Feature
THE PROFILE: Edgar Allan Poe
Becky Bartlett looks at the life - and mysterious death - of Poe
He’s been described as a drunkard, a gambler, a sado-masochist, dipsomaniac, manic depressive and an evil man; conspiracy theorists posited he may have not only been a murderer but had the audacity to then turn his wicked deed into a story, while his death remains a mystery to this day. Edgar Allan Poe’s life - and death - is as interesting and full of intrigue as his stories.
Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was taken in, but never adopted, by John Allan after the death of both his parents at a young age. His early life was a difficult one; he attended the fledgling University of Virginia before dropping out, blaming his wealthy adoptive father’s lack of monetary help as the cause. He enlisted in the army but was eventually granted early discharge, and began writing under a pseudonym following the death of his brother in 1831. Poe is acknowledged as being the first American to chase a career solely based on writing - not a mean feat at a time when pirating British literature was preferable to funding American works.
Hampered by alcoholism, his early foray into the publishing world was short-lived. He was fired from his role as assistant editor of the periodical Southern Literary Messenger, despite others acknowledging his talents. Never one to shy away from controversy, he married his cousin Virginia in 1835; despite the wedding certificate claiming her to be twenty-one, she was in fact no older than fourteen at the time. It seems he did love her though, as they remained happily married until her death in 1847. Once influenced by the death of his brother, the ailment of his wife had a profound effect on Poe, who witnessed her break a blood vessel in her throat while singing by the piano at home. Between this event and her eventual death by tuberculosis some years later, Poe was inspired to write one of his most famous works, The Raven.
It wasn’t until the publication of this poem that Poe gained fame and recognition, which perhaps made up somewhat for being paid the less than princely sum of $9. Following the death of his beloved wife, he attempted some fruitless courtships with other women, including the poet Sarah Helen Whitman. A thread runs through his writings, of beautiful women meeting their untimely deaths, which is attributed to Poe’s loss of so many women - his mother, his childhood sweetheart (twice), his wife - in his life.
His life was interesting, undoubtedly, but his death - aptly for this issue - was even more so. In 1849 he was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, delirious and clad in someone else’s clothes. Dying in hospital a few days later, he was incoherent and unable to explain his situation, apparently merely crying “Reynolds” several times. Who Reynolds was remains a mystery. Legend has it Poe’s final words were “Lord, help my poor soul”, and all the medical records surrounding his final days have been lost. At the time, his death was recorded as a result of cerebral inflammation, a polite way of saying alcoholism, but others have claimed heart disease, syphilis, meningitis, cholera and even rabies as the explanation.
Since his death, Poe’s writings have become embedded in social consciousness. His works are literary classics, while he is attributed to effectively creating the detective story and modern horror tale. He is considered an icon of gothic romance and horror, with threads of distinct sadism infiltrating his numerous short stories and poems. Oddly, despite his tales becoming desirable inspirations for cinema, his life has yet to be adequately explored in film. There have been some biopics of his life, from as early as 1909, but these have not made any lasting impression.
His short stories and poems have been realised on screen on many occasions. Most famous are Roger Corman’s eight Poe adaptations in the 1960s. Of the eight, including The House of Usher, The Tomb of Ligeia and The Pit and The Pendulum, seven feature Vincent Price, and are considered classic films in their own right. Prior to these, Universal Studios saw fit to unite two horror legends in films “suggested” by the writings of Poe in the 1930s. In The Black Cat and The Raven Bela Lugosi, fresh from the success of Dracula, and Boris Karloff, riding the aftermath of Frankenstein, get a chance to not only out-act each other, but to switch their classic roles of Karloff-good, Lugosi-bad. Neither film owes much to Poe’s actual works, but both in their way achieve a sense of the tone of Poe’s original stories.
More recently, Dario Argento and George A Romero teamed up to create Two Evil Eyes, a double-feature of two Poe stories, and most surprisingly for the last ten years Sylvester Stallone has tried to get his dream project, a Poe biopic, off the ground. With Robert Downey Jr connected to the film several years ago, now it seems Viggo Mortensen has stepped in to fill the role of Poe, though Stallone’s vision appears to be stuck in film industry limbo.
For a man so well-respected today, for one who has influenced everything from films, to music (Lou Reed’s concept album The Raven is entirely based on Poe’s literary works), to, unexpectedly, the world of wrestling (Scott Levy’s character Raven quotes his inspiration on a regular basis), in life Edgar Allan Poe was a troubled soul, living and dying in poverty. In death he was vilified by an editor, critic and nemesis named Griswold, so that even then his memories were tainted. Yet it merely helped to increase his popularity, with people fuelled by the controversy of his existence. To quote his most famous poem, which seems to encapsulate his life and death:
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light 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 - nevermore!
Becky Bartlett