Philip Morin Freneau (January 2, 1752 – December 18, 1832) was an American poet, nationalist, polemicist, sea captain and early American newspaper editor sometimes called the "Poet of the American Revolution". Through his Philadelphia newspaper, the National Gazette , he was a strong critic of George Washington and a proponent of Jeffersonian policies .
133-705: Freneau was born in New York City , the oldest of the five children of Huguenot wine merchant Pierre Freneau and his Scottish wife. Freneau was raised Calvinist by parents who were part of a Presbyterian congregation led by a New Light evangelical, Rev. William Tennent, Jr. Freneau later attended a grammar school directed by Tennent. Philip was raised in Matawan, New Jersey . He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University ), where he studied under William Tennent, Jr. Freneau's close friend at Princeton
266-438: A Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21. In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia , where he lived at four different residences between 1838 and 1844, one of which at 532 N. 7th Street has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark . That same year, Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
399-550: A 40-page collection of poetry titled Tamerlane and Other Poems , attributed only to "A Bostonian". 50 copies were printed, and the book received virtually no attention. Poe's 1st Regiment of Artillery was posted to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina , before embarking on the brig Waltham on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted tradesman tasked with preparing shells for artillery. His monthly pay doubled. Poe served for two years, attaining
532-631: A decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground. At least 120 people were killed. Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance. It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history . In 1886,
665-548: A diamond ring on every finger. It is believed that only twelve copies have survived of Poe's first book Tamerlane and Other Poems . In December 2009, one copy sold at Christie's auctioneers in New York City for $ 662,500, a record price paid for a work of American literature. Eureka: A Prose Poem , an essay written in 1848, included a cosmological theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80 years, as well as
798-465: A dormitory. Allan did send additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased. Poe gave up on the university after a year, but did not feel welcome to return to Richmond, especially when he learned that his sweetheart, Royster, had married another man, Alexander Shelton. Instead, he traveled to Boston in April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper contributor. Poe started using
931-478: A few stories with a Philadelphia publication and began work on his only drama, Politian . The Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded him a prize in October 1833 for his often overlooked short story " MS. Found in a Bottle ". The tale brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy , a Baltimorean of considerable means who helped Poe place some of his other stories and introduced him to Thomas W. White, editor of
1064-561: A form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder. Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold , wrote a slanted, high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that cast Poe as a lunatic, and which described him as a person who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned in passionate prayers, (never for himself, for he felt, or professed to feel, that he
1197-541: A grudge against Poe since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death. Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he included in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There he depicted Poe as a depraved, drunken, drug-addled madman, including some of Poe's "letters" as evidence. Many of his claims were either outright lies or obvious distortions; for example, there
1330-678: A little more pains over it: the result hardly does credit to the method." Biographer Joseph Wood Krutch described the essay as "a rather highly ingenious exercise in the art of rationalization". During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic. The vast majority of Edgar Allan Poe's writings are nonfictional. Contemporary critic James Russell Lowell called him, “the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America,” suggesting—rhetorically—that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink. Poe's often caustic reviews earned him
1463-501: A living as a writer were mostly unsuccessful. However, he eventually managed to earn a living by his pen alone, becoming one of the first American authors to do so. His efforts were initially hampered by the lack of an international copyright law . American publishers often chose to sell unauthorized copies of works by British authors rather than pay for new work written by Americans, regardless of merit. The initially anemic reception of Edgar Allan Poe's work may also have been influenced by
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#17327728395251596-681: A page saying, "To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated". It once again reprinted the somewhat lengthy poems, “Tamerlane,” and “Al Araaf,” while also including six previously unpublished poems, conspicuous among which are, “ To Helen ", and " The City in the Sea ". Poe returned to Baltimore and to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder brother Henry had been seriously ill for some time, in part due to complications resulting from alcoholism, and he died on August 1, 1831. After his brother's death, Poe's earnest attempts to make
1729-601: A period." Around this time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the administration of John Tyler , claiming that he was a member of the Whig Party . He hoped to be appointed to the United States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from President Tyler's son Robert , an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Thomas. However, Poe failed to appear for a meeting with Thomas to discuss
1862-507: A relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore , "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to Washington Medical College , where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and why he
1995-468: A result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $ 19 billion. The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with $ 15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts. In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed. With its population density and its extensive exposure to global travelers,
