Poe on Front Page of Today's Boston Globe - Poe International: The International Edgar A Poe Society

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

RE: Poe on Front Page of Today's Boston Globe

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

Kingdom, I agree with you on a couple great points. People out there just refuse to believe that Poe had any ideas in his head, as if he just spat out hackwork and never once had a real thought. Because of that, his opinions are always brushed aside, be it about Transcendentalism, Longfellow, or the origins of the universe.

And don't get me started on Harold Bloom...

KingdombytheSea · Member

I would say one reason Poe is not appreciated it is not just Boston which has an "Emersonian atmosphere," but much of America's intellectual establishment for the past century. People don't want to believe Poe actually had real ideas and intellectual convictions because his philosophical attack on transcendentalism was not a good-natured disagreement, as Hawthorne's and Dickinson's were by comparison. There was nothing Yankee-like or utopian about his worldview at all, so he doesn't really belong to the same world as the transcendentalists whose ideas are now accepted almost without question or even realization by both the Left and Right today. The idea that America produced a great writer who hated those types of ideals as thoroughly and brilliantly as Poe did, and that in doing so he was outspokenly representing a different American tradition (and not just a sick mind or bitter personality) is incomprehensible to those who live by the sort of modern myths of which Poe critic Harold Bloom may have explained the essence when he called Emerson "the prophet of the American religion."

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

As a follow-up to Boston's attempt to celebrate Poe for his bicentennial, take a look at this link: http://at.bc.edu/celebratingthemacabre (notice what they emphasize even in the link, even the event wasn't really very macabre at all). There's a video that gives a very short rundown of the event - if you've got a good eye, you might see yours truly in the audience at the very end. It was a great event, mixing both Poe scholarship and Poe entertainment (a combination which I believe is crucial to understanding Poe's appeal!). Kudos to Prof. Paul Lewis and the others at Boston College for putting this together.

monday love · Veteran Member

I think it's important to note also that Poe was not just born in Boston; after the creep John Allan disowned him, left him with debts to U. VA which Poe had no means of paying, when Poe was penniless, humiliated, and really had nothing but the shirt on his back, when he left Allan's home as a mere boy, in VA, the first place he went to was--Boston. There he got on his feet somehow, joined the army, and published his first book of poems, subsidized by fellow Boston soldiers. So, Boston was NOT just Poe's birthplace. It was more than that. One could also argue that Poe's attack on the transcendentalists was for Boston's own good, since Emerson and his crew were crackpots in many ways. When Poe came to Boston as a famous man to read his poetry, he was not treated well; but we should not blame Poe for this. So there were a few a__holes in Boston at that time, who couldn't handle Poe's brilliance. Is this Poe's fault? Should a few jerks have the last word on Poe re: Boston? I think Boston should welcome Poe back posthumously, for Poe's and Boston's sake.

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

Anonymous wrote:
It also says that Poe "laid claim" to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Richmond as his home. Well, why wouldn't he? Born in Boston, but left before he was able to speak a full sentence does not a Bostonian make. Over a decade in Richmond might make him a good candidate as a Virginian, family in Baltimore might make him a good Baltimorean, and a significant chunk of his career in Philadelphia might make him a good Philadelphian. I'm still wondering why anyone is surprised by "Poe was not a Bostonian."

My point is, we can't slight Poe for not embracing Boston as his home town; he really had no reason to. Nor can we fault his association with Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York because those cities are, after all, where he spent his time.

-- Edited by Midnightdreary at 05:46, 2008-12-04

-- Edited by Midnightdreary at 05:47, 2008-12-04

monday love · Veteran Member

Anonymous wrote:

Here's the latest, from an article in the BC Heights newspaper at Boston College: http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper144/news/2008/11/24/News/Movement.Inspired.By.Poe.Bicentennial-3559714.shtml.

I'm not sure how seriously to take this. Changing one of the Swan Boats into a raven? Adding a raven to the Make Way for Ducklings statues? A library display case of Poe action figures? My question is, do these people really know Poe?

A couple cases in point. In the article, it notes that Poe hates New England writers like Longfellow and Emerson. Well, he hated a lot of writers; I'm not sure the New England writers specifically stand out. It also says that Poe "laid claim" to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Richmond as his home. Well, why wouldn't he? Born in Boston, but left before he was able to speak a full sentence does not a Bostonian make. Over a decade in Richmond might make him a good candidate as a Virginian, family in Baltimore might make him a good Baltimorean, and a significant chunk of his career in Philadelphia might make him a good Philadelphian. I'm still wondering why anyone is surprised by "Poe was not a Bostonian."

The Raven Boat and the Make Way for Ravens and the Poe action figures are jokes, really. Its called publicity. I appreciate what they are doing at BC. Its not about Boston; its about Poe. Poe is more important.

Poe was not a regionalist. This fact probably doomed him; Poe was an internationalist in an era defined by regionalism--regionalism that could be very nasty. Emerson didnt dare set foot in the South, and when Emersons cousin, T.S. Eliot did, as an Englishman, in the 30s, as guest of the U. of Virginia, it was to make a speech that became well-known for remarks T.S. Eliot made regarding Jews. Virtually all writers are defined by place, but not Poe. Even Shakespeare seems English compared to Poes worldliness. Poe thrived in both the South and the North at a time when it was nearly impossible to do so. It is somehow fitting that Poe met his end violently in a border state in the very place where Lincoln had to disguise himself to escape a murder plot 11 years afterwards. Poe always wrote for the Republic of Letters; no author is more universal than this man who was born in Boston.

