Un grande poeta e uno scrittore visionario: in sintesi, Edgar Allan Poe. Il documentario “Edgar Allan Poe, sepolto vivo”, ripercorre la biografia dello scrittore dalla sua infanzia difficile alla gioventù tormentata, fino alla sua morte misteriosa. Attraverso immagini evocative dello scrittore, il documentario aiuta a comprendere la vita dello scrittore, il suo posto nell'arte e nella storia americana e la posizione iconica che occupa nella cultura popolare in tutto il mondo.
#Poe #EdgarAllanPoe #BuriedAlive #Buried #SepoltoVivo #Crime #TrueCrime #Delitti #Misteri #Killer #SerialKiller #ColdCase #Cronaca #CronacaNera #Mistero #Delitto #Documentari #Documentario #Docu #Doc #DivinumCrime
#Poe #EdgarAllanPoe #BuriedAlive #Buried #SepoltoVivo #Crime #TrueCrime #Delitti #Misteri #Killer #SerialKiller #ColdCase #Cronaca #CronacaNera #Mistero #Delitto #Documentari #Documentario #Docu #Doc #DivinumCrime
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00:00:11Thank you all
00:00:32Thank you all
00:01:01No, no thank you
00:01:02I will be on a train to New York
00:01:05I don't need a room
00:01:13And he died
00:01:20And who is it that gets the opportunity
00:01:23To announce to America
00:01:25That Poe has died
00:01:28His sometime friend
00:01:30But also literary rival
00:01:31The Reverend Rufus W. Griswold
00:01:34Who wrote the very first obituary
00:01:37Of Poe
00:01:42Griswold succeeded
00:01:44In establishing
00:01:45The modern perception of Poe
00:01:49Really as
00:01:50The same person
00:01:52As one of the characters in his stories
00:01:55As someone who is mentally deranged
00:01:58As someone who is homicidal
00:02:00A drinking, drug-using
00:02:02Womanizing scoundrel
00:02:06That's an invention of Griswold
00:02:08It's a complete fabrication
00:02:12Who was the real
00:02:14Edgar Allan Poe?
00:02:17I feel like he slips further
00:02:19Away from me
00:02:20The more I know about him
00:02:22The more I know about him
00:02:49To be dead
00:03:08Thank you all.
00:03:22In 1843, a hard-working magazine editor, poet, and writer named Edgar Poe published one of the most popular horror
00:03:31stories ever written.
00:03:36True. Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am.
00:03:42But why will you say that I am mad?
00:03:45The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them.
00:03:53The narrator grabs you right in the first sentence.
00:03:56He said something like, mad? Do you think I am mad?
00:03:58You know, people say I'm mad. I'm not mad.
00:04:00And then he's clearly mad.
00:04:02And yet he's telling you this story that's mad and sane at the same time.
00:04:10The narrator creeps into an old man's room and murders him while he's sleeping.
00:04:18You should have seen how wisely I proceeded, with what caution, with what foresight, with what dissimilation I went to
00:04:24work.
00:04:25I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.
00:04:33It has the barest elements of a shocking murder story, and yet he turns it into something that's universal.
00:04:42Poe's stories were often set in nameless places.
00:04:46Their time left vague.
00:04:50But in the 1840s, his themes resonated in a raw new nation that had yet to wrestle with some basic
00:04:58flaws.
00:05:12Poe writes about violence and cruelty, madness and irrationality, existential doubt and dread.
00:05:22He wanted Americans to understand what was strange about their own culture.
00:05:28He saw that strangeness.
00:05:30The strangeness that most people didn't see.
00:05:40There is so much emotion in those stories that we sometimes misread only for horror or for shock.
00:05:51But really what it is, is a kind of love.
00:05:59Throughout his life, he was searching for unequivocal love.
00:06:33Poe's mother was an actress who lived in Boston when she gave birth to her second son in 1809.
00:06:45Eliza Poe was a star of American theater, especially American musical theater, especially comedy.
00:06:54She also, of course, had a beautiful singing voice.
00:06:57She was called the Nightingale.
00:06:59Some tell me I'm pretty and fair
00:07:02Some call me haughty and shy
00:07:06Some tell me they'd have me be well
00:07:10But nobody died
00:07:11And speaking of my mother
00:07:13You have touched a string to which my heart fully responds
00:07:25It was December 1811
00:07:29And Eliza Poe had been abandoned by her husband
00:07:35She was left with three children, for whom she had the sole care
00:07:39And she was dying from tuberculosis
00:07:46With Edgar, his brother and his sister, about to lose their mother
00:07:52A local newspaper printed an appeal
00:07:57On this night, Mrs. Poe asks for your assistance
00:08:02Perhaps for the last time
00:08:11When Mrs. Poe finally died, she was just 24 years old
00:08:16Edgar was just two
00:08:20Some accounts have him at her deathbed
00:08:23That would be quite a shocking thing
00:08:31I myself never knew her
00:08:34I never knew the affection of a father
00:08:46Oh
00:08:48I have had many occasional dealings with adversity
00:08:52But the want of parental affection has been
00:08:54The heaviest
00:08:58Of my trials
00:09:04No one was ever prouder than I
00:09:06Of my descent from a woman
00:09:07Who gave to the stage
00:09:09Her brief career of genius and beauty
00:09:13They said that when she died
00:09:16The theater
00:09:18Was deprived
00:09:20Of one of its chief ornaments
00:09:29He never really got over her death
00:09:33The sense of his early loss
00:09:35Stayed with Poe constantly
00:09:37I think it appears in many of his works
00:09:41Poe was really haunted by it
00:09:43His whole life long
00:10:01Edgar, his brother and sister
00:10:03Went to separate homes
00:10:05Edgar was taken in
00:10:07By a childless Richmond couple
00:10:10John and Francis Allen
00:10:14Frances was one of the local women
00:10:16Who had helped Eliza Poe
00:10:17Through her final illness
00:10:23Frances Allen had been orphaned herself
00:10:25So she could sympathize with Edgar's plight
00:10:28She must have thought Edgar
00:10:29Was just a perfect little angel
00:10:30She dressed him up in a little velvet suit
00:10:32And cape
00:10:33And he always just worshipped
00:10:35His foster mother, Frances Allen
00:10:37He just thought the world of her
00:10:41But Edgar's relationship
00:10:42With his foster father
00:10:44Would be more complicated
00:10:48John Allen was a merchant
00:10:49So he had that kind of
00:10:52Bootstraps character about him
00:10:54Very no-nonsense
00:10:56Very business-oriented
00:11:01He was also kind of a hard figure
00:11:03His own friends describe him that way
00:11:05That he could be very unforgiving
00:11:10John Allen never let Edgar forget
00:11:13That he was not his real son
00:11:16That he was a foster son
00:11:19And so Poe grows up feeling like
00:11:21He's both in a family
00:11:23But not really in a family
00:11:28It's a very tenuous way to live
00:11:31I think by becoming a poet
00:11:33It was a way of establishing himself
00:11:35It was a way of becoming Poe
00:11:38Because he wasn't really allowed
00:11:39To become an Allen
00:11:51We think of Poe often as a frail character
00:11:57But in fact he was an athlete
00:12:03Running, boxing, swimming
00:12:06Edgar seemed driven
00:12:08To outdo his classmates
00:12:11When he was 15 years old
00:12:13One of his fellow students
00:12:15Bet him he couldn't swim
00:12:16Down the river a couple of miles
00:12:19So Poe took that bet
00:12:20And he ended up swimming six miles
00:12:23Against the tide
00:12:25This was no small feat
00:12:30It was one way that he was able to prove
00:12:33That he was the equal of any of his peers
00:12:38I think it's fair to say
00:12:40That Poe often had a chip on his shoulder
00:12:45Bright, quick-witted, and rebellious
00:12:48Edgar deliberately set himself apart
00:12:52He became a fan
00:12:54Of the popular bad boy poet of the day
00:12:58George Gordon, Lord Byron
00:13:00Was an English poet
00:13:02Who cultivated this image
00:13:04Of the isolated artist
00:13:05At odds with the rest of the world
00:13:09Poe consciously adopted
00:13:11That Byronic pose
00:13:12Even to the point of dressing in black
00:13:14And, you know, looking into the distance
00:13:17At nothing in particular
00:13:18And so on
00:13:21The similarity between Poe and Byron
00:13:23It's quite remarkable
00:13:25They had a similarly
00:13:26Very difficult childhood
00:13:29Abandoned, abused
00:13:32It pervades the way they think about the world
00:13:35And the way they see the world
00:13:37Loss and fear
00:13:39Two great subjects
00:13:40In both of their writings
00:13:48From childhood's hour
00:13:49I have not been as others were
00:13:52I have not seen as others saw
00:13:55I could not bring my passions
