The Washington herald., 1909-01-17

/ Helen Whitman. Genius has but IN
/ grande passion
Real Soul Mate of Poe.
/ Mrs Whitman was one Of America $
most gifted poets, a child Of genius, a
delicate. spiritueile New England orchid.
the real soul mate OF that southern child
OF IRE, Edgar Allan Poe. Their inner
natures were atune They had the same
racial characteristics. Celtic-NOrman lin
cage. warm romance blood. predestined
TO literary creation and sorrow. Indeed.
/ in her veins ran the same kindred blood
( for a mystic distant kinship sweetened
I their associations Mrs. Whitman was a
Miss Sarah Helen Power, Of Providence,
I z. l.. six years older than Poe, the widow
I OF John W Whitman, a Boston lawyer
/ In 1S4S. a mutual friend introduced them.
/ and Poe. ever mystical. was haunted b.
7 the belief that their fates were preor-
I dained connected. I yieled at once. p"
he writes. ''to an overwhelming sense OF
I fatality. From that hour 1 have never
been able to shake from my soul the be
/ lief that my destiny for good OF for
I evil. either here or hereafter. is in some
measure interviewer with your own
Hope was reborn in the starved poet
heart In her was food for his passion.
I food for his genius in the reciprocal love
Of a beautiful. talented woman He
wrote her burning words exquisite love
/ letters. monumental OF their divine kin
I ship. Of letters akin 10 the ~SOnnets from
the Portuguese" letters rarely ecusied
IN the annals Of love
Held Slave 90 Drink.
Like true lovers their intercourse was
at times stormy. Atone time. while Mrs.
Whitman hesitated to marry him, Poe
attempted his life. She was deter lined
she would not marry him while he drank:
/ he promised not TO drink and the wedding
day was appointed Weakened by his
/ long suffering and with his weak viii
shaken. he broke his pledges Again and
again she tried him. loving him trdly
through all, mad for him, devoted 70
him. Finally. friends intervened, letters
OF remuneration passed between them. and
Poe never saw her again. The union OF
these two ethereal natures were destined
never TO relapse into the commonplace
placidlty Of marriage. although their
souls were welded from the hour they
first met.
This tragedy OF the heart colored dark
~ all the rest OF Sarah Helen Whitman 5
life. II could not affect her appreciation
, of Poe's brilliant powers. nor diminish
her love Of his finer nature. the gentle
winning side. which revealed The man
God meant him 10 be
Verses to His Portrait.
On her wall hung q portrait of her
poet. hidden b. silken curtain. 1t had
his wonderful eyes. This picture was she
subject Of Mrs. Whitman's poem, The
/ Portrait
After Ions ycars rzised TIE folds c1ucealing
That face magnetic as the mornings boana-
While slumheTi1g uemoTy thrilled AZ rs revsilinE
Ike Msnnoa wskeuins from his marble dram
Again I saw the hroF's translucent rzllo-
The dark hair floating Ger Il Ike plume
The sFcet. tnpeT.ous mouth. whose haugh1y Falos
Dehed al poTteu;s q impending doom
Mrs. Frances Ossood Sargent was an
other Poe lover. and they cherished a
poetic platonic friendship for each other
Through the ISLANDERS OF a mutual
friend" they became estranEed. but this
did not prohibit Mrs. Sargent from writ
ing in the most eulogistic terms OF Poe
/ During the Whitman period Of Poe's life
there were two other Scs1en. both OF
whom he seemed 10 have loved as sistc, s
One was Mrs Annie Richmond. Of West
ford. r. l.. the other. Miss Stella Robin
son. afterward Mrs. s d. Lewis. OF
Baltimore
Mrs. Lewis is well known TO Poe litera-
tuTe as one Of the women defenders OF
his fair fame. She. Ike all the other
women who interested Poe or were inter
ested in him. was Of high intellectual
caliber.
Mrs. Richmond. Annie" TO whom Poe
wrote many Of his most beautiful poems
and letters, he met in Lowell IN the sum
meT Of 1915. while there on a lecture tour.
Mrs. Clemm lived with the Richmonds.
and they cared for her for some years
after the death Of Poe. So lecturing and
writing, Poe. early in 1s49, started for
Richmond. Va. his boyhood home.
Feels Happiness of Youth.
Richmond received Poe with open arms.
II was proud Of fits gifted. adopted son.
Boyhood friends, now grown 70 manhood,
and numbered among the Four Hundred
of that truly aristocratic city. received
him gladly and he was feted. dined. and
otherwise entertained. Il was a breath
ing spell OF new JOY for him. and he
was content to visit old friends and feel
again some Of the happiness he had
known there as g youth.
Among others he met his boyhood
sweetheart, Mrs. Elmira Royster Shelton.
now widow and still with a tender
spot In her heart toward the brilliant
poet In desultory manner he renewed
his addresses to her and somehow they
became engaged. Early in October. 1873,
ne started for the North to see '.Afuddie
Clemm'' and wind Up his affairs there N
order 10 arrange his marriage.
1t was election eve, and he stopped
on AT Baltimore, vas shanghaied.
arugged, voted as repeater. and then
flung in the gutter next day. The ex-
posure brought on pneumonia, aud he
died in what is now the Church Home. in
that city, on October :. 1919. There .'tbe
fever called living was conquered at last
Tor Edgar Allan Poe.
/ Know Of no way TO finish this sketch
Of poets tragic life. surrounded by the
nimbus Of womans love. than by the
words Of the immortal Shelley:
Peace. peace, he Is not dead he doth rot Sleep
ne hath awakened from the dream cf life
us he who, lost in stormy visions. keep
WIN plsnto1ls an uup-o1table strife.
and. in mad trance. strike With our sDirits knife
invulnsTzbie ncthinEs
re has o1tsoared the shadow os our night:
EnTy and calunuy End hate and pain
And that unrest which men nliscan delight
Can touch him nos. and torture not again:
frvtn the coztagioa Ct the worlds SLOW stain
he IS secure. and now can neve- isnourn
\ heart ErOWn cold head grown rzy IL vain.
NoT when the spirits self has ceased to burn
With sparkless ashes losd an unlsmerted uru."
While you think Of it. telephone your
Want Ad- to The Washington Herald,
and b!n VIII Be sent you at cent q word.