Celebrating Edgar Allen Poe’s Birthday in Baltimore
Edgar Allen Poe is a cultural icon. Not only do his stories and his poems resonate with a sadness and a mystery, they continue to influence young writers of today. He was a master of the macabre, a man that is described as one of the first in the American Romantic Movement. He was one of the fathers of the short story and has been widely recognized as the writer who invented the detective novel and the science fiction genre.
He was one of the first American writers to earn their living from their writings alone. Some of his early writings gave him no credit, simply signed by “a Bostonian”. He made money on the side writing literary criticisms for magazines and journals, and his style was noted even in those editorials. He moved around quite a bit, and finally settled in Baltimore following his marriage to Virginia Clem in 1835. Ten years later he published the much admired poem, “The Raven“. Poe only lived to be forty years old. He was found on the streets of Baltimore, wandering in a daze and in great distress. There have been many conjectures, but to this day no exact cause of death has been determined. His death is the kind of mystery that only feeds his popularity, for just as the last word of Orson Well’s in “Citizen Kane” was “Rosebud”, Poe’s last word was “Reynolds”. No one knew then, and no one knows now, to whom or to what he was referring.
In just a few days, any Baltimore restaurant or pub will be celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of his birthday. The Admiral Fell Inn is honoring their past resident with dinner specials and cocktail parties. Poe was not a son of Baltimore by birth, but he became one in his life, and many celebrations occur throughout the year at his home, or at the Westminster Church Cemetery where he is buried. This would be a fabulous time to visit Baltimore, the 12th of November is when it all happens, and should one be in the mood of the macabre, it will be a night of remembrance and celebration.
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