HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDGAR

Submitted by ub on

“Happy Birthday Edgar" Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 6:30 PM
In an ongoing tradition, The Bronx will celebrate Edgar Allan Poe’s 205th birthday with an illustrated presentation and a short reading of one of his works written at his last home, Poe Cottage. Poe was actually born on January 19, 1809.

Although Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts. his final resting place was in The Bronx. By the time he was three years old, both of Poe's parents had died, leaving him in the care of his godfather, John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. After attending school in England, Poe entered the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1826. After fighting with Allan over his heavy gambling debts, he was forced to leave UVA after only eight months. Poe then served two years in the U.S. Army and won an appointment to West Point. After another falling-out, Allan cut him off completely and he got himself dismissed from the academy for rules infractions.

Dark, handsome and brooding, Poe had published three works of poetry by that time, none of which had received much attention. In 1836, while working as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He also completed his first full-length work of fiction, Arthur Gordon Pym, published in 1838. Poe lost his job at the Messenger due to his heavy drinking, and the couple moved to Philadelphia, where Poe worked as an editor at Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine. He became known for his direct and incisive criticism, as well as for dark horror stories like "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Also around this time, Poe began writing mystery stories, including "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter"--works that would earn him a reputation as the father of the modern detective story.

In 1844, the Poe family moved to New York City. He scored a spectacular success the following year with his poem "The Raven." While Poe was working to launch The Broadway Journal--which soon failed--his wife Virginia fell ill and died of tuberculosis in early 1847. His wife's death drove Poe even deeper into alcoholism and drug abuse. After becoming involved with several women, Poe returned to Richmond in 1849 and got engaged to an old flame. Before the wedding, however, Poe died suddenly. Though circumstances are somewhat unclear, it appeared he began drinking at a party in Baltimore and disappeared, only to be found incoherent in a gutter three days later. Taken to the hospital, he died on October 7, 1849, at age 40.

The Cottage was built in 1812 and was typical of the working-class houses that filled the old village of Fordham. It has only five rooms: a kitchen, parlor, and bedchamber on the main floor, and two tiny rooms in the attic.

In 1844, Poe moved in with his wife, Virginia, accompanied by Virginia’s mother, Maria Clemm. Poe hoped that the quiet Cottage, surrounded by fields and orchards and far from the noisy and polluted city, would help Virginia recover from tuberculosis. Poe wrote some of his most famous works in the Cottage, including “Annabel Lee,” “Eureka” and “The Bells.”

Virginia died in the cottage in 1847. Poe died two years later, during a trip to Baltimore. Soon after, Mrs. Clemm sold her household possessions and moved away.

Poe’s genius was widely recognized during his life and after his death his last home became something of a literary landmark. In 1913, the house was saved from demolition by the New York Shakespeare Society, which raised funds to move it across the street to a public park to be preserved in perpetuity.

Today, the tiny rooms have been restored with furnishings appropriate to Poe’s residency in the 1840s, including a desk, rope bed, and wicker rocking chair thought to have belonged to the family.

Edgar Allan Poe Cottage is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, operated by The Bronx County Historical Society, and is a member of the Historic House Trust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_qFVpF2mz4