2128-515: A review of his poetry by influential critic John Neal , which prompted Poe to dedicate one of the poems to Neal in his second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems , published in Baltimore in 1829. Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October 1830, Allan married his second wife Louisa Patterson. This marriage and the bitter quarrels with Poe over children born to Allan out of extramarital affairs led to
2261-485: A speech denying the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD." The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight authority over the city's finances. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into
2394-485: A system of student self-government, allowing students to choose their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, and report all wrongdoing to the faculty. The unique system was rather chaotic, and there was a high dropout rate. During his time there, Poe lost touch with Royster and also became estranged from his foster father over gambling debts. He claimed that Allan had not given him sufficient money to register for classes, purchase texts, or procure and furnish
2527-426: A third volume of poems, simply titled, Poems . The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, some of whom donated as much as 75 cents to the cause. The total raised was approximately $ 170. They may have been expecting verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had written about commanding officers in the past. The book was printed by Elam Bliss of New York, labeled as "Second Edition", and included
2660-558: A translator in the State Department , even though he spoke no foreign languages except French. Freneau accepted this sinecure, which left free time to head the Democratic-Republican newspaper Jefferson and Madison envisioned. This partisan newspaper, The National Gazette , provided a vehicle for Jefferson, Madison, and others to promote criticism of the rival Federalists. The Gazette took particular aim at
2793-548: A two-story brick house called Moldavia. Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the University of Virginia in February 1826 to study ancient and modern languages. The university was in its infancy, established on the ideals of its founder, Thomas Jefferson . It had strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol, but these rules were mostly ignored. Jefferson enacted
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#17327728395252926-643: A year later from pulmonary tuberculosis . Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, a successful merchant in Richmond, Virginia , who dealt in a variety of goods, including cloth, wheat, tombstones, tobacco, and slaves. The Allans served as a foster family and gave him the name "Edgar Allan Poe", although they never formally adopted him. The Allan family had Poe baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son. The family sailed to
3059-786: Is alleged to have begun to drink heavily due to the stress he suffered as a result of her illness. He then left Graham's and attempted to find a new position, for a time again angling for a government post. He finally decided to return to New York where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror before becoming editor of the Broadway Journal , and later its owner. There Poe alienated himself from other writers by, among other things, publicly accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism , though Longfellow never responded. Poe later emended his accusations by expressing his belief that many writers, having absorbed ideas from others in
3192-468: Is an oversimplification. Poe was increasingly unstable after his wife's death. He attempted to court the poet Sarah Helen Whitman , who lived in Providence, Rhode Island . Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior. There is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship. Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed
3325-498: Is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre . He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of early American literature . Poe was one of the country's first successful practitioners of the short story , and is generally considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. In addition, he
3458-458: Is credited with contributing significantly to the emergence of science fiction . He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living by writing alone, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career. Poe was born in Boston . He was the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe . His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when Eliza died the following year, Poe
3591-412: Is little to no evidence that Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, including John Neal, who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a " Rhadamanthus , who is not to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of newspaper notoriety". Griswold's book nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical source. This was in part because it
3724-405: Is one of the world's most populous megacities . The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States . As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in
3857-498: Is undocumented and unsupported by other evidence. Freneau graduated from Princeton in 1771, having already written the poetical History of the Prophet Jonah , and, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge , the prose satire Father Bombo's Pilgrimage to Mecca . Following his graduation, he tried his hand at teaching, but quickly gave it up. He also pursued a further study of theology, but gave this up as well after about two years. As
3990-679: The Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger , but White discharged him within a few weeks, allegedly for being drunk on the job. Poe then returned to Baltimore , where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on September 22, 1835, though it is unknown if they were actually married at that time. He was 26 and she
4123-614: The American South . During construction in Foley Square in the 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000 to 20,000 graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free. The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger , who had been accused of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby , helped to establish freedom of
