nation were represented in the gathing and the addresses united
in placing Poe among the great creations of the world. Indeed,
his statue was placed between the niches occupied by Moliere
and Homer, and in line with Bacon, Tacitus, Milton, and Pindar.
In view of all this let us for a moment investigate the art and
the genius of this great master, and learn, if we can, the secrets
of his power. No other modern writer stands out so prominent
and so strangely different from his contemporaries. "It was his
glory and misfortune to be unique." "In genius and poetic
art he was transcendent." To understand the genius of Poe it
is absolutely necessary that we study his life and works, and
hence a short sketch of his life, with here and there a mention of
his works, will not be out of place.
David Poe, a lawyer of Baltimore, abandoned his profession and
became an actor. While in that field he• married Mrs. Elizabeth
A. Hopkins, an English actress. Three children, of whom Edgar
was the second, were the result of this union. Edgar was born
in Boston, January 19, 1809. In 1811 both of his parents died of
consumption, and he was adopted by Mr. John Allan, a wealthy
tobacco dealer of Richmond. Edgar was taken to England when
very young and given every advantage of education. When
eleven years old he returned and prepared to enter the University
of Virginia, but on account of his contracting debts he was
withdrawn and placed in a counting-room in Richmond. He
ran away from here and travelled to Boston where he published
" Tamerlane and Other Poems, By a Bostonian." He served in
the regular army for two years and rose to the rank of sergeant
major. Hearing of the death of his foster mother he went home
on a furlough, was forgiven by Mr. Allan, and through his in
fluence was appointed a cadet at West Point. In ten months he
was cashiered for misconduct, and was immediately disowned by
Mr. Allan, who, dying soon afterwards, made no mention of him
in his will. After this Poe wandered from place to place. He
became editor of The Southern Literary Messenger. In 1836 he
married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, a delicate girl of fourteen.
She died in 1847 and Poe was nearly crazed with grief. Two
years later, while on his way to marry a Mrs. Shelton, of Rich
mond, he fell in with some of his old companions in Baltimore
and, crazed through drink, he was found unconscious, and died
a few days later, on October 7.
THU LIV.E AND GZNIUS OP POEC