North View High School - Southside Echoes Yearbook (North View, VA)

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44 SOUTH SIDE ECHOES the truth is that he was dismissed on account of his irregular habits. He was again turned out into the world. He went to New York, where he published his story, “Arthur Gordon Pym.” Although a sea tale, it was never very popular. Griswold has given us an interesting description of Poe’s life in one of his biographies, he says : “His manner, except during his fits of intoxication, was very quiet, gentle and manly; he was usually dressed with simplicity and elegance, and when once he sent for me to visit him, during a period of illness caused by protracted and anxious watching at the side of his sick wife, I was impressed by the singular neatness and the air of refinement in his home. It was a small house, in one of the pleasant and silent neighborhoods, far from the centre of the town, and though slightly and cheaply furnished, everything in it was so tastefully and so fitly disposed that it seemed altogether suitable for a man of genius. His career had by this time begun to descend. He con- tinued to write his wierd stories, and it was during the time he was contributing to the “Evening Mirror” that his greatest poem, “The Raven,” appeared. It was received all over the world as never before had an American poem been received. The following passages will show the wierd and fantastic nature of his poems : “The Raven” is especially noted for its wierd- ness. “The Raven” is supposed to be the demon “Drink,” which haunted him and finally accomplished his ruin. “Once upon a midnight dreary, While I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore — While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping, at my chamber door ‘ ’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door — Only this and nothing more.’ ” Resignation and despair is complete in the concluding paragraph :

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SOUTH SIDE ECHOES 43 volume of poems. As was to be expected, his book gave but little attractions, and he was soon reduced to financial straits. He enlisted under an assumed name in the United States Army. He served at Fort Moultrie and Fortress Monroe. He rose to rank of sergeant major. He was exemplary in his deport- ment, prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duties. In 1829, Mr. Allan’s heart was softened towards his adopted son. by the death of his wife. Through his influence Poe succeeded in securing his discharge from the army and obtained a place in West Point. Here he was reserved, exclu- sive, discontented and censorious, and would often ignore the daily routine of roll calls and guard duties, which often caused him to be arrested and punished. At the end of six months he was summoned before a court-martial, tried and expelled. After having been expelled, he went to Richmond. Mr. Allan had refused to recognize him, since he had shown so little appreciation. Accordingly, Poe was thrown entirely upon his own resources. He finally settled in Baltimore, where he had a few friends, and began his literary career. In 1833. “The Baltimore Saturday Visitor” offered a prize of one hundred dollars for the best prose story. Poe won the prize by his tale “A M. S. Found in a Bottle.” This prize may be regarded as the first step in his career. The ability shown in that story caused John Kennedy to befriend him in his dis- tress and help him with his work. After a few years of hack work in Baltimore, he moved to Richmond again in 1835, and obtained employment on the “Southern Literary Messenger.” In a short time he was pro- moted to editorship of the paper, and by his tales, poems and reviews he made the paper, very popular. The South sang his praises and regarded him as the fore- most writer of the day. The bright future that was before him, he ruthlessly abused. It was said of him that he resigned the editorship for a more lucrative offer in New York, but

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SOUTHSIDE ECHOES 45 “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the palid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamplight o ' er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor, And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted never more.” In his stories he conjures up unearthly landscapes as a sett- ing for his gloomy and morbid fancies, as, for example, in “The City in the Sea” : “There shrines and palaces and towers (Time-eaten towers that tremble not!) Resemble nothing that is ours. Around, by lifting winds forgot, Resignedly beneath the sky, The melancholy waters lie.” During his stay in New York he was often present at the literary gatherings of the city. His gentle and amiable wife, whom he had married in her fourteenth year in Richmond. She was his cousin, Virginia Clemm. Poverty now pressed upon them very heavily, for in the course of a few years he became an object of charity. His invalid wife soon passed away. The weather was extremely cold, and she died with her husband holding her hands and her mother her feet, and a large tortoise-shell cat in her bosom, and her husband’s great- coat around her to keep out the cold. She died January 30, 1847. After this event Poe was never the same man again. He took to drinking, and the terrible work was soon done. On one of his visits from Richmond to Baltimore, he died from the effects of drinking, October 7, 1849. Thus ended the life of a man who was gifted, self-willed, proud and passionate. In his maddening poem, “The Con- queror Worm,” he gives an unequalled picture of pessimism.