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4256-866: The Atlantic port to the agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and the Great Lakes . Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall , a political machine supported by Irish and German immigrants . In 1831, New York University was founded. Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s, including William Cullen Bryant , Washington Irving , Herman Melville , Rufus Wilmot Griswold , John Keese , Nathaniel Parker Willis , and Edgar Allan Poe . Members of
4389-668: The Bill of Rights there. The Supreme Court held its first organizational sessions in New York in 1790. In 1790, for the first time, New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At the end of 1790, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia . During the 19th century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million. Under New York State's gradual emancipation act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties. Together with slaves freed by their masters after
4522-726: The Caribbean . The attempt at a peaceful solution to the war took place at the Conference House on Staten Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin , and British general Lord Howe on September 11, 1776. Shortly after the British occupation began, the Great Fire of New York destroyed nearly 500 buildings, about a quarter of the structures in the city, including Trinity Church . In January 1785,
4655-905: The Hudson River , which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River'). In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for the Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company . He sailed up what the Dutch called North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange . Hudson claimed
4788-467: The Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University . Virginia died at the cottage on January 30, 1847. Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful woman" stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife. However, as Poe was a prolific writer before Virginia's death, others have suggested that this explanation of his work
4921-721: The Lower Hudson Valley . The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano . He claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême (New Angoulême ). A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V , arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of
5054-742: The New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers. The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center , the National September 11 Memorial and Museum , and other new buildings and infrastructure, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub , the city's third-largest hub. The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the seventh-tallest building in
5187-599: The Panic of 1837 . There was a booming growth in American periodicals around this time, fueled in part by new technology, but many did not last beyond a few issues. Publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised, and Poe repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and other assistance. After his early attempts at poetry, Poe turned his attention to prose, perhaps based on John Neal's critiques in The Yankee magazine. He placed
5320-511: The Statue of Liberty , a gift from France , was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue welcomed 14 million immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace. In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city),
5453-709: The Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village . They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights . Wayne R. Dynes , author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality , wrote that drag queens were
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5586-534: The pseudonym Henri Le Rennet during this period. As Poe was unable to support himself, he decided to enlist in the United States Army as a private on May 27, 1827, using the name "Edgar A. Perry". Although he claimed that he was 22 years old , he was actually 18. He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month. That same year, his first book was published,
5719-612: The steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River , killing 1,021 people. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards. New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890. New York City
5852-499: The waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan. Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe ( né Edgar Poe ; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer , poet , editor , and literary critic who
5985-641: The 19th century to become more popular in Europe than in the United States. Poe was particularly esteemed in France, in part due to early translations of his work by Charles Baudelaire . Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work in Continental Europe. Poe's early mystery tales featuring the detective, C. Auguste Dupin , though not numerous, laid the groundwork for similar characters that would eventually become famous throughout
6118-538: The 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a national and international trading center , as well as by European immigration, respectively. The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected
6251-590: The Allans in 1820. In 1824, he served as the lieutenant of the Richmond youth honor guard as the city celebrated the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette . In March 1825, Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt died, who was said to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, leaving Allan several acres of real estate. The inheritance was estimated at $ 750,000 (equivalent to $ 20,000,000 in 2023). By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his expansive wealth by purchasing
6384-622: The American Revolution". In 1790 Freneau married Eleanor Forman, and became an assistant editor of the New York Daily Advertiser . Soon after, Madison and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson worked to get Freneau to move to Philadelphia in order to edit a partisan newspaper that would counter the Federalist newspaper The Gazette of the United States . Jefferson was criticized for hiring Freneau as
6517-705: The Continental Army at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776 eliminated the last American stronghold in Manhattan, causing George Washington and his forces to retreat across the Hudson River to New Jersey , pursued by British forces. After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made the city their military and political base of operations in North America. The city
