Girls High School - Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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ln spite of the fact that Baltimore was not the most appreciative place for a literary aspirant, Poe succeeded in having several manuscripts published in the Baltimore Saturday Visitor. Among these was his Ms. Found in a Bottle, which created quite a furore. This secured recognition for a few of his poems and launched him on his literary career. ' Soon after, Poe left Baltimore for Richmond and pleaded with soft- hearted Mrs. Clemm to allow him to take little thirteen-year-old Virginia with him as his wife ffor a close attachment had developed between themj. Mrs. Clemm,'realizing her daughter's love for Poe and his true worth, gave her consent, and the two cousins were married. Poe's love for Virginia was the most sweetly pathetic event of his whole life. He fairly worshipped and adored his little child-wife, shielded her from every harm, and remained absolutely faithful and true to her throughout her whole life. They were poor-desperately poor-were often cold and often hungry, but supremely happy in each other's love. No matter what affairs Poe had with other women, as long as he had his little Virginia, he was perfectly loyal to her-always. The greatest tragedy of his .life occurred when his adored wife burst a blood-vessel and was doomed to waste slowly, hopelessly away. . In the meantime, they had moved to a little cottage in Fordham, and Mrs. Clemm was called to nurse her ill-fated daughter. Supersensitive, heartbroken Poe attempted to drown his grief in carousing and was unable to write a line. Consequently, they had no money and when Virginia finally died, in midwinter, torn between hectic fever and dreadtiul chills, there was no cover on her bed, which was only straw, but a snow-white counterpane. She died, wrapped in her devoted husband's greatcoat with a large tortoise-shell cat at her bosom. These were the poor little sufTerer's only means of warmth. Poe fell seriously ill after this tragedy, and his life was believed to be endangered. He had no money and his devoted mother-in-law and good angel, Mrs. Clemm, carried his manuscripts from publisher to publisher, in a futile efforttto raise a little money. During his illness, he wrote the sweetest and simplest of his poems in which he mourns the loss of his adored little wife so touchingly- For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee, And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee, And so, all the night-tide, 1 lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea- ln her tomb by the sounding sea. Poe was never the same after this, he lost all light-heartedness, and was 15 ,

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1. love, too, was denied him, for Mrs. Standard died soon afterward and the tale, with all its typically Poesque atmosphere, that Poe haunted her grave by night, soon originated. This, however, has been practically disproven. His first really mortal love was for a neighborjs daughter, Sara Elmira Royster. Miss Royster's father, on account of the extreme youth of the lovers, intercepted all the letters which Poe sent from the University of Virginia, where he was matriculating. The affair soon came to an un- happy close. While at the university, Poe's superabundance of pocket-money first led him into serious trouble. lt was there that the Hrst seeds of a passion for strong drink and gambling were sown. Poe drank and gambled heavily the was young and probably affected a rejected lover's recklessnessj, and soon Mr. Allan brought him home from the university without honoring S2,500 of gambling debts. Poe's career at West Point was much the same. A creature of impulse, he was utterly oblivious or indifferent to military law and order. His failure to observe military orders and his neglect of routine duties finally caused him to be dismissed from the school. This incident settled his career, and liter- ature became his ruling passion. Mr. Allan was thoroughly disgusted with his adopted son's misbehavior, and Poe was forced to leave his homie forever. Y fi Poe then went to Baltimore to live with his father's sister, Mrs. Clemm. She was a poor widow, and Poe's writings brought no magnihcent sums into the family coffers. Nevertheless, this thoroughly good 'woman made her nephew welcome, and hers was the first real home he had ever known. Mrs. Clemm's little daughter, Virginia, completed the little family, and it was a pathetically, almost foolishly, happy one, in .spite of its poverty. Edgar Allan Poe was by no means effeminate, but his poetic nature had always drawn him towards women rather than men. His flirtations fso lucklessly begun with Miss Roysterj were continued with a sixteen-year-old Miss Herring, a friend of Virginia Clemm. Poor Poe! Miss.-Herring's father proved quite as unsympathetic as Miss Rcyster's, and the affair reached the usual unhappy termination. Up to this time Poe had published several volumes of verses and his moral conduct ,according to Mrs. Clemmj was beyond reproach. He looked the poet, thoroughly, and many of his companions of a coarser fibre mistook his refinement for effeminacy, for Poe had always fascinated women, who were naturally drawn to him by his quick sympathy and affectionate dis- position. Poe's next affair was with an unknown lady living in the neighborhood. The flirtation began with a series of handkerchief signals, and ended with Poe's cowhiding the young lady's uncle and having himself severely criticized and ridiculed by society and the press. 14

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more worn and moody than ever. Frances Sergeant Osgood, the best friend Virginia and Edgar Allan Poe ever had, has said, At his desk beneath the romantic picture of his loved and lost Lenore, he would sit, hour after hour, patient, assiduous, uncomplaining, tracing, with almost superhuman swiftness, the rare and radiant fancies as they flashed through his wonderful- ever- wakeful brain. Poe has been severely censured by critics who doubt the Platonicism of his friendship with Mrs. Frances Sergeant Osgood, but Poe's poems to her seem but the expression of a love a genius might have for a kindred, sym- pathetic spirit.. A poet's innermost emotions can be but little known! In the summer of 1845, while on a visit to Boston, Poe met the tem- peramental poetess, Sara Helen Whitman. He immediately fell passionately in love with her and, after having known her only a short time, declared his love. Mrs. Whitman was so attracted by Poe's passionate eagerness and impetuosity that she agreed to marry him. The union of two such abnormal natures as Poe and Mrs. Whitman was full of dangers! Fortunately, fate intervened and the wooing ended in disaster. lt is said that Poe never there- after mentioned Sara Helen Whitman's name. As a critic, in the service of f'His Majesty, the Press, Poe could never have been a very great success. His criticisms were always harsh, and he incurred great disfavor by severely censuring Longfellow and charging him with flagrant plagiarism. As a poet and author, Poe is second to none in America. American literature secured little or no recognition in Europe until Poe, with his startling originality, called its attention to the new world's literary offerings. In France and Russia, especially, is Poe considered America's greatest genius. The Fall of The House of Usher and Ligeia are his best prose work, as The Raven and Ulalume are his best poems. All of his works, both poetry and prose, are characterized by an extravagance and intensity which are bound to stir even the least impressionable to a vivid realization of the beauty as well as the gall in which his pages are steeped. There is no writer fwith the possible exception of Maxime Gorkyj who can even pretend to equal Poe in tales of horror and crime. His wonderful style, his intensity, his supersensitiveness and miraculous powers of expres- sion raise him to an unapproachable height as an interpreter of human emotions. lt is impossible to read Poe with the amused disinterestedness of a spectator at a, play. Foe drags you into the scene of action and compels you, yourself, to feel and live the horror and agony he depicts. Poe writes of emotions, passions--not of people! He writes of sensations -not of actions! Never can he be equaled in his own field! He is a genius apart-daringly original-startlingly unusual! The life of Edgar Allan Poe is, in itself, a tragedy. Besieged by dis- appointment, suffering, anguish-thwarted on every hand, by misfortune 16