00:13:58From a common spring
00:14:00From the same source
00:14:02I have not taken my sorrows
00:14:04I could not wake my heart to joy
00:14:07At the same tone
00:14:09And all I've loved
00:14:13I've loved alone
00:14:27The woman who encouraged him to write poetry
00:14:30She was the mother of his best friend
00:14:36When Mr. Allen was arguing with Poe
00:14:39And telling him not to waste his time
00:14:41Reading this Lord Byron garbage
00:14:42She gave him that encouragement that he needed
00:14:47I think Poe had a little schoolboy crush
00:14:51She must have reminded him of his own biological mother
00:14:54In certain ways
00:14:57She had that same sort of ethereal look about her
00:15:06Unfortunately, mental illness took her
00:15:11We don't know the origins of it
00:15:13And then she died
00:15:18And it affected him profoundly
00:15:23He went to her cemetery at night
00:15:25And kept a visual at her grave
00:15:29I can't imagine that he had a profound love relationship
00:15:33With Jane Stannard
00:15:34But he made it into something
00:15:37Which had emotional, romantic
00:15:39And literary potential
00:15:42That could be exploited
00:15:45Helen, that beauty is to me
00:15:47Like those Nisean barks of yore
00:15:49That gently, or a perfumed sea
00:15:52The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
00:15:55To his own native shore
00:15:59Some years later, Poe said that he wrote the poem to Helen
00:16:02Thinking of her
00:16:03Thy hyacinth hair, like classic face
00:16:08Thy nigh yet heirs
00:16:10And brought me home
00:16:12To the glory that was Greece
00:16:14And the grandeur that was Rome
00:16:23Young Edgar was not alone
00:16:25In his experiences of loss
00:16:28Early 19th-century America
00:16:31Had a mortality rate
00:16:32More than three times that of today
00:16:38You could have someone
00:16:40Who was in apparently good health
00:16:41Carried away very quickly
00:16:43And very tragically
00:16:46You could also have someone
00:16:48Because of TB
00:16:49Slowly dying away
00:16:53And childbirth
00:16:54It was another great cause of mortality
00:17:03Very elaborate cemeteries
00:17:05Were just becoming popular
00:17:07In America at the time
00:17:09This was a great age
00:17:11Of funereal sculpture
00:17:13And mementos
00:17:17While it sometimes seems odd
00:17:19To 21st-century readers
00:17:21That Poe was always writing
00:17:22About death and dying
00:17:23It's not at all unusual
00:17:25If you think about
00:17:26What he was witnessing
00:17:28In the 1820s and 1830s
00:17:30When he was surrounded
00:17:31By this culture of death
00:17:36And so being young
00:17:38And dipped in madness
00:17:39I fell in love with melancholy
00:17:41And used to throw my earthly rest
00:17:44And quiet all the way in jest
00:17:48I could not love
00:17:51Except where death
00:17:52Was mingling his
00:17:54With beauty's breath
00:18:06In 1826
00:18:07John Allen agreed
00:18:08To send 17-year-old Edgar
00:18:11To the brand new
00:18:12University of Virginia
00:18:13It was his first step
00:18:16Toward the creative life
00:18:17He's beginning to imagine
00:18:19For himself
00:18:20He would evince
00:18:21His versatile talents
00:18:23By sketching fantastic
00:18:25And grotesque figures
00:18:26With such artistic skill
00:18:28As to leave us all in doubt
00:18:29Whether in afterlife
00:18:31Poe would be a painter
00:18:32Or poet
00:18:35It's the archetypal college experience
00:18:37He's in a dorm
00:18:38It's kind of a crazy situation
00:18:40Lots of fights going on
00:18:43But he's also allowed to excel
00:18:45In these classes
00:18:46Especially language classes
00:18:50He's also able to now spend
00:18:52Lots of time reading
00:18:54And in fact his father
00:18:55Started complaining
00:18:56You're spending all your time
00:18:57Doing things like reading
00:18:58Don Quixote
00:18:59What are you doing?
00:19:03Unfortunately
00:19:03John Allen
00:19:05Did not pay
00:19:06Poe's fees
00:19:08He made a partial payment
00:19:10Did not provide him
00:19:11With money to buy books
00:19:13And equipment
00:19:13So that he could actually
00:19:15Pursue his studies
00:19:19Poe tries gambling
00:19:20To raise some money
00:19:21But by the end of his first semester
00:19:23He is deep in debt
00:19:26And then he appeals to Allen
00:19:28And Allen says
00:19:28Why the hell should I pay
00:19:29Your gambling debts?
00:19:30You know, I mean
00:19:30Why don't you come back
00:19:31And do some decent work
00:19:32And earn a living?
00:19:38Pounded by creditors
00:19:40Poe is forced to withdraw
00:19:41From the university
00:19:42And return to the Allen mansion
00:19:44In Richmond
00:19:47But his quarrels
00:19:48With his foster father
00:19:50Only get worse
00:19:53Sir
00:19:53My determination
00:19:55Is taken at length
00:19:56To leave your house
00:19:58And endeavor to find
00:19:59Some place
00:20:00In this wide world
00:20:01Where I will be treated
00:20:02Not as you have treated me
00:20:15I took lodging at a tavern
00:20:16Taking with me
00:20:18Only the clothing on my back
00:20:20Barely enough pennies
00:20:21To buy bread
00:20:24He moved to Boston
00:20:26At the age of 18
00:20:28Why would he choose
00:20:29To come to Boston
00:20:30Of all the cities
00:20:31That were possible
00:20:33Maybe he remembers
00:20:34That his mother
00:20:35In the one gift
00:20:36That she left to him
00:20:37A watercolor
00:20:38Of Boston Harbor
00:20:39Had written on the back
00:20:40For my little son Edgar
00:20:43May he ever love Boston
00:20:44The place where his mother
00:20:46Found her best
00:20:47And most sympathetic friends
00:20:50He tries working
00:20:51For a newspaper
00:20:52For a while
00:20:52It doesn't go well
00:20:54He's nearly getting
00:20:55Thrown out by his landlady
00:20:57Because he's out of money
00:20:58He's got creditors
00:21:00After him
00:21:00So Poe joins the army
00:21:03Because he's got to
00:21:05Disappear for a while
00:21:07He actually enlists
00:21:08Under the name of
00:21:09Edgar A. Perry
00:21:11The ironic thing is
00:21:13Poe actually turns out
00:21:15To be a really good soldier
00:21:20While stationed in Boston
00:21:22Poe gathers poems
00:21:24He'd written as a teenager
00:21:26Into a slim collection
00:21:27Of verse
00:21:29It's called
00:21:30Tamerlane and other poems
00:21:31Probably about 50 copies
00:21:33Were self-published
00:21:37He's 18 years old
00:21:38When Tamerlane comes out
00:21:41Although this was
00:21:42Heavily indebted to Byron
00:21:44There's something there
00:21:46That is not yet developed
00:21:47But that over
00:21:49The next decade
00:21:50Certainly
00:21:51Poe is going to shine
00:21:54Into
00:21:56Perfect little gems
00:21:57I was young
00:21:58And he was a poet
00:22:00If deep worship
00:22:02Of all beauty
00:22:02Could make me one
00:22:04I would have given
00:22:05The world
00:22:07To embody
00:22:07Half the ideas
00:22:08Afloat in my imagination
00:22:19While Edgar was in the army
00:22:21His foster mother
00:22:22Frances Allen
00:22:24Died
00:22:25After a lingering illness
00:22:28It's said that
00:22:29When he returned to Richmond
00:22:30A day late for her funeral
00:22:32And saw how close her grave was
00:22:34To that of Jane Stanard's
00:22:36He was just devastated
00:22:37And just wept
00:22:38Right on that spot
00:22:41With his mother
00:22:42Resting in an unmarked grave
00:22:44At St. John's Church
00:22:47These were Poe's three mothers
00:22:48Growing up
00:22:49All gone by the time
00:22:51He was 20
00:22:59Out
00:23:00Out
00:23:01Out are the lights
00:23:03Out all
00:23:04And over each quivering form
00:23:06The curtain
00:23:06A funeral pall
00:23:08Comes down
00:23:09With the rush of a storm
00:23:11While the angels
00:23:13All pale and wan
00:23:15Uprising
00:23:16Unveiling
00:23:17Affirm
00:23:17That the play
00:23:18Is the tragedy man
00:23:21And its hero
00:23:23The Conqueror Worm
00:23:33In the months after
00:23:34Fanny Allen's death
00:23:35Edgar prevails
00:23:37On his foster father
00:23:38One more time
00:23:41He wants John Allen
00:23:43To help him get
00:23:44Into West Point
00:23:45Perhaps thinking
00:23:47A military career
00:23:48Will provide him
00:23:50The luxury
00:23:50To write poetry
00:23:55But there was
00:23:55At a whole level
00:23:56Of discipline
00:23:57Involved at West Point
00:23:58That Poe
00:23:59Was really not prepared for
00:24:00And he started
00:24:01To really resent
00:24:02His instructors
00:24:02Really resent the routine
00:24:05And started writing
00:24:07This really vicious poetry
00:24:08Actually
00:24:08About a lot of his instructors
00:24:11Which is
00:24:11If anything
00:24:12What he became known
00:24:13For at West Point
00:24:16Within a few months