6650-575: The County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens. The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. In 1904,
6783-409: The Duke of York (the future King James II and VII). The duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley . On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized New York at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange" after William III , the Prince of Orange . The Dutch soon returned
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#17327728395256916-438: The Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General . In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies ). In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as
7049-472: The English language, and noted its influence on later authors such as Doyle, Henry James , B. Traven , and David Morrell . Horror author and historian H. P. Lovecraft was heavily influenced by Poe's horror tales, dedicating an entire section of his long essay, " Supernatural Horror in Literature ", to his influence on the genre. In his letters, Lovecraft described Poe as his "God of Fiction". Lovecraft's earliest stories are clearly influenced by Poe. At
7182-678: The Inner Life in 1863, in which she claimed to have "received" new compositions by Poe. However, the writings appeared to be simple revisions of previously published poems. Poe has also received criticism. This is partly because of the negative perception of his personal character and its influence upon his reputation. William Butler Yeats was occasionally critical of Poe and once called him "vulgar". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted to "The Raven" by saying, "I see nothing in it", and derisively referred to Poe as "the jingle man". Aldous Huxley wrote that Poe's writing "falls into vulgarity" by being "too poetical"—the equivalent of wearing
7315-452: The Mountains of Madness directly quotes him. Lovecraft made extensive use of Poe's concept of the “unity of effect” in his fiction. Alfred Hitchcock once said, "It's because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so much that I began to make suspense films". Many references to Poe's works are present in Vladimir Nabokov 's novels. Other writers inspired by Poe's poetry and fiction include, but are not limited to, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and
7448-405: The New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world , with a gross metropolitan product of over US$ 2.16 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country , it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world . Despite having a 24/7 rapid transit system , New York also leads the world in urban automobile traffic congestion . The city is home to
7581-450: The Penn Magazine, a Monthly Literary journal to be edited and published in the city of Philadelphia by Edgar A. Poe." However, Poe died before the journal could be produced. Poe left Burton's after a year and found a position as writer and co-editor at Graham's Magazine , which was a successful monthly publication. In the last number of Graham's for 1841, Poe was among the co-signatories to an editorial note of celebration concerning
7714-578: The Revolutionary War and escaped slaves, a significant free-Black population gradually developed in Manhattan. The New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established the African Free School to educate Black children. It was not until 1827 that slavery was completely abolished in the state . Free Blacks struggled with discrimination and interracial abolitionist activism continued. New York City's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820 (10,886 of whom were Black and of which 518 were enslaved) to 312,710 by 1840 (16,358 of whom were Black). Also in
7847-414: The Revolutionary War approached in 1775, Freneau wrote a number of anti-British pieces. However, by 1776, Freneau left America for the West Indies, and for two years was a business agent on Saint Croix , observing the horrors of slavery up close. One of his best-known poems, "On Sir Toby", catalogs these horrors and has become a well-known anti-slavery poem. In 1778, Freneau returned to America, and rejoined
7980-435: The United Kingdom in 1815, and Poe attended a grammar school for a short period in Irvine, Ayrshire , Scotland, where Allan was born, before rejoining the family in London in 1816. There he studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817. He was subsequently entered at the Reverend John Bransby 's Manor House School in Stoke Newington , then a suburb 4 miles (6 km) north of London. Poe moved to Richmond with
8113-443: The appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to have been sick, though Thomas believed that he had been drunk. Poe was promised an appointment, but all positions were eventually filled by others. One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, or tuberculosis , while singing and playing the piano, which Poe described as the breaking of a blood vessel in her throat. She only partially recovered, and Poe
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#17327728395258246-558: The arts and fashion , and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations , international diplomacy . With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km ), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles , the nation's second-most populous city. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City
8379-426: The assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital. New York was the last capital of the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation and the first capital under the Constitution of the United States . As the U.S. capital, New York City hosted the inauguration of the first President, George Washington , and the first Congress , at Federal Hall on Wall Street . Congress drafted
8512-439: The assumed name of Edgar A. Perry, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems , which was credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife Frances in 1829. However, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point , declared his intention to become a writer, primarily of poems, and parted ways with Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose, and spent
8645-437: The band Bird in the Belly used the words from Freneau's poem "Pestilence" for their concept album After the city . The lyrics appear in the song "Pale Horse" and represent the arrival of the pale horse into their fictional depiction of London. New York City New York , often called New York City or NYC , is the most populous city in the United States , located at the southern tip of New York State on one of
