in April. 1844. His first publication here was his
Balloon-Hoax," a circumstantial account of a
balloon-voyage over the Atlantic', which appeared
in the news columns of the ".Sun." He soon be-
came connected with the " Evening Mirror." in
which, on 2'J Jan., 1S45, first appeared his poem of
" The Raven," from the advance sheets of the
" Whig Review " for February. The popularity of
this was immediate and wide-spread. In April.
becoming dissat i-tied with work on a daily paper,
he withdrew, and soon afterward was associated
with Charles F. Briggs in the management of the
" Broadway Journal," a newly established weekly.
His connection with this was marked by a series
of harsh criticisms of the poet Longfellow, whom
he accused of gross plagiarism. Poe afterward be-
came sole editor of the " Journal," and was endeav-
oring to get it entirely under his control when
financial troubles caused its suspension in Decem-
ber, 1845. In October of that year he was invited
to deliver an original poem before the Boston
Ivceum, and in response read " Al Aaraaf," one of
his earliest efforts. There was much dissatisfaction,
and Poe on his return to New York asserted in his
" Journal " that his action had been intentional,
and that he had thought that the poem " would
answer sufficiently well for an audience of tran-
scendentalists." The incident was the cause of
much unfavorable comment. At the close of this
year Poe issued a new collection of his poems,
" The Raven and other Poems" (New York, 1845).
Early in 1846 he removed to a cottage in Fordham,
now a part of New York city. His chief work at
this time was a series of papers in " Godey's Lady's
Book " on " The Literati of New York." One of
these, on Dr. Thomas Dunn English, provoked a
reply of such a nature that Poe sued the " Mirror,"
in which it appeared, and recovered $225 and costs.
Fur several weeks before this he had been ill. His
constitution had been shattered by overwork, dis-
appointment, and the use of stimufants, and before
the end of the year the family was reduced to such
poverty that a public appeal was made in its be-
half. On 30 Jan., 1847. Mrs. Poe died, but, after
his life had been endangered, Poe partially re-
covered betVm 1 the following summer. He tried to
revive his plan of a new magazine, this time to be
called " Literary America," and to aid it lectured.
on 3 Feb., 1848, in the New York society library
on the " Cosmogony of the Universe." a subject on
which he had speculated during his recovery. The
lecture was elaborated into Eureka, a Prose
Poem " (New York, 1848). which he considered his
greatest work, but this judgment was not that of
the public nor of his critics. Its physical and
metaphysical speculations have little value, and its
theology is a mixture of materialism and panihei-.ni.
Shortly after this Poe entered into a conditional
engagement of marriage with Mrs. Sarah Helen
Whitman, of Providence, R. I., but it was broken
off. His health was still feeble, but he now pre-
pared for a southern trip, during which he lectured
several times and canvassed for his proposed maga-
zine. While he was in Richmond he offered mar-
riage to a widow of whom he had been enamored in
youth, and was accepted. Shortly afterward, prob-
ably on 30 Sept., 1849, he set out for the north to
make arrangements for the wedding. Of his move-
ments after this nothing is known with certainty.
On 3 Oct., the day of a municipal election, he was
found unconscious in Baltimore in a liquor-saloon
that had been used as a polling-place, and was
removed to a hospital, where he died of delirium
tremens. It has been reported that ho had dinrd
with some old military friends, became intoxicated,
and in this state was found by politicians, who
drugged him and made him vote at several plan-.
Poe’s personal appearance was striking. He was erect, with a pale face, and an expression of melancholy. His conversation is said to have been fascinating. His tales and poems, though the ability and power that they display are universally acknowledged, have been very differently estimated. The former have been praised for their artistic construction, their subtle analysis, and their vivid descriptions, and condemned for their morbid subjects and absence of moral feeling. The poems are admired for melody and for ingenious versification, and objected to because they appeal to the imagina- tion and not to the intellect. The author's theory of poetry, which he finally formulated in his lecture on " The Poetic Principle," was peculiar, inasmuch as he contended that beauty was its sole object. He asserted that a "long poem is a contradiction in terms." Says his latest biographer: In his prose tales he declares repeatedly that he meant not to tell a story, but to produce an effect. In poetry he aimed not to convey an idea, but to make an impression. He was not a philosopher nor a lover; he never served truth nor knew passion ; he was a dreamer, and his life was, warp and woof, mood and sentiment, instead of act and thought." The first collection of Poe's works was that by Rufus W. Griswold. preceded by a memoir (3 vols., New York, 1850: 4 vols., 1850). There are also several British editions, of which two of the latest are those with memoirs by Richard Henry Stod- dard (London, 1873) and John H. Ingram (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1874). There is a later American edi- tion with the sketch by Ingrain (4 vols., New York, 1876) ; a " Diamond " edition in one volume, with a sketch by William Fearing Gill (Boston, 1874); and a limited edition with the memoir by Stoddard (8 vols., New York, 1884). Several volumes of his tales have been translated into French by Charles Baudelaire and William Hughes. There have ap- peared also collections of his poems, with memoirs, respectively, by James Hannay (London, 1852) ; Ed- mund F. Blanchard (1857); and Charles F. Briggs (New York, 1858) ; and many illustrated editions of single poems, notably of " The Raven." The memoir by Griswold contains errors of fact, and is written in a hostile spirit. Its accusations have been replied to by Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman in "Edgar A. Poe arid his Critics" (New York. 1859) and by William Fearing Gill in his " Life of Edgar Allan Poe " (1877). There is also a life by Eugene L. Didier (1876), and various magazine articles, in- cluding one in "Scribner's Monthly" for October, 1875, by Francis G. Fairfield. in which he attempts to show that Poe's peculiarities were due to epilepsy. The latest and most impartial biography is that by George E. Woodberry in the " American Men of Letters " series (Boston, 1885).
On 17 Nov., 1875, a monument, riveted by the school-teachers of Baltimore, was publicly dedicated to Poe's memory in that city. It is of Italian mar- ble in the form of a pedestal eight feet in height, and bears a medallion of the port. A memorial volume containing an account of the dedication ceremonies was issued by Sarah S. Rice and Will- iam Hand Browne (Baltimore, ls;;i. In May. 1885, the actors of the United States erected in the Metropolitan museum. New York city, a memorial to Poe, at vho-c dedication an address was made by Edwin Booth, ami William Winter read a poem. There has recently been discovered a large amount of manuscript material relating to Poe. including a lite by Dr. Thomas Holley Cluvers. which may lie published at some future time.