00:24:17Of arriving
00:24:18Poe tries to leave
00:24:19The military academy
00:24:21When he couldn't get
00:24:23An honorable discharge
00:24:24He gets himself
00:24:25Thrown out
00:24:27He just broke
00:24:28All the rules
00:24:28He didn't turn up
00:24:29For drill
00:24:30He didn't turn up
00:24:30For class
00:24:36We're getting to the pattern
00:24:38Of Poe
00:24:39Is putting the wrench
00:24:40Into his own
00:24:41Wheel
00:24:42To make some metaphor
00:24:43You know
00:24:43He's screwing himself up
00:24:44Right away
00:24:48Having burned his bridges
00:24:49With the military
00:24:50And with his foster father
00:24:53Poe starts over
00:24:54Once again
00:24:55At 22
00:24:57The young poet
00:24:58Moves to the one city
00:25:00Where he has blood relatives
00:25:06It was in Baltimore
00:25:08That he began
00:25:09To cobble together
00:25:10A sort of family
00:25:12Made up of
00:25:13Mariah Clem
00:25:14Who was his aunt
00:25:15And Virginia Clem
00:25:17Who was his first cousin
00:25:20Edgar moves
00:25:22Into his aunt
00:25:23Mariah Clem's
00:25:24Small house
00:25:25Seeking roots
00:25:27In a family
00:25:28Of his own
00:25:29He finally found
00:25:30Some sort of stability
00:25:32He found a household
00:25:33That he could live in
00:25:35Edgar sets out
00:25:37To pursue a career
00:25:38In literature
00:25:41Writing was not
00:25:42A paying job
00:25:43In 1830s America
00:25:45But Poe
00:25:47Hadn't given up
00:25:48Hope of an inheritance
00:25:51Then
00:25:51His foster father
00:25:53John Allen
00:25:53Died in 1834
00:25:55And the will
00:25:56Leaves Poe
00:25:58Nothing
00:26:00John Allen
00:26:01Had several
00:26:02Illegitimate children
00:26:04And even the
00:26:05Illegitimate children
00:26:06Were recognized
00:26:07In the will
00:26:08But Poe
00:26:09Got
00:26:10Not a penny
00:26:12That's tough
00:26:18That was the breaking point
00:26:20Between Poe
00:26:22And his memories
00:26:23Of being part
00:26:24Of the Allen family
00:26:27Although we think
00:26:28Of him today
00:26:29As Edgar Allen Poe
00:26:31In his lifetime
00:26:32Poe
00:26:33Almost never used
00:26:34The middle name
00:26:35It was always
00:26:36Edgar Poe
00:26:36Or Edgar A. Poe
00:26:44In space
00:26:45Of a few years
00:26:45Poe has gone
00:26:46From being
00:26:46The scion
00:26:47Of a wealthy
00:26:48Virginia family
00:26:49To be
00:26:51In a hovel
00:26:52And having
00:26:53No apparent future
00:26:54In front of him
00:26:57Dear sir
00:26:58Your kind invitation
00:27:00To dinner today
00:27:01Has wounded me
00:27:02To the quick
00:27:03I cannot come
00:27:05And for reasons
00:27:06Of the most
00:27:07Humiliating nature
00:27:08In my personal
00:27:09Appearance
00:27:11He has this
00:27:12Terrible ability
00:27:13To write a begging
00:27:14Threatening letter
00:27:14Where the begging
00:27:15Doesn't work
00:27:16And the threatening
00:27:16Doesn't work
00:27:18If you will be
00:27:19My friend
00:27:20So far as to loan
00:27:21Me twenty dollars
00:27:22I will call
00:27:23On you tomorrow
00:27:23Otherwise
00:27:24It will be impossible
00:27:26And I must submit
00:27:28To my fate
00:27:46In the early 1830s
00:27:48America entered
00:27:49A new age
00:27:50Of mass media
00:27:52Growing cities
00:27:53And rising literacy rates
00:27:55Created a vast
00:27:57New market
00:27:58Of readers
00:28:00There's a huge
00:28:01Literary movement
00:28:01Going on
00:28:02The golden age
00:28:03Of periodicals
00:28:04You have journals
00:28:06And magazines
00:28:06Cropping up
00:28:07All over the place
00:28:09Sort of like
00:28:10The blogosphere
00:28:11It is now
00:28:12Right
00:28:14Though still
00:28:15A poet at heart
00:28:16Edgar realizes
00:28:18The public reading
00:28:19Wants a different
00:28:20Kind of writing
00:28:21The short story
00:28:22At age 24
00:28:24He wins
00:28:26A local fiction contest
00:28:27With a strange tale
00:28:29Of disaster at sea
00:28:31Along with the
00:28:33Fifty dollar prize
00:28:34Come enthusiastic
00:28:35Reviews
00:28:36And a job offer
00:28:47Poe leaves
00:28:48His new found family
00:28:49Mariah and
00:28:50Young cousin Virginia
00:28:52And moves back
00:28:53To Richmond
00:28:54The city
00:28:55Where he'd been
00:28:56Disowned
00:28:58He will be
00:28:59The editor
00:29:00Of the southern
00:29:01Literary messenger
00:29:02A struggling
00:29:03New publication
00:29:04Devoted to elevating
00:29:06The literature
00:29:07Of the south
00:29:10Thomas W. White
00:29:11The owner
00:29:12And publisher
00:29:13Was someone
00:29:15Who frankly
00:29:15Understood his limits
00:29:17In the magazine world
00:29:18And turned a lot
00:29:19Of work over to Poe
00:29:26He'd been thinking
00:29:27Of himself
00:29:28As a writer
00:29:28Ever since he was
00:29:29A child
00:29:31But now he's
00:29:32Also thinking
00:29:33About himself
00:29:34As a professional
00:29:35Who works
00:29:36With words
00:29:39This is the first
00:29:40Chance that he has
00:29:41To get his foot
00:29:42In the door
00:29:43As an editor
00:29:43As a magazine
00:29:45As an American
00:29:46Tastemaker
00:29:49Poe's many
00:29:50Responsibilities
00:29:51Will include
00:29:52Writing book reviews
00:29:53And he vows
00:29:55To be serious
00:29:56Literary critic
00:29:59He believed
00:30:00It was time
00:30:01His young nation
00:30:02Produced work
00:30:03Every bit
00:30:04As sophisticated
00:30:04As British literature
00:30:08A lot of American critics
00:30:10In the early 19th century
00:30:12Have the idea
00:30:13That in order
00:30:14To invent
00:30:15An American literature
00:30:15We can't afford
00:30:17To denigrate
00:30:17Any American writer
00:30:18They called it puffing
00:30:20You know
00:30:20That is just
00:30:21To sort of
00:30:21Mindlessly
00:30:22Praise anything
00:30:24That had been written
00:30:24By an American
00:30:25Poe's way
00:30:26Of elevating
00:30:27American literature
00:30:28Was by
00:30:29Not cutting writers
00:30:30Any slack
00:30:31We see no reason
00:30:33Why Colonel Crockett
00:30:34Shouldn't be permitted
00:30:35To expose himself
00:30:36If he pleases
00:30:37And to be
00:30:39As much laughed at
00:30:41As he thinks proper
00:30:42Poe earned the reputation
00:30:44And the nickname
00:30:45The Tomahawk Man
00:30:46He was antagonistic
00:30:49He was hypercritical
00:30:50Work is especially
00:30:52Sensorable
00:30:52For the frequent
00:30:53Vulgarity of his language
00:30:55But
00:30:55The criticisms
00:30:56That he made
00:30:57Were well deserved
00:30:59He was being
00:31:00A responsible
00:31:00Reviewer
00:31:01And most of the
00:31:02People he reviewed
00:31:02Are deservedly
00:31:03Forgotten today
00:31:05It is a mere
00:31:06Jumble
00:31:06Of absurdities
00:31:08I think he did that
00:31:10Because he found
00:31:11Oh
00:31:11That sets me apart
00:31:12And people loved it
00:31:13You know
00:31:13People always love dirt
00:31:14I cannot bring myself
00:31:16To feel any
00:31:17Goatings of conscience
00:31:18For undue severity
00:31:20I intend to put up
00:31:21With nothing
00:31:22That I can put down
00:31:26Poe was writing
00:31:27A kind of
00:31:28Literary criticism
00:31:28That didn't exist
00:31:29In America
00:31:30At the time
00:31:31He would do
00:31:32A line by line
00:31:34Word by word
00:31:36Dissection
00:31:37Of the text
00:31:43In addition to that
00:31:45This is where
00:31:45He really starts
00:31:46To write stories
00:31:47That we would recognize
00:31:49As Poe's stories
00:31:54Though committed
00:31:55To elevate American
00:31:57Literature
00:31:57Poe believes
00:31:59He can also
00:31:59Feed the popular
00:32:01Appetite for
00:32:02Entertainment
00:32:31And Berenice
00:33:01In too palpable reality
00:33:02Pulled out some instruments
00:33:03Of dental surgery
00:33:05Intermingled with many
00:33:06White and glistening
00:33:07Substances
00:33:08That were scattered
00:33:09To and fro
00:33:10About the floor
00:33:15Poe was writing
00:33:16In a well-known genre
00:33:18That had been popular
00:33:19For over 70 years
00:33:21The Gothic Tale
00:33:26It's dark and it's spooky
00:33:28And it involves
00:33:29Castles
00:33:29And it involves
00:33:31Secrets
00:33:33But the form really
00:33:34By the time
00:33:35That Poe becomes
00:33:36Acquainted with it
00:33:37Has utterly
00:33:38Gone to seed
00:33:39I mean it's just
00:33:39It is actually
00:33:41Pretty trashy
00:33:42And that is
00:33:42What Poe
00:33:44Is both drawn to
00:33:45And appalled by
00:33:46About it
00:33:48He knew that if he
00:33:49Could make these stories
00:33:51Thicker in terms
00:33:52Of psychological
00:33:53Complications
00:33:54He could perhaps
00:33:57Reach multiple audiences
00:34:00That dark romantic
00:34:02Vision combined
00:34:04With the repressed
00:34:05Sexuality
00:34:06The claustrophobia