8778-429: The beat generation's Allen Ginsberg. In Japan, Edogawa Ranpo was so inspired by Poe that his pen name is a rendering of his name into Japanese. Poe's works have spawned many imitators. One trend among Poe's more ardent fans has been the tendency to employ clairvoyants or psychics to "channel” original poems from Poe's spirit. One of the most notable of these manuscripts was by Lizzie Doten , who published, Poems from
8911-493: The beginning of the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification , and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 United States census ; further records were set in 2010 , and 2020 U.S. censuses. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley , emerged in
9044-409: The brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens , heart disease , epilepsy , syphilis , meningeal inflammation , cholera , carbon monoxide poisoning , and rabies . One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's death resulted from cooping ,
9177-534: The business elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park , which in 1857 became the first landscaped park in an American city. The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000 were living in New York by 1860, representing over a quarter of the city's population. Extensive immigration from the German provinces meant that Germans comprised another 25% of New York's population by 1860. Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing
9310-510: The city from New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait —flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River , another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River , which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County , is the only entirely freshwater river in the city. The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along
9443-439: The city rapidly replaced Wuhan , China as the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare infrastructure. Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications. New York City is situated in the northeastern United States , in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston . Its location at
9576-632: The city's economy. The advent of Y2K was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square . New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks . Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from
9709-794: The city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on. Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the Draft Riots of 1863 , whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class. The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers after fierce competition for
9842-717: The day after her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, Allan agreed to support Poe's desire to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York . Poe was finally discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a replacement to finish his enlistment. Before entering West Point, he moved to Baltimore, where he stayed with his widowed aunt, Maria Clemm, her daughter Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe. That September, Poe received "the very first words of encouragement I ever remember to have heard" in
9975-589: The density and rotation of planets. Poe had a keen interest in cryptography . He had placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger , inviting submissions of ciphers which he proceeded to solve. In July 1841, Poe had published an essay called "A Few Words on Secret Writing" in Graham's Magazine . Capitalizing on public interest in the topic, he wrote " The Gold-Bug " incorporating ciphers as an essential part of
10108-417: The development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County , with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world. In 1969,
10241-454: The development of literature throughout the world and even impacted such specialized fields as cosmology and cryptography . Since his death, he and his writings have appeared throughout popular culture in such fields as art, photography, literary allusions, music, motion pictures, and television . Several of his homes are dedicated museums. In addition, The Mystery Writers of America presents an annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in
10374-466: The didactic", writing poetry that was preachy, derivative, and thematically plagiarized. Poe correctly predicted that Longfellow's reputation and style of poetry would decline, concluding, "We grant him high qualities, but deny him the Future". Poe became known as the creator of a type of fiction that was difficult to categorize and nearly impossible to imitate. He was one of the first American authors of
10507-418: The early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as a part of the colony of New York . It became a center of slavery , with 42% of households enslaving Africans by 1730. Most were domestic slaves ; others were hired out as labor. Slavery became integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the banking and shipping industries trading with
10640-634: The early romantic poems written and published in America, included the Gothic elements and dark imagery that later were seen in the poetry by Edgar Allan Poe . Freneau's nature poem "The Wild Honey Suckle" (1786) was considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant , Ralph Waldo Emerson , and Henry David Thoreau . Romantic primitivism was anticipated by Freneau's poems "The Indian Burying Ground" and "Noble Savage." Memorials to him in Matawan include: In 2022,
10773-466: The first plausible solution to Olbers' paradox . Poe eschewed the scientific method in Eureka and instead wrote from pure intuition . For this reason, he considered it a work of art, not science, but insisted that it was still true and considered it to be his career masterpiece. Even so, Eureka is full of scientific errors. In particular, Poe's suggestions ignored Newtonian principles regarding
10906-492: The forerunners of American science fiction , responding in his voluminous writing to such emerging literary trends as the explorations into the possibilities of hot air balloons as featured in such works as, " The Balloon-Hoax ". Much of Poe's work coincided with themes that readers of his day found appealing, though he often professed to abhor the tastes of the majority of the people who read for pleasure in his time. In his critical works, Poe investigated and wrote about many of
