his French l translator r Baude Daude laire author of oC the tho Flowers of oC Evil and victim of oC na nil Poe Poc was of or opium That explains ono one of or the tho strange e phenomena of ot literature Poe loe as a n French rench I author Through the marvelous trans translation lotion lation lilt Ion of oC himself n a wiz wizard wizard ard Poe Poo has become as os well ell known as asaD any aD French poet and aDd portraits of oC Poo loo are arc not uncommon In which ho looks weirdly Poe Poo Is I almost the only American author well known in France of the The same lIme morbid and histrionic genius breathe lu In his bin talea fantastic full tull of ot horror Ingenious In wielding n a weird spell The Tho Cask of or Amontillado The Fall I of ot the House of oC Usher The Pit PH and the tho Pendulum Tile Masque of or tho the Red nell Death are examples of oC this The little lad Ind in Grimms Fairy Tales who wonted wanted to learn how to shiver er should have hac read some RODIO of oc these inlets at mid midnights midnights nights silent client hour Tho The finest linest tribute to Poes Poe as 1 I i I T ft j IS t td r 4 1 d i Lr S I 4 S S M 2 X V y I POl e Y P 7 k tho the supreme original writer of or all nil time Is paid him by Conan Doyle Dorle who Not only Is Poe Toe the originator of or tile tho detective detect lye story stor nil alt yarns trace hack back to hU hL Gold Cold Bug DuS just as nil all pseudoscientific title stories have their prototypes In tho tue Voyage orn e to the Moon oon and the Case Caso of or Monsieur If Ie every ever titan who receives a 1 check for tor fora tora a story which owes IW hiD springs to Poe were to pay po tithe lithe to n a monument for tor forthe forthe the master he be would have havo a n pyramid as big bl na as o that of or Cheeps The allusion to the cryptogram In The Gold Golt Bug Du recalls recoils the fact tact that unravel unraveling lag ing III messages was ono one of oC Poes fads toll While In Philadelphia be he dial chal challenged ed his Ills readers to send him any cipher message lie he could not readily solve let the till he be In arty ony language they liked About ciphers were sent in inand Inand inand and he made motle good hit hla iii boost boast by solving every cery one ODe The Poe Poo Cult CoH salary during durin his editorial labors on the Southern Literary Messenger where he first t won a n prize of ot for tor n a astory story on Magazine whose circulation be he raised from to lOJ lOJon on the tile Mirror of oC N K P v Willis In which The Raven nalen appeared was probably ably alii never ncr more than 10 a n week Today the slightest scrap of oC his handwriting commands n a higher price Lila Ills letters lotters have a 11 market value twice that of oC Shelly five times that of oC Byrons a 0 hundred times that of ot Tho The original manuscript of ot The 1110 Bolls Boils bought for tor ZiG some Sonic years ago would I prObably bring ten teu times that price to day lIlY A single copy cop of oC Poe book Tamerlane printed In has been bren sold sol at nt auction for tor It looks look BH as asif If Ir the till admirers of ot Poo Poe go as far tar farns faras ns nil lid did Lafayette to express his hl veneration for tor Poes revolutionary grandfather and nd kits kisi the sod lad upon his hla grave ne During Durin this week of DC memorial I ad addresses f dresses dressea dr s l monument special 8 numbers and even een a n Poe Poc drama it la Is 1 worth while to reread William Winters V VV noble poetic tribute penned almost Z V V years ago oso V I ICoM CoM Cold Is the ten ron honor bmw nO V V And 00 chill Is la clew Icy ky in breath I And tod Del pale pelle le Uia tho th garland Memory Mensy brim brici To trace grace the Iron oJ ct o Death holDI Ulu m 1011 rd ead load looi I IThe The romp pomp of cC o that list tho thu pill pall j V Th Tb plAudit o of the tho crowd cod codOno V VV V Ono ODO Poe word wont cf cr lace IOTO U Is i worth Woh theta them alL U ll V With Jars cf l grief oar our r In Ah let tho the tear u cf ef sorrow start Urt And 00 honor in Ia CUl sad hla hie V TuG TUo neat relt and Clod tender humin a II night at of at ud aed Troa os Ilia lila wild V Till 1111 Mod kind disaster dl ut lUd lail blai hta lor lorAnd Io And 1 1 its chilL many m n a hIs bis fines hoj hIlS Like midnight nit TUt Ilka lito ft inert IWert Till 1111 new DOT 1111 lii genIes OUs nu ft I V VAnd And ADI Dd rations nations at nt hU his feet a aOne One meed cf at long loce Ono ODO On crowning craco hb cure ave cureAll aveAu All Au 11 tike taic 1 Je thou thoa great sad and Injured aha er erTho The Tho lots lore that thit the be goi V Goo Cods m mercy tUN In sleep V V The dun duet that thit t st here hers V VInd And Ind Dd Millie around arcond thu no we r V Oed led for Cor uj us tho the mourners teul tairi V Arid Vod m 1 hii bl bI nigh nUh Pierce the oud d 0 dArt And know W with famo ama dl die dia V lie has tho b nord n tool |