00:34:08The fear
00:34:10That we all have
00:34:11All of these things
00:34:12Together
00:34:13Poe's work
00:34:14It's very complex
00:34:17Readers could enjoy them
00:34:18Just as spooky stories
00:34:19Readers could enjoy them
00:34:20As parodies of spooky stories
00:34:22And then readers
00:34:23Could enjoy them
00:34:24As essentially poetic essays
00:34:26About the spookiness
00:34:27Of stories
00:34:34But Thomas White
00:34:36His editor
00:34:36He was a careful businessman
00:34:38In the business
00:34:39Of publishing a magazine
00:34:40So a story like
00:34:43Berenice
00:34:43That's the sort of thing
00:34:45That would make
00:34:45Thomas White nervous
00:34:48Mr. Poe
00:34:49I have enormous faith
00:34:51In your literary taste
00:34:52And your attainments
00:34:53Which I trust
00:34:54Has been well rewarded
00:34:55In the circulation numbers
00:34:56But I have received
00:34:58Complaints
00:34:59About your tale
00:35:00Berenice
00:35:02Thomas White felt
00:35:03That Berenice
00:35:04Was vulgar
00:35:05It was much too
00:35:08Sensationalistic
00:35:09Poe felt
00:35:09He needed to defend this
00:35:11Because Berenice
00:35:12Represented exactly
00:35:14The kind of story
00:35:15He wanted to write
00:35:16The tale may be in bad taste
00:35:17But the history of all magazines
00:35:20Plainly shows that
00:35:21Any that have attained
00:35:22Celebrity
00:35:23Were indebted to articles
00:35:25In nature
00:35:25Similar to Berenice
00:35:26From the ludicrous
00:35:28From the ludicrous
00:35:28Heightened into the grotesque
00:35:29The witty
00:35:31Exaggerated into the burlesque
00:35:33In the singular
00:35:33Wrought out into the strange
00:35:35And mystical
00:35:36You may say
00:35:37That this is in bad taste
00:35:40But whether the article
00:35:41Is or is not
00:35:42In bad taste
00:35:43It's little to the point
00:35:45To be appreciated
00:35:47Mr. White
00:35:49You must be read
00:35:54From the start
00:35:55Of his career
00:35:56We have in Poe
00:35:58Two kinds of writers
00:35:59We have the producer
00:36:02Of popular work
00:36:04That he knows
00:36:05Is going to sell
00:36:07And yet
00:36:08We have this other writer
00:36:09Who has literary aspirations
00:36:12He wants to be taken seriously
00:36:23This should be a stable time
00:36:25In his life
00:36:26But he's also miserable
00:36:29And he's miserable
00:36:30Because he's away
00:36:31From Maria Clem
00:36:32And he's away
00:36:33From his cousin Virginia
00:36:39While in Richmond
00:36:40Poe learns
00:36:41That a wealthy cousin
00:36:42In Baltimore
00:36:43Has offered to
00:36:44To take Virginia in
00:36:45And pay for her schooling
00:36:47This would have taken
00:36:49Virginia away
00:36:50From Eddie
00:36:52And he panicked
00:37:00I was blinded with tears
00:37:03I had no wish
00:37:05To live
00:37:07Another hour
00:37:14My dearest auntie
00:37:16THE
00:37:19Love
00:37:23Virginia
00:37:27Passionately
00:37:29Devotedly
00:37:36I cannot express in words
00:37:39The fervent devotion
00:37:41I feel toward
00:37:43My dear little cousin
00:37:54Part of it for Poe
00:37:56Was that
00:37:56He had finally found a family
00:37:57And he wanted to stay in it
00:37:59For good
00:38:02Virginia
00:38:07My love
00:38:12Think well
00:38:15Before you break
00:38:16The heart of your cousin
00:38:26His desperate letters
00:38:28Convinced Mariah and Virginia
00:38:30To come to Richmond
00:38:31To live with him
00:38:33There as a family
00:38:41She's 13 years old
00:38:42He's 27
00:38:44It's a bit of a mismatch
00:38:46But it's not one
00:38:48That was unknown
00:38:48For that time
00:38:52In order to be married
00:38:54They had to lie
00:38:54About her age
00:38:56So it was
00:38:57Obviously
00:38:58Something that
00:38:59Was disapproved of
00:39:01At the time
00:39:03I think he loved her
00:39:04I really do think
00:39:05He loved her
00:39:05But not
00:39:06In a sexual way
00:39:08Not in a
00:39:09Grown up way
00:39:12I think
00:39:13Eddie
00:39:13Looked at her
00:39:14As
00:39:15A little sis
00:39:17I mean
00:39:17That's what he called her
00:39:18My old
00:39:19Sweetest
00:39:20Sissy
00:39:22People around town
00:39:23Describe Virginia
00:39:24As being very cheerful
00:39:25And loving
00:39:26Very childlike
00:39:27Even when she was
00:39:28Starting to get
00:39:28A little bit older
00:39:29She would rush out
00:39:30Into the street
00:39:30And embrace him
00:39:31When he got home
00:39:32From work
00:39:34And they said
00:39:34They were a fairly
00:39:36Happy family
00:39:39No matter how
00:39:40Poor Poe was
00:39:41He made sure
00:39:42His wife had
00:39:42Tutors
00:39:44And music instructors
00:39:47And he loved
00:39:48To hear her sing
00:39:49And play the piano
00:39:50And he would
00:39:50To play the flute
00:39:51Along with her
00:39:52And the mother-in-law
00:39:53She would sing along
00:39:56They'd have little
00:39:57Concerts together
00:39:58At night
00:39:58While he's writing
00:39:59Stories about
00:40:00Burying your wife
00:40:01In the basement
00:40:02Or pulling out her teeth
00:40:06So it was a
00:40:07Reasonably normal
00:40:09Happy home life
00:40:19Dear Mr. Kennedy
00:40:20I know you will be
00:40:22Pleased to hear this
00:40:23My health is
00:40:25Better than for years
00:40:26Past
00:40:26My pecuniary
00:40:28Difficulties have
00:40:29Vanished
00:40:30In a word
00:40:31All is
00:40:33Right
00:40:44You might think
00:40:45Last he's arrived
00:40:46This is the work
00:40:47That he was meant
00:40:47To do
00:40:48It's the source
00:40:48Of steady income
00:40:50Yet he only
00:40:51Holds a job
00:40:52For 15 months
00:40:56He said he left
00:40:58Because he quarreled
00:40:59With the editor
00:41:00He said that
00:41:01He was too good
00:41:03For the magazine
00:41:03He wanted to move on
00:41:05For sure
00:41:07Poe didn't get along
00:41:08Well with anybody
00:41:09Really
00:41:09For a long time
00:41:16Part of Poe's
00:41:17Problem with his boss
00:41:18Was an issue
00:41:19That would plague him
00:41:20For the rest of his life
00:41:24Alcoholism has run
00:41:25In the Poe family
00:41:26For 250 years
00:41:27That we can document
00:41:29My great great
00:41:30Grandfather William
00:41:31Written to Edgar
00:41:34Talking about
00:41:35The family curse
00:41:38He could go
00:41:39Long periods of time
00:41:40Without drinking
00:41:41But once he was
00:41:42In a situation
00:41:42Where alcohol
00:41:43Was present
00:41:44It was deadly for him
00:41:55By age 28
00:41:57Poe has begun
00:41:58To build
00:41:59A literary reputation
00:42:02He leaves Richmond
00:42:04To try his hand
00:42:05In New York City
00:42:07But he arrives
00:42:08On the eve
00:42:10Of one of the worst
00:42:11Financial recessions
00:42:12In American history
00:42:15After a year
00:42:16Of struggle
00:42:17He moves on
00:42:18To Philadelphia
00:42:23In 1839
00:42:25Poe lands
00:42:26An editing job
00:42:27At Burton's
00:42:28Gentleman's Magazine
00:42:29An up-and-coming
00:42:31Periodical
00:42:34Mariah
00:42:34Virginia
00:42:35And Edgar
00:42:36Settle in
00:42:37For what will be
00:42:38Their longest stay
00:42:39In one city
00:42:41Life in Philadelphia
00:42:43It was really the picture
00:42:44Of middle class
00:42:45Domesticity
00:42:46They had a little house
00:42:48They had a little yard
00:42:49You know
00:42:50I think they had
00:42:50Some pets
00:42:53Poe was firing
00:42:54On all cylinders
00:42:56Creatively
00:42:57And also as a
00:42:58Magazine editor
00:43:01Poe joins
00:43:02The busy literary
00:43:04Circles of Philadelphia
00:43:05Making friends
00:43:07Despite his
00:43:08Often caustic reviews
00:43:11Inevitably
00:43:12He crosses paths
00:43:13With another
00:43:14Ambitious young
00:43:15Literary critic
00:43:16Poe meets
00:43:18A person who would
00:43:19Become very
00:43:20Very significant
00:43:21In our understanding
00:43:22Of Poe himself
00:43:23And that's
00:43:24The Reverend
00:43:25Rufus W. Griswold
00:43:28Rufus Griswold
00:43:29Was a reviewer
00:43:31And anthologizer
00:43:33Like Poe
00:43:34He viewed himself
00:43:35As an American
00:43:36Tastemaker
00:43:38But unlike Poe
00:43:40Griswold
00:43:41Had no problem
00:43:41Trading positive
00:43:43Reviews
00:43:44For favors
00:43:46Griswold was a
00:43:47Great puffer
00:43:47If you puffed
00:43:48Griswold
00:43:49Griswold would
00:43:49Puff you
00:43:50Poe had this
00:43:51Kind of piety
00:43:52About it
00:43:52Like he wouldn't
00:43:53Puff anybody
00:43:53And he didn't
00:43:54Expect anybody
00:43:54To puff them
00:43:55Because he thought
00:43:56That there should
00:43:57Be real value
00:44:06Poe's only source
00:44:07Of steady income
00:44:08Is magazine work
00:44:10While he's editing
00:44:12One periodical
00:44:13He's writing
00:44:14For another