-- Edited by monday love at 12:20, 2008-12-03

Date: Nov 25, 2008

Here's the latest, from an article in the BC Heights newspaper at Boston College: http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper144/news/2008/11/24/News/Movement.Inspired.By.Poe.Bicentennial-3559714.shtml.

I'm not sure how seriously to take this. Changing one of the Swan Boats into a raven? Adding a raven to the Make Way for Ducklings statues? A library display case of Poe action figures? My question is, do these people really know Poe?

A couple cases in point. In the article, it notes that Poe hates New England writers like Longfellow and Emerson. Well, he hated a lot of writers; I'm not sure the New England writers specifically stand out. It also says that Poe "laid claim" to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Richmond as his home. Well, why wouldn't he? Born in Boston, but left before he was able to speak a full sentence does not a Bostonian make. Over a decade in Richmond might make him a good candidate as a Virginian, family in Baltimore might make him a good Baltimorean, and a significant chunk of his career in Philadelphia might make him a good Philadelphian. I'm still wondering why anyone is surprised by "Poe was not a Bostonian."

monday love · Veteran Member

Let the healing process begin, I suppose. If ignorance is bliss, let Poe cavort with Emerson and Lowell in our imaginations.

The Transcendentalists were not radical; these Boston bluebloods were actually protecting old interests. They were no more radical than old William Wordsworth, who, as a young man, actively supported the French revolution, and then became increasingly conservative until he became poet laureate for a Tory regime, while his poor sister slaved night and day for him. Poe was a haunted genius because he knew more than others, and he knew things were not always as they seemed. See Poes story, Thou Art the Man. Poe didnt play the game of Emersons aristocratic radicalism; in fact, he didnt buy the transcendentalists radicalism at all; he mocked it, and this is why Poe was not lionized in his old age, but disgraced in his own land, forced out of positions of literary power that were rightfully his, and hunted down like a dog at the end, and spit on, for good measure. The average joe living in Cambridge, or anywhere else, has no clue about Poe. The true Poe is invisible to most, vaguely detectable, only because of his fierce light, in a mist of half-truths and lies.

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

I'm not sure about how that comment connected with mine (the idea that Boston is merely ambivalent towards Poe). But, as much as Harvard has the stereotype, I worked six minutes from Harvard Square for five months and never felt that same sort of Boston Brahmin attitude from there. Sure, the city of Cambridge has its moments, but not Harvard itself. Even Emerson was a radical, after all, who dared say things like Jesus is not God and that miracles never literally happened. Even James Russell Lowell was pretty radical when he very vocally wrote that slavery was wrong. More recently, a bunch of students started a porn magazine starring students sanctioned by the university administration. Harvard is a radical place, certainly not a boring, run-of-the-mill sort of status quo.

I don't disagree with your assessment of the Poe stereotype amongst the mainstream. That can be a post of its own, really.

-- Edited by Midnightdreary at 19:29, 2008-11-17

monday love · Veteran Member

I've lived in the Boston area for quite a few years.

I recently heard the actor Ben Stiller bragging that he grew up in Manhattan near Edgar Allan Poe avenue; here was this comic actor who sounded genuinely thrilled of having this slight connection to Poe. I also grew up in Manhattan, so I don't consider myself a Bostonian. I find Boston very provincial compared to New York and I do think Poe appeals to a more cosmopolitan taste.

The slander that Poe was a depraved, fiendish, substance-abuser has taken hold among the unwashed. It flatters the mass consciousness that a 'genius' requires depravity to operate; the lie of Poe's depravity wants to be believed.

The ignorant assume that 'horror' is a quality which can admit nothing else; they associate Poe with 'horror' and its accompanying personal depravity and thus can think of him in no other terms. Poe's 'horror' is better understood in the context of the 'ratiocinative' Poe and Poe's hidden, political aspect (his war with Greeley, etc).

Harvard University is the center of much animosity towards Poe as well; there is an Emersonian atmopshere, a sort of Boston Brahmin millieau hostile to Poe's radical spirit.

The combination of the rabble's ignorance and the elite's easily ruffled veneer when it comes to Poe is poison, a double-source of the miasma which hides his consumate artistry.

Midnightdreary · Senior Member

Hatred, or perhaps just ambivalence? Though I'd lived outside of Boston my whole life, it wasn't until I was living in Pennsylvania that I tracked down the plaque marking his birthplace near the Boston Common. As I was taking pictures of it, people were looking at me funny. Finally, someone asked what I was taking a picture of. "This is where Edgar Allan Poe was born!" I replied, in my excitement. His reply? "Oh, nothing important." And then he walked away.

Though, I have to admit, it was good seeing it in the Globe this morning. I had intended to write a letter to the editor in January but now I may not need to.

I will say this though: the rumor that "The Cask of Amontillado" was inspired by Poe's time at Fort Independence in Boston is not based on fact. Am I wrong here? I'd love to see this rumor die.

monday love · Veteran Member

Professor at Boston College wants Boston to forgive Poe and build him a statue, etc

Strange thing is, there were 50 comments (mostly supporting this idea) on the Globe's website--and then just before 3 pm this afternoon they all mysteriously vanished!

Does Poe hatred still run deep in Boston?