11039-619: The former territory of New Netherland , including the city of New Amsterdam , when the Kingdom of England seized it from Dutch control. In the pre-Columbian era , the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquians , including the Lenape . Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking , included the present-day areas of Staten Island , Manhattan , the Bronx , the western portion of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens ), and
11172-427: The foster father finally disowning Poe. Poe then decided to leave West Point by intentionally getting court-martialed . On February 8, 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing to attend formations, classes, and church. Knowing he would be found guilty, Poe pleaded not guilty to the charges in order to induce dismissal. Poe left for New York in February 1831 and then released
11305-535: The highest mark of genius. In Poe's conception of the artist's life, the attainment of the concretization of beauty should be the ultimate goal. That which is unique is alone of value. Works with obvious meanings, he wrote, cease to be art. He believed that any work worthy of being praised should have as its focus a single specific effect. That which does not tend towards the effect is extraneous. In his view, every serious writer must carefully calculate each sentiment and idea in his or her work to ensure that it strengthens
11438-473: The ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay . Between New York City and Troy, New York , the river is an estuary . The Hudson River separates
11571-400: The imperfections in works other critics considered perfect, so as to hasten the evolution of literature, and in particular, American literature. A so-called “favorite target” of Poe's criticism was Boston's acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , who was defended by his friends, literary and otherwise, in what was later called, “The Longfellow War". Poe accused Longfellow of "the heresy of
11704-677: The island to England under the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674. Several intertribal wars among the Native Americans and epidemics brought on by contact with the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between 1660 and 1670. By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200. New York experienced several yellow fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone. In
11837-671: The last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000. Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order; however, he earned a reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church , and blocked other religious groups from establishing houses of worship. In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls , without bloodshed. The terms of
11970-545: The local population as a representative of the Dutch colonists. A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States , with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island . In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam , later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island. The colony of New Amsterdam extended from
12103-419: The most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London . The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity . The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance. Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and
12236-556: The mouth of the Hudson River , which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean , has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of the city is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. During the Wisconsin glaciation , 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet . The erosive forward movement of
12369-420: The mystery genre. Edgar Poe was born in Boston , Massachusetts , on January 19, 1809, the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English -born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe . He had an elder brother, Henry , and a younger sister, Rosalie . Their grandfather, David Poe, had emigrated from County Cavan , Ireland, around 1750. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died
12502-463: The nature of decomposition , the popular concerns of Poe's day about premature burial , the reanimation of the dead, are all at length explored in his more notable works. Many of his writings are generally considered to be part of the dark romanticism genre, which is said to be a literary reaction to transcendentalism , which Poe strongly criticized. He referred to followers of the transcendental movement, including Emerson, as "Frog-Pondians", after
12635-792: The next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore , Philadelphia , and New York City . In 1836, when he was 27, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm . She died of tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845, he published his poem " The Raven " to instant success. He planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn , later renamed The Stylus . But before it began publishing, Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under mysterious circumstances . The cause of his death remains unknown and has been attributed to many causes, including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse , and suicide. Poe's works influenced
12768-496: The only " transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality. In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave
12901-467: The past, often confuse the source of their ideas with their original thoughts, but most of his contemporaries found that interpretation incomprehensible, and continued to be antagonistic towards Poe. On January 29, 1845, Poe's poem," The Raven ,” appeared in the Evening Mirror and quickly became a popular sensation. It made Poe a household name almost instantly, though at the time, he was paid only $ 9 (equivalent to $ 294 in 2023) for its publication. It
13034-413: The patriotic cause. Freneau eventually became a crew member on a revolutionary privateer, and was captured in this capacity. He was held on a British prison ship for about six weeks. This experience, which almost killed him, was detailed in his work The British Prison Ship , which prompted many more patriotic and anti-British writings throughout the revolution and after. For this, he was named "The Poet of