00:44:17Sometimes he was
00:44:18The only one
00:44:19On the staff
00:44:20Of the magazine
00:44:22Commissioning
00:44:22Proofreading
00:44:23Editing
00:44:24Getting the illustrations
00:44:25Going to the printer
00:44:26Getting the paper
00:44:27Choosing the type
00:44:28You know
00:44:28There's a lot of
00:44:29Things you have to do
00:44:32The owner would
00:44:33Have another job
00:44:34He'd be an actor
00:44:35He'd be something
00:44:35He'd have a business
00:44:36He'd go away
00:44:37And there's Eddie Poe
00:44:38Sitting there
00:44:40Given the technology
00:44:41That produced that magazine
00:44:43That is exhausting work
00:44:47Poe would go home
00:44:49From the office
00:44:50Every evening
00:44:51Have dinner
00:44:51And then he would write
00:44:53And he would stay up
00:44:54You know
00:44:55Late into the night
00:44:56Writing
00:44:58Poe could be
00:44:59An extraordinarily
00:45:00Disciplined
00:45:01And productive writer
00:45:05It seemed to come
00:45:06Out of late nights
00:45:07Drinking a lot of coffee
00:45:09And working on a deadline
00:45:11And sometimes
00:45:12Mariah Clem
00:45:13Would sit beside him
00:45:14Keeping him company
00:45:15While he composed
00:45:16These stories
00:45:17That were totally
00:45:19Unlike what he did
00:45:19During the day
00:45:22In his career
00:45:23Poe would write
00:45:24Nearly 70 stories
00:45:26In a range of genres
00:45:28Aiming to reach
00:45:29The widest
00:45:30Possible audience
00:45:31A third of his
00:45:33Short stories
00:45:34Are comedies
00:45:35He liked a romantic comedy
00:45:38Only a dozen
00:45:39Of Poe's tales
00:45:40Are horror stories
00:45:42But they remain
00:45:44His most popular
00:45:48Among them
00:45:49The fall
00:45:50Of the house
00:45:51Of Usher
00:45:51The pit
00:45:53And the pendulum
00:45:54The mask
00:45:56Of the red death
00:45:58The Black Cat
00:45:59The premature burial
00:46:02Poe was writing
00:46:04In the old fashioned
00:46:05Genre of the gothic tale
00:46:06But the terrors
00:46:08He was tapping into
00:46:09Were very much
00:46:10Of the moment
00:46:12Premature burial
00:46:14It was a real fear
00:46:15In the 19th century
00:46:18Because
00:46:19People seemed dead
00:46:21But they weren't
00:46:23As odd
00:46:24How bizarre
00:46:25As that seems
00:46:26During periods
00:46:27Of epidemics
00:46:28And there were several
00:46:30During Poe's lifetime
00:46:31There were lots
00:46:33Of public interments
00:46:34Taking place
00:46:35Very hastily
00:46:36Without proper
00:46:37Medical examination
00:46:38And there were
00:46:39Many, many instances
00:46:40Of people actually
00:46:41Being buried
00:46:43Before they were dead
00:46:47Coffin makers
00:46:48Provided gadgets
00:46:49To allow the victim
00:46:50To ring an alarm
00:46:52On the surface
00:46:57Poe devoured
00:46:58The sensational accounts
00:47:00And it would work
00:47:01The horrifying idea
00:47:02Into several stories
00:47:05Premature internment
00:47:07Is the ultimate
00:47:08Claustrophobia
00:47:13The unendurable oppression
00:47:15Of the lungs
00:47:16The stifling fumes
00:47:18Of the damp earth
00:47:19The clinging
00:47:20To the death garments
00:47:21The rigid embrace
00:47:23Of the narrow house
00:47:24The blackness
00:47:25Of the absolute night
00:47:26The silence
00:47:28Like a sea
00:47:29That overwhelms
00:47:31The unseen
00:47:32But palpable presence
00:47:34Of the conqueror worm
00:47:40Poe is talking about
00:47:41The subject that makes him
00:47:43So universally interesting
00:47:44Except for sex
00:47:46You can't get anything more
00:47:47Human and fundamental
00:47:49Than fear
00:48:03Poe developed rules
00:48:05About how to construct
00:48:06A powerful short story
00:48:08First
00:48:09The artist must decide
00:48:11Of all the innumerable
00:48:13Effects or impressions
00:48:15What one
00:48:16Shall I select?
00:48:19He sees the author
00:48:20Or the poet
00:48:21As a craftsman
00:48:24Who really has to
00:48:25Weed away anything
00:48:27That doesn't go
00:48:28Towards that single effect
00:48:29If the very initial sentence
00:48:31Does not bring out
00:48:32This effect
00:48:33Then he failed
00:48:34In his first step
00:48:37He has so many
00:48:39Famous first lines
00:48:40That immediately
00:48:41Pull you into the setting
00:48:42And the character
00:48:43The Cask of Amontillado
00:48:46The thousand injuries
00:48:48Of Fortunado
00:48:49I had borne
00:48:50As best I could
00:48:51But when he ventured
00:48:52Upon insult
00:48:54I vowed revenge
00:48:59The pit
00:48:59And the pendulum
00:49:01I was sick
00:49:03Sick unto death
00:49:04With that long agony
00:49:06And when at length
00:49:08They unbound me
00:49:09And I was permitted to sit
00:49:12I felt that my senses
00:49:13Were leaving me
00:49:16The Black Cat
00:49:18For the wildest
00:49:19Yet most homely narrative
00:49:21Which I am about to pen
00:49:22I neither expect
00:49:24Nor solicit belief
00:49:33Poe is responding
00:49:35To a new American
00:49:36Urban culture
00:49:37Which is very aware
00:49:38Of crime
00:49:39There was a lot
00:49:40Of poverty
00:49:41There was a lot
00:49:42Of class rivalry
00:49:43And competition
00:49:44There was urban violence
00:49:47It was a time
00:49:48Of great uncertainty
00:49:49For Americans
00:49:51There were great
00:49:52Financial panics
00:49:53There were poor
00:49:54On the streets
00:49:55There were immigrants
00:49:56What was going to happen
00:49:57To this country
00:49:58Nobody knew
00:50:02Anxious and unsettled
00:50:04The public reading
00:50:05Welcomed reassurance
00:50:08There was a great
00:50:09Popular appetite
00:50:10For stories
00:50:11In which problems
00:50:12Or complexities
00:50:13Were resolved
00:50:16Characters would
00:50:16Through some sort
00:50:17Of happenstance
00:50:18Or do it?
00:50:19Figure out their problems
00:50:20Resolved their dilemmas
00:50:21Justice would be done
00:50:25Ever aware
00:50:26Of the public's tastes
00:50:27Poe recognized
00:50:29An appetite
00:50:29For a new kind
00:50:31Of fiction
00:50:33What Poe did
00:50:34Is he taken that desire?
00:50:35For rationality
00:50:37And order
00:50:38Imposed upon chaos
00:50:39And created
00:50:40A form that could
00:50:42Satisfy that
00:50:43In a modern way
00:50:44In a way that was
00:50:45Plausible to readers
00:50:47With just three short tales
00:50:49Poe invented
00:50:50A new genre
00:50:51Of literature
00:50:52The detective story
00:50:54With a new breed
00:50:56Of hero
00:50:58Residing in Paris
00:50:59During the spring
00:51:00And part of the summer
00:51:01I contracted there
00:51:03An intimacy
00:51:04With a gentleman
00:51:04C. Auguste Dupin
00:51:06In C. Auguste Dupin
00:51:09Poe invents the detective
00:51:11That we've been living
00:51:11With ever since
00:51:12The police are
00:51:13Confounded by the
00:51:15Seeming absence
00:51:15Of motive
00:51:16Said Dupin
00:51:17In fact
00:51:19The facility
00:51:20With which I shall
00:51:20Arrive
00:51:21Or have arrived
00:51:22At the solution
00:51:23Of this mystery
00:51:24Is in the direct
00:51:26Ratio of its
00:51:27Apparent
00:51:28Insolubility
00:51:29In the eyes
00:51:30Of the police
00:51:32That really eccentric
00:51:33Brilliant central figure
00:51:35And the sidekick
00:51:36Who's kind of
00:51:37A stand-in for the reader
00:51:38I stared at the speaker
00:51:40In silent astonishment
00:51:42And a confrontation
00:51:43Of the suspect
00:51:44At the end of it
00:51:45And false leads
00:51:46All the things
00:51:47We think of
00:51:48As these classic aspects
00:51:49Of a detective story
00:51:50They all come together
00:51:52At once
00:51:52In that first
00:51:53Detective story
00:51:54Of Poe's
00:51:58If you've never
00:51:59Read the Dupin stories
00:52:00Then you just only
00:52:01Have read Holmes
00:52:02And you know
00:52:02The character
00:52:03Because Holmes
00:52:04Is a rip-off
00:52:05Of Dupin
00:52:06And so it is
00:52:07Pretty much
00:52:08Everybody else
00:52:08So is Nero Wolfe
00:52:09So is Hercule Poirot
00:52:12So is
00:52:13House on television
00:52:19Poe's finally
00:52:20Making a name
00:52:21For himself
00:52:22But he's not
00:52:23Making money
00:52:25At the time
00:52:26U.S. law
00:52:27Provided virtually
00:52:28No copyright protection
00:52:31So even if you had
00:52:32A successful piece
00:52:33Of writing
00:52:34That was a big hit
00:52:35A bunch of other people
00:52:36Would run off copies
00:52:37Of it without paying you
00:52:38His works
00:52:39Could be published
00:52:40In England
00:52:40Without paying them
00:52:41And English works
00:52:42By people like Dickens
00:52:43Could be published
00:52:45In America
00:52:45Without paying Dickens
00:52:46So if you can publish
00:52:48Dickens for free
00:52:48Why should you pay Poe?
