As a retired professor of English who loved teaching Poe in my American Literature classes, I can relate to this excellent essay. When my wife and I were visiting Guanajuato, Mexico a couple or so decades ago, we found the famous Museum of the Mummies morbidly fascinating. I thought to myself: "How Poe would have loved this museum!" Scholars are still debating the cause of Poe's death; e.g., in the current issue of _Skeptical Inquirer_, Joe Nickell dismisses all the other theories (rabies is the latest) and tries to make a case for Parkinson's.
Honestly, this characterization of Poe just makes me wish I had a time machine that allowed me to meet the guy. He is one of the few writers - in poems like Annabel Lee in particular - capable of making the English language sound as lyrical as French or Italian.
I only know Griswold because of the hatchet job he did on Poe's life and reputation. Fortunately, he has had many more objectively minded biographers since then.
As a retired professor of English who loved teaching Poe in my American Literature classes, I can relate to this excellent essay. When my wife and I were visiting Guanajuato, Mexico a couple or so decades ago, we found the famous Museum of the Mummies morbidly fascinating. I thought to myself: "How Poe would have loved this museum!" Scholars are still debating the cause of Poe's death; e.g., in the current issue of _Skeptical Inquirer_, Joe Nickell dismisses all the other theories (rabies is the latest) and tries to make a case for Parkinson's.
Honestly, this characterization of Poe just makes me wish I had a time machine that allowed me to meet the guy. He is one of the few writers - in poems like Annabel Lee in particular - capable of making the English language sound as lyrical as French or Italian.
I only know Griswold because of the hatchet job he did on Poe's life and reputation. Fortunately, he has had many more objectively minded biographers since then.