Edgar Allan Poe died yesterday. Well not yesterday, yesterday, but many yesterdays ago. And while I was scanning my facebook yesterday, I came across this piece of his death:
“Edgar Allan Poe is dead. . . . This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it. The poet was well known, personally or by reputation, in all this country; he had readers in England, and in several of the states of Continental Europe; but he had few or no friends; and the regrets for his death will be suggested principally by the consideration that in him literary art has lost one of its most brilliant but erratic stars.”
—“Death of Edgar A. Poe,” New-York Daily Tribune, October 9, 1849
For those who study Poe’s life or work, this isn’t exactly a surprise, but it I think a reminder that those with great talents still face great hardships in life (and some time they face it because of their talents.) So take a moment and appreciate the work and life of a man. The lonely winter-telling wind of October gives the perfect excuse to curl up with one of his works.
Seriously? He died??? I always enjoyed his work. I will miss him dearly. Always sucks when someone so talented dies so suddenly.
I have Poe’s complete works on the shelf. I think I shall get it down and have a read. My father, rest his soul, could recite “The Raven” in its entirety, and he only had a high school diploma. I cannot, and I’m the one who graduated from UVA and often walked past the drafty room where Poe dormed — you’d think it’d be the other way around!
One of my favorite short story writers and poets. If he could only see what the movies have done to his works.
Poe No…..Nevermore 😦