00:52:52Looking for an edge
00:52:53In the marketplace
00:52:54Poe deliberately crafted
00:52:57An intriguing
00:52:59Public persona
00:53:01I am excessively slothful
00:53:04And wonderfully
00:53:07Industrious
00:53:08By fits
00:53:09Thus have I rambled
00:53:11And dreamed away
00:53:12Whole months
00:53:13And awake
00:53:13At last
00:53:14To a sort of
00:53:15Mania for composition
00:53:17Then I scribble all day
00:53:19And read all night
00:53:21As long as the disease
00:53:23Endures
00:53:29But despite all his efforts
00:53:32Poverty continued
00:53:34To stalk Poe
00:53:36You see him working
00:53:38Twelve, fourteen hours a day
00:53:39As an editor
00:53:40Or as a hack writer
00:53:42I think it almost ruined him
00:53:45As an imaginative writer
00:53:47And I've been so far
00:53:50Essentially a magazine
00:53:54Bearing not only willingly
00:53:55But cheerfully
00:53:56The sad poverty
00:53:57That the condition
00:53:59Of the mere magazinist
00:54:00Of tales upon him
00:54:02In America
00:54:03Where
00:54:05In more than any other region
00:54:07Upon the face of the globe
00:54:08To be poor
00:54:09Is to be despised
00:54:17Even at his lowest moments
00:54:19Poe never lets go
00:54:20Of his identity
00:54:21As a poet
00:54:23Poetry would always be
00:54:25His first love
00:54:28In 1841
00:54:30He learns that
00:54:31Rufus Griswold
00:54:32Is compiling
00:54:33An authoritative collection
00:54:34Of American poetry
00:54:37Griswold is coming out
00:54:38With this massive anthology
00:54:40Called The Poets
00:54:40And Poetry of America
00:54:41So of course
00:54:43Poe is desperate
00:54:44To get himself
00:54:44Into this book
00:54:47Griswold does publish
00:54:49A few of Poe's poems
00:54:50Then he asks Poe
00:54:53To return the favor
00:54:54By reviewing the book
00:54:57Poe pointed out
00:54:58What was good
00:54:59About Griswold's anthology
00:55:01But then he said
00:55:03What was bad about it
00:55:07Oh
00:55:07He has some talents
00:55:09We allow
00:55:10But as a critic
00:55:12His judgment is worthless
00:55:13Simply because
00:55:15Reason and thinking
00:55:17Are entirely
00:55:17Out of Mr. Griswold's sphere
00:55:23Griswold took
00:55:24Great exception to that
00:55:26Was highly offended
00:55:27And was an enemy of Poe
00:55:29For the rest of his life
00:55:31Poe really had a knack
00:55:33For making enemies
00:55:33You really have to give it to him
00:55:43Though he was often
00:55:44A prickly personality
00:55:46Outside the house
00:55:47By all accounts
00:55:49Poe was the opposite
00:55:50At home
00:55:51He was devoted
00:55:53To his child bride
00:55:54Now a young woman
00:55:56And visitors noted
00:55:57That Virginia
00:55:58Adored her Eddie
00:56:02One afternoon or evening
00:56:04Virginia was singing
00:56:06And she seems to
00:56:08Burst a blood vessel
00:56:10And she started
00:56:12Coughing up blood
00:56:18It's the first signs
00:56:19Of tuberculosis
00:56:24It cast a shadow
00:56:26Over Poe
00:56:27That lasted
00:56:28For years
00:56:31And no matter
00:56:32What his successes were
00:56:34That was a constant for him
00:56:36His worry
00:56:37About his wife's health
00:56:40My dear little wife
00:56:42Has been
00:56:44Dangerously ill
00:56:47A fortnight since
00:56:49While singing
00:56:50She ruptured a blood vessel
00:56:53And it was only yesterday
00:56:55That the physicians
00:56:56Give me any hope
00:56:59Of her recovery
00:57:10You might imagine
00:57:11The agony I've suffered
00:57:16For you know
00:57:19How devotedly
00:57:20I love her
00:57:31At age 35
00:57:33Poe decides
00:57:35To move his family
00:57:36To New York City
00:57:38Hoping to capitalize
00:57:40On his growing reputation
00:57:46New York
00:57:47Sunday morning
00:57:48April 7th
00:57:49My dear Muddy
00:57:50We have just this minute
00:57:52Done breakfast
00:57:52And now I sit down
00:57:54To write you
00:57:54About everything
00:57:55Edgar and Virginia
00:57:57Go first
00:57:58And report back
00:57:59To Mariah Clem
00:58:01Last night
00:58:02We had the nicest tea
00:58:03You ever drank
00:58:04Strong and hot
00:58:06Wheat bread
00:58:07And rye bread
00:58:08Cheese
00:58:09Tea cakes
00:58:10No fear of starving here
00:58:12Sis is delighted
00:58:14She has coughed hardly any
00:58:16And had no night sweat
00:58:20I feel in excellent spirits
00:58:22And haven't drank a drop
00:58:24So that I hope
00:58:25I know
00:58:26To get out of trouble
00:58:29The very instant
00:58:30I scrape together
00:58:31Enough money
00:58:31I will send it on
00:58:361845
00:58:37Proves to be the year
00:58:39Of Edgar Allan Poe
00:58:42In January
00:58:43Less than a year
00:58:45After arriving in New York
00:58:46He publishes the poem
00:58:48That will make him
00:58:49Internationally famous
00:58:53The Raven is his breakthrough
00:58:55It's the literary work
00:58:57The poem
00:58:58That sort of puts him
00:58:59On the literary map
00:59:00In a way that he
00:59:00Had never been before
00:59:05I would imagine
00:59:06That Poe felt like
00:59:08He finally made it
00:59:09When he was part
00:59:10Of Anne Charlotte Lynch's
00:59:12Literary events
00:59:14Every Saturday
00:59:16Because everybody
00:59:17Who was anybody
00:59:18Came
00:59:21They would turn
00:59:22The lights down
00:59:22He had to read
00:59:24The Raven of course
00:59:25Over and over
00:59:27Everybody wanted
00:59:28To hear him
00:59:29Read The Raven
00:59:33And he spoke
00:59:35In a very
00:59:36Dramatic voice
00:59:37It ran in his blood
00:59:39He was quite
00:59:39The entertainer
00:59:40Once
00:59:42Upon a midnight dreary
00:59:45While I pondered
00:59:47Weak and weary
00:59:48Over many a quaint
00:59:50And curious volume
00:59:51Of forgotten lore
00:59:53While I nodded
00:59:55Nearly napping
00:59:56Suddenly
00:59:58There came a tapping
01:00:00As if someone
01:00:02Gently rapping
01:00:04Rapping at my chamber door
01:00:07Tis some
01:00:09Visitor
01:00:11I muttered
01:00:13Tapping at my chamber door
01:00:15Only this
01:00:18And nothing more
01:00:25It was a poem about
01:00:29The common plight
01:00:31Of people
01:00:32Where half of all children
01:00:34Died
01:00:35Before they reached
01:00:36Maturity
01:00:37And everyone understood
01:00:39What it means
01:00:40To grieve
01:00:46Then I thought
01:00:47The air grew thicker
01:00:49Perfumed
01:00:50From an unseen
01:00:52Censor
01:00:54Swung by seraphim
01:00:56Whose footfalls
01:00:57Tinkled
01:00:58On the tufted floor
01:01:01The silk
01:01:02And sad
01:01:03Uncertain rustling
01:01:04Of each purple curtain
01:01:06Thrilled me
01:01:07You know
01:01:07That there's a
01:01:09Just a lusciousness
01:01:10About
01:01:12The sonorities
01:01:13And so on
01:01:14In a line like that
01:01:15That
01:01:16Had a great impact
01:01:18On me
01:01:18It really did
01:01:20And the raven
01:01:22Never Flitting
01:01:23Still
01:01:24Is sitting
01:01:28On the pale
01:01:30Bust of palace
01:01:31Just above
01:01:33My chamber door
01:01:35And his eyes
01:01:37Have all the seeming
01:01:39Of a demon
01:01:40That is dreaming
01:01:42And the lamplight
01:01:44O'er him
01:01:45Streaming
01:01:46Throws his shadow
01:01:48On the floor
01:01:50And my soul
01:01:52From out that shadow
01:01:55That lies floating
01:01:56On the floor
01:01:59Shall be lifted
01:02:04Nevermore
01:02:15He wanted fame
01:02:17And boy did he get it
01:02:18With the raven
01:02:19In fact he couldn't
01:02:21Even walk down the street
01:02:22Without kids falling behind
01:02:24Flapping their wings
01:02:25And people calling out
01:02:27There's the raven
01:02:29He created a person
01:02:31That captured
01:02:32The minds of so many
01:02:34The way he presented himself
01:02:36In portraiture
01:02:37His identification
01:02:38With the raven
01:02:39You don't want to say
01:02:41It was a shtick
01:02:42But it's one
01:02:43It's a shtick
01:02:44That stuck
01:02:46He wasn't just this
01:02:48Grim reaper
01:02:49This man of the night
01:02:50He could be
01:02:52Tremendously witty
01:02:53He
01:02:54He was a kind of ladies man
01:02:58Poe became close friends
01:03:00With Francis Sergeant Osgood
01:03:02A popular poet
01:03:04A member of the same
01:03:05Literary circles
01:03:07And a married woman
01:03:11Virginia
01:03:12Is at home
01:03:14Dying of tuberculosis
01:03:17And he's carrying on
01:03:19With this other woman
01:03:21Here he had this compelling woman
01:03:23Come into his life
01:03:24Francis
01:03:24Who could write love poetry
01:03:28And I think it turned his head
01:03:31Away from poor Virginia
01:03:33But everybody at the time
01:03:35He was talking about it
01:03:36It was such a scandal
01:03:38And it's at this time
