The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-08
REVIEW OF LIFE OF
EDGAR ALLAN POE

American literature mas Deoh pinS"
lnrly peaceful. But Poe, and In
later day, Whitman, have been storm
centers which have almost mace rs
forget the summer calm OF our nter-
ary landscape 1t is not so mucn tnet
the facts of Poe's career are IN dls-
mute. though the record leaves some
thing to be desired In the way of du-
thentlcity. II Is rather that those
facts arc viewed through the spec
taclos of prejudice; spectaclcs now
rosy with affection, now green WIN
envy, but never by any chance ocoirs
less. One biographer dwells on the
testimony OF Willis that Poe was the
rentlest gentleman who ever did hack
work In a newspaper office; and treats
us TO long scriptions-usually WITT
ten by women-of the poets remark
able beauty, his charm OF manner, his
oid.worId courtesy. Another fingers
with loving malice over the fact that
other men paid Poe's tailor bills. that
lie reprinted his old articles and po-
ems as new ones, and that he had
been known to sleep OF his potation5
on the sawdust covered floor of a low
class barroom. One tells us at
length OF Poe's undeniable love for his
wife; and another OF his equally un-
dcniable efforts to marry some
wealthy woman-anyone would do
during the days OF his wldowerhood.
That Poe was great and morbli
genius the world is fully agreed; and
1t is agreed ON very little else con
cernlng him.
The greater part OF Poe's life his
tory is an ofttold tale, but one that
seems to gather fresh interest with
each retelliDg That he was born in
Boston, In 1909, the uon OF worthy
actree6-mother and worthless. well
born father; and that little more
than forty years later he was picked
up unconscious IN a Baltimore slum
and taken to a hospital to die, are
items In the mental furniture of mil
lions The death of his mother before
his third blthday, his adoption by John
Allan. shrewd Scotch merchant set
tied in Richmond. Va his admission
To and expulsion from West Point, are
likewise common property. 1t Is not
so we'll known that prior TO his West
Point experience he served two years
IN the regular army under an assumed
name; that he won non-commls-
stoned officers place by good, steady
work, and that he was reported by his
officers to have no bad habits what
ever. Everyone knows that through
considerable part of ihs life Poe was
a periodical drInkard; not so MANY
are aware that he was a confirmed
user OF opium. The memory OF his
singing criticisms has outlasted the
life of the critic-and usually the rep
utation OF the criticised His stories
are still acknowledged masterpieces
OF plot and workmanship and the
place where The Raven" is unknown
rs place where the English language
has not penetrated. Also Poe was the
FIRST American Author 10 gain an in
ternatlonal reputation OF any value
All these things and many more are
known TO all who care to interest
themselves In Poe. One would think
that on so broad a foundation OF fact
IL might be possible to rear n consist
ent estimate Of the strangest charac.
ter, but such has not beeu the case.
For the great. obvious fact of Poe's
life and work was the morbid. on.
pressive, horror-shadoWed nature uf
both. His indeed the light that never
was on sea nor lana; but his as well
the phantoms of strangeness and 10th.
Ing that come up through the ivory
gate. 1t was something deeper than
the gloom which Byron coined into
trade dollars for literary export Poe's
is a dark, unwbolesome habit of mind
that shows In all his best work. and
Is so much a part of him that, with
lew exceptions, when you miss the
morbidness you miss the genius as
we'll This Is the riddle that must be
solved before ono can properly an.
praise the man; and, so far. no one
las offered solution that any prnat
number of persons seem inclined to
accept.
Yet, to my mind. the solution is n
curlously simple one. The secret of
Poes jaundiced outlook on life Is
not his drunkenness nor his opium
eatlng; neither his strange genius no.
his undeniable selhshness. II ls
rather. that his temperament and GO.
Eius and Vices combined with the ca.
ciety In which he was placed 10 shut
him of from his fellows. to make hin,
o creature apart Poe's was tho NOR.
bldness not OF liquor. but of loneli-
ness not OF opium. but of isolation
And that Is the worst and most bona-
less morbidness OF all Once Iet tba
Vitalizing stream OF human life he
walled or, and the clearest waters of
thought gather into stagnant and i'm.
wholesome pools, where creeninr
thlngs breed and flourish, and whore
shapes OF fear and foulness haunt the
shades
Among his contemporaries. Poe md
thrce titles to celebrity. his cr,tiouoe
MS poems and his stories The first
are known to us mainly by the tradI.
tion OF their cutting savagery.
When We turn from Poe's crItjouos
to his imaginative work, We pass from
cleverness to genius at a step. Here
his lack Of Scholarship" that priced
possession OF those who sit in the
grandstand and tell how the game
should be played. was help. rather
than a hindrance. He has literary
faults, even here! but they are not
vital ones. He mars some of the best
passages by the Introduction of SER
aphs and Psyches and eldolons and
other needless things. His heroines
always have beauty suggestive. to