EDGAR ALLEN POE

EFFECTING AMERICAN CULTURE TODAY

BEFORE WE HAD STEPHEN KING

BEFORE WE HAD DEAN KOONTZ

EVEN BEFORE BRAM STOKER

WE HAD EDGAR ALLAN POE

BACKGROUND

Born January 19, 1809, the same year Abraham Lincoln was born

His parents were actors living in near poverty

His father abandoned him at age one, his mother died of tuberculosis when he was three

Raised by the wealthy Allan family, John and Francis, they gave him his middle name “Allan”, but never adopted him

He married his first cousin, Virginia Clem, she was only 13 and he was 27

Tuberculosis takes the lives of his mother, foster mother, his wife and his older brother. All were 24 years old at the time of their deaths

Died on October 7th, 1849, the circumstances still a mystery to this day

Inspired by a life filled with nothing but death and tragedy

His wife and brother struck down in their youth, abandoned by two fathers, orphaned by two mothers. Death was a constant companion throughout his short life, his own death shrouded in mystery at age 40 years. I think the saying “life stranger than fiction” would be an understatement when speaking of the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe.

Ironically his tragic life and enemy’s attacks on his character propelled him into the spotlight of fame

An obituary and later a biographic memoir, both written by a literary adversary Rufus Griswold whom Poe had severely criticized while he was working as a literary critic at the Southern Literary Messenger. Rufus Griswold depicted Poe as a drug (opium) addict, alcoholic, womanizing madman with no morals and no friends. Meant to discredit Poe, Griswold’s attack on Poe’s character only fueled the fire; that fire that still burns brightly today, the fire of fame.

H I S M A S T E R W O R K S O F L I T E R AT U R E C A N B E F O U N D I N E V E RY F O R M O F M E D I A A N D A R E J U S T A S R E L E VA N T A N D J U S T A S

F R I G H T E N I N G A S T H E D AY T H E Y W E R E W R I T T E N B U T “ T H E R AV E N ” S TA N D S A L O N E A S H I S G R E AT E S T A N D M O S T I N F LU E N T I A L W O R K

First published in the New York Evening Mirror in January 1845

This narrative poem chronicles the thoughts of the protagonist and his conversation with an ominous creature perched on a bust over the entryway; a raven with a one word vocabulary “NEVERMORE”

This poem earned Poe only fourteen dollars

Launched him to stardom along with his ominous friend the raven

The raven, nearly overnight, became one of the most feared creatures in America

Penned by Poe while his child bride lay dying of tuberculosis

THE RAVEN, STILL LIVES IN AMERICAN’S MINDS AND THE MEDIA The professional football team from Baltimore adopted the name “The Ravens” and their team mascot is a live raven named, appropriately enough, “Poe”

University of Virginia, where Poe attended, has preserved Poe’s dorm room as a museum and is maintained by an elite fraternity named, “The Raven Society”, considered the oldest and most prestigious honor society at the university

The Raven inspired several movies including a Roger Corman production in 1963 starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff and a young Jack Nicolson

Halloween episode of ”The Simpsons” animated TV series “Treehouse of Horror I” featured the character Lisa Simpson reading a verbatim rendition of the original poem with Homer Simpson as the main character and Bart Simpson as the Raven

Excellent “You Tube” renditions by Vincent Price, James Earl Jones and Christopher Walken

2012 movie release “The Raven” starring John Cusack. loosely based on Poe’s life

Professional wrestler Scott Anthony uses the ring name “The Raven”

OTHER NOTE-WORTHY INFLUENCESKnown for horror, he was also an excellent mystery writer. Credited with being the father of the detective story and was said to have pioneered the twist ending. His detective story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” were said to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to come up with Sherlock Holmes

Film director Roger Corman made eight films loosely based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, seven starring Vincent Price: "The House of Usher” “The Terror” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven (starring a young Jack Nicholson),” ”The Pit and the Pendulum” “The Black Cat” “The Masque of the Red Death” and “Tomb of Ligeia”. These films vaulted Corman into mainstream movie making and brought Poe’s writings into twentieth century Hollywood film making

1995 video game called “The Dark Eye” narrated by author William S. Burroughs, allowed players to experience Poe’s tales through the eyes of the murderer or the victim

A gruesome and controversial animated adaptation of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1953, earned an Oscar nomination but also received an “X” rating by the British Board of Film Censors; the first ever for animated film

Released in May 1976 a musical rendition of Poe’s works are on a “Allen Parsons Project” album called “Tales of Mystery and Imagination

There are also some comic book series called “Nevermore”. One is a “Batman” comic and another by horror author Dean Koontz

IN CONCLUSION

In conclusion it seems clear that, though he may have died 163 years ago, he is still alive and well in the hearts of Americans. His nightmarish tales still haunting us from every form of media; his name and the symbols of his works on billboards, street signs and professional sports teams. Statues to honor his memory in every city he has lived as well as the homes where he lived are now museums; even his college dorm room preserved for all to see