01:03:40That he and Griswold
01:03:40Cross paths again
01:03:42And not in a pleasant way
01:03:44Because Griswold
01:03:45Has well-known affections
01:03:47For Osgood
01:03:49Rufus Griswold
01:03:50Must have just been steaming
01:03:52Poe was stealing his dream
01:03:54Poe was doing everything he wanted
01:03:57Including taking the girl
01:04:02His new fame
01:04:03Allows him to borrow money
01:04:05And realize his long-held dream
01:04:10He buys a magazine
01:04:15So he had this great success
01:04:17With The Raven
01:04:19And he was finally
01:04:21Becoming known
01:04:23And then for some
01:04:25Completely bizarre reason
01:04:26He decides to pick a fight
01:04:28With the most loved poet
01:04:31In America at the time
01:04:32Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
01:04:35Longfellow
01:04:35Longfellow would become
01:04:36The most prosperous
01:04:37Successful
01:04:38And adored writer
01:04:39In America
01:04:41And of course
01:04:41He was a professor
01:04:42At Harvard
01:04:43He was a Bostonian
01:04:44Par excellence
01:04:45The poetic claims
01:04:48Of Mr. Longfellow
01:04:49Were vastly overrated
01:04:57Overrated
01:04:58And that the individual
01:05:00Himself would be
01:05:01Little esteemed
01:05:04Without the
01:05:05Accessories of wealth
01:05:09And position
01:05:14Longfellow
01:05:15Longfellow was the person
01:05:16That Poe was supposed to be
01:05:18If he had stayed in college
01:05:21If he had inherited that money
01:05:23From the Allens
01:05:25And when he saw Longfellow
01:05:27He saw someone
01:05:28That had the life
01:05:29That he should have had
01:05:31But it was denied
01:05:31He accused Longfellow
01:05:33Of being a plagiarist
01:05:34But he also profoundly
01:05:36Disapproved
01:05:37Of the sort of writing
01:05:38That Longfellow was doing
01:05:39He could see that Longfellow
01:05:41Was a brilliant versifier
01:05:43But he thought that Longfellow
01:05:44Didn't understand
01:05:45What poetry was about
01:05:47That his poetry
01:05:49Had no soul
01:05:51But there was
01:05:52A political dimension
01:05:54To Poe's attacks
01:05:55On Longfellow
01:05:56The slavery debate
01:05:59Poe himself
01:06:00Never spoke out
01:06:01Directly to defend
01:06:02Or condemn
01:06:03Slavery
01:06:04But he was
01:06:05A loyal son
01:06:07Of the south
01:06:08It's not as if
01:06:10Poe just
01:06:10Grew up in the south
01:06:11And there was slavery
01:06:12In the south
01:06:13Slaves were imported
01:06:14Right down the street
01:06:16From where Poe
01:06:17Was living
01:06:17As a teenager
01:06:18They were bought
01:06:19And sold
01:06:20They were imprisoned
01:06:21There
01:06:23Poe inevitably
01:06:24Would have seen
01:06:25Human trafficking
01:06:26On an almost daily basis
01:06:32But above all
01:06:33Poe was a purist
01:06:35About literature
01:06:37For him
01:06:38The greater sin
01:06:40May have been
01:06:40That Longfellow
01:06:41And other New England
01:06:42Writers
01:06:43Injected politics
01:06:44Into their poetry
01:06:48We
01:06:48We despise them
01:06:50And defy them
01:06:51The transcendental
01:06:52Vagabonds
01:06:53They may all go
01:06:53To the devil together
01:07:00There's something
01:07:01Self-destructive
01:07:02In Poe's
01:07:04Strafings against
01:07:05Longfellow
01:07:05Spare us
01:07:06What Poe calls
01:07:08In another context
01:07:09The imp
01:07:09Of the perverse
01:07:10That force
01:07:11Inside of us
01:07:12That compels us
01:07:13To our own doom
01:07:15We have a task
01:07:16Before us
01:07:17Which must be
01:07:18Speedily performed
01:07:18We know it will be
01:07:20Ruinous to make
01:07:21Delay
01:07:21It must
01:07:22It shall
01:07:23Be undertaken
01:07:24Today
01:07:24And yet we put it
01:07:26Off
01:07:26Until tomorrow
01:07:28And why
01:07:30There is no answer
01:07:32Except that we feel
01:07:35Perverse
01:07:38As Americans
01:07:39We always want
01:07:39To think of ourselves
01:07:40As perfectible
01:07:41That's the American dream
01:07:43Right
01:07:43But Poe sees the dark
01:07:45Side of the American Dream
01:07:46He sees the way
01:07:47That we sometimes
01:07:48Do things
01:07:49Wrong
01:07:50Almost
01:07:51In spite of ourselves
01:07:52And almost because
01:07:53We know they're wrong
01:07:55So Poe really
01:07:56Prefigures
01:07:57Our understanding
01:07:57Of human psychology
01:08:00There is no passion
01:08:02In nature
01:08:03So demonically
01:08:05Impatient
01:08:05As him who
01:08:06Shuddering on the edge
01:08:08Of a precipice
01:08:09Thus meditates
01:08:10A plunge
01:08:14When you have
01:08:15Poe's history
01:08:17Unwanted
01:08:19Unloved
01:08:19Feeling
01:08:20Not important enough
01:08:23Perhaps that
01:08:24Turns you into somebody
01:08:25Who's a bit
01:08:26Too careless
01:08:27And reckless
01:08:29Because there's this
01:08:30Pervasive
01:08:31Nagging notion
01:08:32That you will
01:08:33Never be good enough
01:08:43In just one year
01:08:45The scandalous
01:08:46Relationship with
01:08:47Francis Osgood
01:08:48And Poe's
01:08:49Attacks on
01:08:50Longfellow
01:08:50Have undone
01:08:52His accomplishments
01:08:54He made
01:08:55Practically nothing
01:08:56From the raven
01:08:57After the first
01:08:58Printing
01:08:59And it was forced
01:09:01To shut down
01:09:02His magazine
01:09:12Poe, Virginia
01:09:13And Mariah
01:09:14Escape Manhattan
01:09:16For a cottage
01:09:17In Fordham, New York
01:09:21He's out in this
01:09:22Sort of farmland
01:09:24There's apple trees
01:09:26He's trying to
01:09:27Tame a bird
01:09:29It should be a
01:09:30Very bucolic scene
01:09:34But what do you have?
01:09:36Is Poe
01:09:37Very ill
01:09:38A lot of the time
01:09:39But trying his hardest
01:09:40To keep writing
01:09:40And Virginia
01:09:42Just declining
01:09:42And declining
01:09:46The autumn came
01:09:47And Mrs. Poe
01:09:49Sank rapidly
01:09:50In consumption
01:09:53She lay on the
01:09:55Straw bed
01:09:55Wrapped in her
01:09:56Husband's greatcoat
01:09:58A large tortoiseshell
01:10:00Cat on her bosom
01:10:01The sufferer's
01:10:03Only means of warmth
01:10:16Virginia held on
01:10:18Into the winter months
01:10:22Occasional moments
01:10:23Of improvement
01:10:24Were followed
01:10:25By inevitable decline
01:10:36It was a never-ending
01:10:38Oscillation
01:10:38Between hope and despair
01:10:40Which I could no longer
01:10:40Tolerate
01:10:41Without
01:10:43Loss of reason
01:10:44I became insane
01:10:47With long intervals
01:10:48Of horrible sanity
01:10:51During these fits
01:10:52Of absolute unconsciousness
01:10:54The drank
01:10:54God only knows
01:10:55How much
01:10:56How often
01:10:56A matter of course
01:10:58My enemies
01:10:58Referred the insanity
01:10:59To the drink
01:11:00Rather the drink
01:11:02To the insanity
01:11:05I had indeed
01:11:07Almost abandoned
01:11:08All hope
01:11:08In a permanent cure
01:11:09When I found one
01:11:10In the death
01:11:11Of my wife
01:11:21The impact
01:11:22Of Virginia's death
01:11:24It was just devastating
01:11:27It nearly undid him
01:11:29Altogether
01:11:33Most of the people
01:11:34That Poe loved
01:11:35Died of consumption
01:11:37If you pay much
01:11:39Attention to American
01:11:39History though
01:11:40Most of the people
01:11:41That most people love
01:11:42Died of consumption
01:11:43Or childbirth
01:11:47It is the sad
01:11:49Tragedy
01:11:50Of human existence
01:11:51In a 19th-century city
01:11:54Oh God
01:11:59How melancholy
01:12:00An existence
01:12:12Poe published
01:12:14Very little
01:12:14In 1847
01:12:16He was able
01:12:16To do very little
01:12:17He focused
01:12:18His attention
01:12:19On writing
01:12:20Eureka
01:12:23In the depths
01:12:25Of his grief
01:12:25Poe produces
01:12:27His most
01:12:28Eccentric work
01:12:30A long essay
01:12:32Those attempts
01:12:33To explain
01:12:33The origins
01:12:34Of the universe
01:12:37Some interpreters
01:12:39See within it
01:12:40A glimpse
01:12:41Of 20th-century physics
01:12:43Poe develops
01:12:45Not only
01:12:45The basic concepts
01:12:47Of relativity theory
01:12:50But also
01:12:51The Big Bang Theory
01:12:52And he expounds
01:12:54On why
01:12:55The universe
01:12:56Has so much
01:12:57Empty space
01:13:00One of the things
01:13:01That's remarkable
01:13:02About it
01:13:03Is how modern
01:13:03It is
01:13:04As a cosmology
01:13:05When you consider
01:13:06He had nothing
01:13:06To work from
01:13:07Really
01:13:10What is it
01:13:11That induces
01:13:12In the poet
01:13:12Himself
01:13:13The poetic effect
01:13:14He recognizes
01:13:16In 1848
01:13:18He began giving
01:13:19Public lectures again
01:13:21Began traveling again
01:13:23Began socializing again