13167-526: The policies promoted by Alexander Hamilton , and like other papers of the day, would not hesitate to shade into personal attacks, including President George Washington during his second term. Owing to The Gazette ' s frequent attacks on his administration and himself, Washington took a particular dislike to Freneau. Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works. He died at 80 years of age, frozen to death while returning to his home near Freehold, New Jersey , and
13300-441: The pond on Boston Common , and ridiculed their writings as "metaphor—run mad," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake". However, Poe once wrote in a letter to Thomas Holley Chivers that he did not dislike transcendentalists, "only the pretenders and sophists among them". Beyond the horror stories he is most famous for, Poe also wrote a number of satires , humor tales, and hoaxes. He
13433-673: The press in North America . In 1754, Columbia University was founded. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there. The Battle of Long Island , the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War , was fought in August 1776 within modern-day Brooklyn. A British rout of
13566-453: The pseudosciences that were then popular with the majority of his fellow Americans. They included, but were not limited to, the fields of astrology, cosmology, phrenology , and physiognomy . Poe's writings often reflect the literary theories he introduced in his prolific critical works and expounded on in such essays as, " The Poetic Principle ". He disliked didacticism and imitation masquerading as influence, believing originality to be
13699-583: The rank of sergeant major for artillery, the highest rank that a non-commissioned officer could achieve. He then sought to end his five-year enlistment early. Poe revealed his real name and his actual circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard, who promised to allow Poe to be honorably discharged if he reconciled with Allan. Poe then wrote a letter to Allan, who was unsympathetic and spent several months ignoring Poe's pleas. Allan may not have written to Poe to inform him of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829. Poe visited
13832-539: The region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland (' New Netherland '). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what became New York City was Juan Rodriguez , a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with
13965-434: The reputation of being a "tomahawk man". Poe's idea of criticism was not to praise prose or poetry that was obviously successful, and therefore could speak for itself, but to draw attention to what was not successful in the writings of even those he highly respected, his aim being to elevate the art of literature as a whole. Poe felt no need to praise what was already so obviously praiseworthy. Rather, he attempted to point out
14098-611: The southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street , where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids. In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit , as charged by the Dutch West India Company , purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie , a small Lenape band, for "the value of 60 guilders " (about $ 900 in 2018). A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan
14231-540: The story. Poe's success with cryptography relied not so much on his deep knowledge of that field (his method was limited to the simple substitution cryptogram ) as on his knowledge of the magazine and newspaper culture. His keen analytical abilities, which were so evident in his detective stories, allowed him to see that the general public was largely ignorant of the methods by which a simple substitution cryptogram can be solved, and he used this to his advantage. The sensation that Poe created with his cryptography stunts played
14364-507: The surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in the colony and allowed for religious freedom. In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War , the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname , which they had gained from the English, and in return the English kept New Amsterdam. The settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after
14497-503: The theme of the piece. Poe describes the method he employed while composing his most famous poem, “The Raven,” in an essay entitled " The Philosophy of Composition .” However, many of Poe's critics have questioned whether the method enunciated in the essay was formulated before the poem was written, or afterward, or, as T. S. Eliot is quoted as saying, "It is difficult for us to read that essay without reflecting that if Poe plotted out his poem with such calculation, he might have taken
14630-419: The tremendous success the magazine had achieved in the past year: "Perhaps the editors of no magazine, either in America or in Europe, ever sat down, at the close of a year, to contemplate the progress of their work with more satisfaction than we do now. Our success has been unexampled, almost incredible. We may assert without fear of contradiction that no periodical ever witnessed the same increase during so short
14763-404: The volumes received generally mixed reviews. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal called The Stylus , although he originally intended to call it The Penn , since it would have been based in Philadelphia. He bought advertising space for the prospectus in the June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post : "Prospectus of
14896-480: The works of Jules Verne , who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket called An Antarctic Mystery , also known as The Sphinx of the Ice Fields . And as the author H. G. Wells noted, " Pym tells what a very intelligent mind could imagine about the south polar region a century ago". In 2013, The Guardian cited Pym as one of the greatest novels ever written in
15029-597: The world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference to the year of U.S. independence . The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. New York City
15162-584: The world's largest natural harbors . The city comprises five boroughs , each coextensive with a respective county . The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area , the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area . New York is a global center of finance and commerce , culture , technology , entertainment and media , academics and scientific output ,
15295-493: The world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq . New York City is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023 , New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates and has by a wide margin the highest U.S. city residential rents; and Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in
