Monday, November 2, 2009

After Halloween...

Edgar Allan Poe
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THERE ARE MANY THEORIES AS TO THE CAUSE OF POE'S DEATH on October 7, 1849. Some say it was alcohol poisoning, some other illness or heart disease. Found near death in a public house on Oct. 3, he was taken to Washington College Hospital, in Baltimore, where he was kept a virtual prisoner and allowed no visitors. His last words, after days of delirium, were "Lord, help my poor soul".
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His funeral, the next day, was a three minute ceremony on a damply chilly day. The minister declined to give a sermon, because hardly anyone attended. He had no headstone, because it was accidentally destroyed in a train accident. But in 1875, he was exhumed and reburied, and the gravesight was given a monument. Several leading poets were invited, but only Walt Whitman attended.
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The words of Poe never disappeared. Nevermore...160 years after his death, Edgar Allan Poe has finally been given a proper funeral. There was a re-enactment, a "viewing", of his body in a casket. A wry touch that Poe himself might have smiled at. There was a funeral procession with bagpipes, a memorial service with eulogies thought up to cover the buried years. More than 700 mourners and admirers attended and listened to the words delivered by actors, about the great "master of the macabre". And maybe floating and hovering in an ethereal dimension, Poe's ghost...and an admirer by the name of Whitman.
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15 comments:

A Cuban In London said...

I fell in love with Poe's writing when I was still not supposed to, I was a child. But I read his short stories avidly and by the time I got to uni I was able to read them in the original English. Not surprisingly, his 'Selected Tales' was one of the books I took to Spain with me during the summer gone. I had a pleasant re-read. it was almost like meeting an old friend again.

Many thanks for your beautiful post. And coming straight after Halloween, it was very timely, too :-).

Greetings from London.

Tess Kincaid said...

I read about this recent memorial. Fascinating. I'm sure he was pleased.

Lyn said...

Greetings to a Cuban-
Imagine that you brought Poe along with you to Spain! He was one of a kind..how great to be able to read him in more than English! Thank you...

Lyn said...

Hi Willow-
Pleased indeed..and how theatrical he looks..There was a park not far from where I grew up, called Poe Park..must look that up.

Lyn said...

Poe Park-
Poe Cottage in the Bronx was the last home of Poe. I will write more about this soon. This was a park I frequented in the summertime when I was a kid, concerts and dances were held in the evening.

alaine@éclectique said...

What a sad story and the minister refusing to do a sermon! Yes please, more on Poe!

Lyn said...

Hi Alaine-
A sad, incredible life..will definitely follow up..

Kat Mortensen said...

Would love to have attended that funeral. Wouldn't that be fantastic! Good old Walt Whitman, eh?

Reminds me of the inauspicious burial of Mozart.

Really enjoyed this well-researched post, Lyn.

Lyn said...

Hi Poe...etikat-
Are you related?
Lots more to follow tomorrow..can't get enough of Poe!
Thank you...

Jeane Myers said...

wow! I had no idea! :)

Linda S. Socha said...

Wonderful post...I loved the work of Poe when I was a middle school child.....and have recently been looking at some of his writing a second
Linda

Lyn said...

Hi Jeane-
Yes, what a life he had..very difficult times..and genius..

Lyn said...

Hi Linda-
I think we all loved Poe when we were kids..good to look at him again..check tomorrow's post for more!

alaine@éclectique said...

This is weird; the photo of Poe's cottage and "More Poe" has been on my sidebar for hours (in favourite blogs) but when I click on it, the "After Halloween" story appears. Your time right now is 2:48AM; perhaps you've set the timer.

Just thought I'd let you know that something spooky is going on!

Lyn said...

Hi Alaine-
Hmmm. Weird, because I have it set to go at 5:30..which is the time right now! Often my blog does funny stuff! Like even disappear..
fingers crossed...

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