01:13:28He wanted to remarry
01:13:31He wanted a rich wife
01:13:32He needed a rich wife
01:13:33If he had a rich wife
01:13:35He could have
01:13:36His own magazine
01:13:38And he would not
01:13:39Have to be
01:13:39A Grub Street hack
01:13:40Anymore
01:13:42This launched him
01:13:43On a series
01:13:44Of near engagements
01:13:46All of which
01:13:46Turned out very badly
01:13:50While he was courting
01:13:51One
01:13:51He was courting another
01:13:52He was proposing
01:13:53To one
01:13:54He was seeing another
01:13:57As your eyes
01:13:58Rested appealingly
01:14:00For one brief moment
01:14:02Upon mine
01:14:03I saw that
01:14:04You were Helen
01:14:07My
01:14:09Helen
01:14:11When you read
01:14:12What he said
01:14:13To the women
01:14:13He was courting
01:14:14Including falling
01:14:15On his knees
01:14:16And hand over heart
01:14:17And forelocked down
01:14:18And heavy breathing
01:14:19And all kinds of promises
01:14:21It seems
01:14:22Just so over the top
01:14:23She tenderly kissed me
01:14:26She fondly caressed
01:14:29And then I fell gently
01:14:31To sleep on her breast
01:14:33The women he was pursuing
01:14:35Were not 13 years old
01:14:36Tubercular girls
01:14:37Who were going to be
01:14:38Reliant on him
01:14:39These were often
01:14:40Working poets
01:14:41Who had their own
01:14:43Livelihood to protect
01:14:45One of them
01:14:46Was a woman
01:14:47Named Sarah Helen Whitman
01:14:49They had a courtship
01:14:51That had culminated
01:14:52Poe thought
01:14:53In her acceptance
01:14:55His proposal of marriage
01:15:01When Poe learned
01:15:03That Sarah Whitman
01:15:05Had decided
01:15:06Not to marry him
01:15:07The wheels really came off
01:15:11He tried to commit suicide
01:15:14I procured two ounces
01:15:16Of laudanum
01:15:20My struggles were more
01:15:21Than I could bear
01:15:25A friend was at hand
01:15:28Who aided me
01:15:31And if it can be called
01:15:32Saving
01:15:34Saved me
01:15:45Less than a year later
01:15:46His fortunes changed
01:15:49Practically overnight
01:15:52He'd found a financial backer
01:15:54So he could start
01:15:54His own literary magazine
01:15:55The Stylus
01:16:02Poe sets off on a journey
01:16:04To raise more money
01:16:05My plan was to take a tour
01:16:08Through the principal states
01:16:09Especially west and south
01:16:13Lecturing as I went
01:16:14To pay expenses
01:16:15Thoroughly dignified
01:16:17More supremely noble
01:16:18Than the poem
01:16:20The death then
01:16:22Of a beautiful woman
01:16:24Is unquestionably
01:16:26The most poetic topic
01:16:28In the world
01:16:34The last stop
01:16:35Was Richmond
01:16:36The city he had left
01:16:38More than a decade earlier
01:16:39When Poe came back
01:16:41To Richmond
01:16:42He was Edgar
01:16:43The Raven Poe
01:16:45He was a household name
01:16:46And he was
01:16:48A celebrity
01:16:49Returning back
01:16:50To his hometown
01:16:52He visited
01:16:53Old friends
01:16:54He made new ones
01:16:55His sister
01:16:57And her foster family
01:16:58Were still living
01:16:58In Richmond
01:16:59And they welcomed him
01:17:00Into their home
01:17:01This poem
01:17:03Written solely
01:17:04For the poem's sake
01:17:07Poe renewed
01:17:08His friendship
01:17:09With a childhood flame
01:17:11Elmira Royster Shelton
01:17:13Who was now
01:17:14A wealthy widow
01:17:15And he really started
01:17:18Courting Elmira seriously
01:17:21Elmira might have been
01:17:22Skeptical of Poe's motives
01:17:24But she finally
01:17:26Agreed to marry him
01:17:28Poe wrote to his
01:17:29Mother-in-law
01:17:30That it would clearly
01:17:31Be a marriage
01:17:32Of convenience
01:17:35My own darling
01:17:36Muddy
01:17:36I confess
01:17:38That my heart
01:17:38Sinks
01:17:39At the idea
01:17:40Of this marriage
01:17:41I think
01:17:43However
01:17:43That it will
01:17:44Certainly take place
01:17:45And that
01:17:47Immediately
01:17:50But before
01:17:51Poe and Elmira
01:17:52Could marry
01:17:53Edgar had a trip
01:17:54To make
01:17:55He would travel
01:17:56To Philadelphia
01:17:57For a brief
01:17:58Editing job
01:17:59Then on to New York
01:18:01To pick up
01:18:02Mariah Clem
01:18:03And bring her back
01:18:04To Richmond
01:18:04For the wedding
01:18:09He came up
01:18:10To my house
01:18:11In the evening
01:18:11Of the 26th
01:18:12Of September
01:18:13To take leave
01:18:13Of me
01:18:15He was very sad
01:18:17And complained
01:18:17Of being quite sick
01:18:19I felt his pulse
01:18:21And found he had
01:18:22A considerable fever
01:18:24And did not think
01:18:25It probable
01:18:25That he would be able
01:18:26To start the next morning
01:18:32I went up early
01:18:33The next morning
01:18:34To inquire after him
01:18:35I discovered
01:18:36He had left
01:18:37On the boat
01:18:38For Baltimore
01:18:40There is an irony
01:18:42In fact
01:18:42That the death
01:18:43Of Poe
01:18:44Who wrote
01:18:45The first detective story
01:18:47Became a mystery
01:18:59Poe arrived by
01:19:00Steamboat in Baltimore
01:19:01On September 28th
01:19:031849
01:19:05His plan was
01:19:07To immediately
01:19:07Board the train
01:19:08For Philadelphia
01:19:09Then travel on
01:19:10To New York
01:19:13It seems very strange
01:19:14For us to think
01:19:16That a man like
01:19:16Edgar Allan Poe
01:19:17Could just vanish
01:19:20But that's exactly
01:19:21What happened
01:19:21For about five days
01:19:30When he was found
01:19:32He was still in Baltimore
01:19:33Semi-conscious
01:19:34Dressed in ill-fitting
01:19:36Secondhand clothes
01:19:37It looked nothing
01:19:37Like the kind of clothes
01:19:38He would have worn
01:19:40Eventually he's recognized
01:19:42As the famous writer
01:19:43And an old friend
01:19:45Is found
01:19:46To take him
01:19:47To the hospital
01:19:48He spent his last
01:19:49Four days
01:19:50Delirious
01:19:51In and out of consciousness
01:19:52Talking to shadows
01:19:53In the wall
01:19:53Not making any sense
01:19:56Four days later
01:19:58Poe is dead
01:19:59At the age of 40
01:20:02Poe dies alone
01:20:04Without it ever
01:20:05Being completely clear
01:20:06What exactly
01:20:08He was suffering from
01:20:11Poe's mysterious death
01:20:13Has prompted
01:20:13Dozens of theories
01:20:15That he suffered
01:20:17From rabies
01:20:18Or died from
01:20:19A brain tumor
01:20:21Or perhaps
01:20:22He was an accidental
01:20:24Victim of warring
01:20:25Political gangs
01:20:26On the streets
01:20:27Of Baltimore
01:20:31It's unlikely
01:20:32We'll ever
01:20:33Know the answer
01:20:36Thank heaven
01:20:37The crisis
01:20:38The danger
01:20:39Has passed
01:20:40And the lingering
01:20:42Illness is over
01:20:43At last
01:20:45And the fever
01:20:46Called living
01:20:47Is conquered
01:20:49At last
01:20:56Within a few days
01:20:58Of the author's death
01:20:59The character
01:21:00Assassination
01:21:01And it began
01:21:04Poe made the mistake
01:21:05Of dying
01:21:06Before his greatest
01:21:08Literary enemy
01:21:09Rufus Griswold
01:21:12Griswold wrote
01:21:13The obituary
01:21:14Of Poe
01:21:15And in it
01:21:16He pilloried Poe
01:21:18He took him apart
01:21:19He says
01:21:20Edgar Allan Poe is dead
01:21:22Many will be shocked
01:21:23By this
01:21:23But very few people
01:21:24Will be grieved
01:21:24By it
01:21:25He says
01:21:26Poe had few
01:21:27Or no friends
01:21:28He was sort of
01:21:29This miserable person
01:21:31But Poe's friends
01:21:32And he did have
01:21:33Many friends
01:21:34Rally to his defense
01:21:35And he wrote more
01:21:36Favorable obituaries
01:21:38But of course
01:21:39The damage is done
01:21:40By that point
01:21:51The Halloween Poe
01:21:53That Griswold invented
01:21:54Lives on generation
01:21:56After generation
01:21:57Ensuring Poe's iconic place
01:22:00In popular culture
01:22:03But it will always be
01:22:05Poe's writing
01:22:06That is his real legacy
01:22:13I stand amid the roar
01:22:15Of a surf-tormented shore
01:22:17And I hold within my hand
01:22:19Grains of the golden sand
01:22:22How few
01:22:24Yet how they creep
01:22:25Through my fingers
01:22:27To the deep
01:22:29While I weep
01:22:31While I weep
01:22:34Oh God
01:22:36Can I not grasp them
01:22:38With a tighter clasp
01:22:41Oh God
01:22:43Can I not save one
01:22:45From the pitiless way
01:22:48Is all that we see or seem
01:22:52But a dream within the dream
01:22:56Of a nun
01:22:58door
01:22:59And a dream
01:23:14Before
01:23:15Don't
01:23:16You I
01:23:20know
01:23:23If I
01:23:39Thank you all.
01:24:10Thank you all.
01:24:39Thank you all.
01:25:11Thank you all.
01:25:33Thank you all.
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