15428-525: The world. New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists around 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York , before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674. New York City
15561-453: The world. New York City is home by a significant margin to the highest number of billionaires , individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$ 30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world. In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England ). James's elder brother, King Charles II , appointed the Duke as proprietor of
15694-426: The world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" The Mystery Writers of America have named their awards for excellence in the mystery genre "The Edgars ". Poe's work also influenced writings that would eventually come to be called "science fiction", notably
15827-467: Was James Madison , a relationship that would later contribute to his establishment as the editor of the National Gazette . Freneau family tradition suggests that Madison became acquainted with and fell in love with the poet's sister, Mary, during visits to their home while he was studying at Princeton. While tradition has it that Mary rejected Madison's repeated marriage proposals, this anecdote
15960-566: Was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included flooding that led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system and flooding of all East River subway tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel . The New York Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of 1888 . At least 43 people died in New York City as
16093-535: Was a haven for Loyalist refugees and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom promised by the Crown , with as many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation, the largest such community on the continent. When the British forces evacuated New York at the close of the war in 1783, they transported thousands of freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia , England, and
16226-399: Was a master of sarcasm. For comic effect, he often used irony and ludicrous extravagance in a deliberate attempt to liberate the reader from cultural and literary conformity. " Metzengerstein " is the first story that Poe is known to have published, and his first foray into horror, but it was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the popular genres of Poe's time. Poe was also one of
16359-539: Was a prime destination in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition . The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height. New York City became
16492-509: Was already damned)". The long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune , signed, “Ludwig" on the day Poe was buried in Baltimore . It was further published throughout the country. The obituary began, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." "Ludwig" was soon identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, and anthologist who had borne
16625-740: Was buried in what became the Philip Morin Freneau Cemetery on Poet's Drive in Matawan, New Jersey . His mother was also buried there but his wife was laid to rest at her family plot in Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery on what is now Route 516 and Main in Matawan. The non-political works of Freneau combined neoclassicism and romanticism. Although he is not as generally well known as Ralph Waldo Emerson or James Fenimore Cooper, Freneau introduced many themes and images for which later authors became famous. For example, Freneau's poem "The House of Night", one of
16758-667: Was concurrently published in The American Review: A Whig Journal under the pseudonym "Quarles". The Broadway Journal failed in 1846, and Poe then moved to a cottage in Fordham, New York , in the Bronx . That home, now known as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage , was relocated in later years to a park near the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road. Nearby, Poe befriended
16891-514: Was only 13. Poe was reinstated by White after promising to improve his behavior, and he returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained at the Messenger until January 1837. During this period, Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500. He published several poems, and many book reviews, critiques, essays, and articles, as well as a few stories in the paper. On May 16, 1836, he and Virginia were officially married at
17024-496: Was published and widely reviewed. In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine . He published numerous articles, stories, and reviews, enhancing the reputation he had established at the Messenger as one of America's foremost literary critics. Also in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though Poe received little remuneration from it and
17157-415: Was purchased for $ 24 worth of glass beads. Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly. To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen ( patroons , or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded land, local political autonomy, and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success. Since 1621,
17290-418: Was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia . They never formally adopted him, but he lived with them well into young adulthood. Poe attended the University of Virginia , but left after only a year due to a lack of money. He frequently quarreled with John Allan over the funds needed to continue his education as well as his gambling debts. In 1827, having enlisted in the United States Army under
17423-417: Was the U.S. capital from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs : Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens , the Bronx , and Staten Island . Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan , New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022 ,
17556-520: Was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof were later revealed as forgeries . Poe's best-known fiction works have been labeled as Gothic horror, and adhere to that genre's general propensity to appeal to the public's taste for the terrifying or psychologically intimidating. His most recurrent themes seem to deal with death. The physical signs indicating death,
17689-420: Was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord help my poor soul". All of the relevant medical records have been lost, including Poe's death certificate . Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of
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