“Quoth the Raven, ‘Wahoowa!’”
Today, February 14th, marks the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s enrollment at the University of Virginia. Poe entered the University in 1826 as a part of its second class, appearing 136th out of 177 students on UVA’s matriculation list.i
Construction on Virginia’s first public University began in 1817 and was completed in 1825.ii Thomas Jefferson envisioned his new university as an academic community, as he famously declared “[The] University should not be an [sic] house but a village.”iii Poe may have encountered Jefferson on the campus grounds, as Jefferson regularly visited the school from nearby Monticello. On July 4th, 1826, Poe would have learned of the death of the University’s founder in his modern languages class. Upon the news of Jefferson’s passing, the University’s bells tolled for the first time, signaling not only a significant loss for the school but also for the nation.
At the time of his enrollment, Poe’s relationship with his foster father, John Allan, was strained. Although Allan had recently inherited a substantial fortune from his late uncle, William Galt, he refused to fully finance Poe’s education. In a letter to Allan written in 1831, Poe detailed the financial strain of his university expenses:
The expences of the institution at the lowest estimate were $350 per annum. You sent me there with $110. Of this $50 were to be paid immediately for board — $60 for attendance upon 2 professors — and you even then did not miss the opportunity of abusing me because I did not attend 3. Then $15 more were to be paid for room-rent — remember that all this was to be paid in advance, with $110. — $12 more for a bed — and $12 more for room furniture.iv
Despite Allan exhorting Poe to enroll in three classes, Poe enrolled in two: George Long’s class of Ancient Languages (Greek and Latin) and George Blaettermann’s Modern Languages class (French, German, Italian, and Spanish). He attended his ancient languages class on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays and modern languages on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays.v Professor Long, who also instructed Robert Browning, later recalled:
If Poe was at the University of Virginia in 1826, he was probably in my class which was the largest. … The beginning of the University of Virginia was very bad. There were some excellent young men, and some of the worst that ever I knew. … I remember the name of Poe, but the remembrance is very feeble; and if he was in my class, he could not be among the worst, and perhaps not among the best or I should certainly remember him.vi
Poe proved himself an exceptional student, excelling particularly well in his French and Latin exams. He frequented the library often, checking out titles such as Charles Rollin’s Histoire Ancienne and Histoire Romaine; William Robertson, The History of America; Nicholas Gouin Dufief, Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man, selected works by Voltaire, and John Marshall’s, The Life of George Washington.vii Poe’s classmates recalled his early literary foundations stating that he “was fond of quoting poetic authors and reading poetic productions of his own”viii Poe also made sure to join extracurriculars, becoming the secretary of the Jefferson Literary Society.ix
Yet the University of Virginia was far from the studious “village” idealized by its founder. In letters to his foster father, the young scholar described the nascent beginnings of the institution. Disturbances and rowdiness were commonplace from gunfights, stone-throwing skirmishes, students fleeing into the woods to evade authorities, and frequent suspensions and expulsions. One of the first students expelled, James Albert Clarke, had been Poe’s classmate at boarding school.x
Later in the term, a brawl erupted outside Poe’s dorm. During the fight, Charles Wickcliff bit a chunk of flesh from another student and was promptly expelled.xi Poe himself was involved in a skirmish with classmate Miles George. It is unknown what caused the two to fight in a nearby field, but George later described the altercation as “a mere boyish affair, forgotten as soon as over, leaving no unfriendly or unkind feelings behind.”xii Shortly after the brawl, Poe changed dorms from the western range facing the inner courtyard to the slightly more secluded No. 13 West Range, supposed by another classmate Thomas Goode Tucker to find some solitude.xiii
In his dorm, Poe would often entertain guests; reciting poetry from famous authors and works of his own.xiv One of the earliest stories we know of that Poe wrote, an unpublished and now lost story called “Gaffy,” was read to his college friends. They joked that Poe said the protagonist’s name too often and gave Poe the nickname “Gaffy” Poe.xv
Allan visited Poe at least once during his time at UVA, and despite their increasingly strained relationship, Poe wrote home frequently with updates on his studies and campus life. Like many of us during our college years, Poe wrote home asking for the essentials “Will you be so good as to send me a copy of the Historiæ of Tacitus — it is a small volume — also some more soap.”xvi He also reported on the campus’ construction ”They have nearly finished the Rotunda — The pillars of the Portico are completed and it greatly improves the appearance of the whole — The books are removed into the library — and we have a very fine collection.”xvii
Through these updates, however, financial tension simmered between the two. Poe’s debts for what he termed “necessary expenses” accumulated throughout the school year. Allan exacerbated these debts by purchasing mathematics books for Poe, even though he was not enrolled in any math classes, and threatened to remove Poe from institution if he did not accept them. Poe lamented to Allan on being lumped in with other “beggars” at the university. Poe, unlike other students who were “drunk or extravagant”, was alone in the cause financial ruin “because it was my crime to have no one on Earth who cared for me, or loved me”xviii After unsuccessful appeals to Allan and James Galt for money, in a fit of desperation, Poe resorted to gambling, falling deeper into debt.
Poe took his final examination on December 4th and 5th of that year. His Ancient Languages exam was proctored by future presidents James Madison and James Monroe as well as Joseph Cabell and John Hartwell Cocke. He returned to Richmond shortly before Christmas, expecting a reunion with his fiancée, Elmira Royster, after nine months of silence. Instead, he discovered that she was engaged to another man. Poe had written to Elmira throughout his time in Charlottesville, but her father, disapproving of the engagement, had intercepted the letters, leading Elmira to believe Poe had forgotten her. She soon married Alexander Shelton and would not reconnect with her college love until the end of his life.
Although Poe’s collegiate experience was far from idyllic, the eleven months he spent in Charlottesville proved formative for his literary development. During this period, he began drafting his earliest short stories, and the Blue Ridge landscape would later inspire the setting of “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains.” Two centuries later, his brief and turbulent year at the University of Virginia stands as a crucial chapter in the formation of one of America’s most enduring literary voices.
For more sources on Poe’s time spent at UVA, check out recollections from his classmates:
William Wertenbaker
- “Edgar A. Poe” – 1869
Thomas Goode Tucker
- “Old Oddity Papers – IV” – 1880
Miles George
- Letter to the Richmond State editor – 1880
William Burwell
Peter Pindar Pease
i Matriculation Books (University of Virginia) V.1 (1825-1855).
ii https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/timeline-founding-university-virginia
iii Thomas Jefferson to Littleton W. Tazewell, 5 January 1805.
ivEdgar Allan Poe to John Allan — January 3, 1831, https://www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p3101030.htm.
v Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson, “Chapter 02,” The Poe Log (1987), 68.
vi Thomas and Jackson, “Chapter 02,” The Poe Log (1987), 68.
vii Thomas and Jackson, “Chapter 02,” The Poe Log (1987), 67-109. It was possible Poe had encountered Marshall in Richmond. Poe lived within walking distance of Marshall’s home and both men attended services at Monumental Church.
viii Thomas and Jackson, “Chapter 02,” The Poe Log (1987), 69.
ix Thomas and Jackson, “Chapter 02,” The Poe Log (1987), 74.
x Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — May 25, 1826, https://www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p2605250.htm.
xiEdgar Allan Poe to John Allan — September 21, 1826, https://www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p2609210.htm.
xii Miles George, Richmond State, May 22, 1880. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1851/18800522.htm
xiii Douglass Sherley “Old Oddity Papers — IV,” Virginia University Magazine, April 1880.
https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1851/oop18802.htm
xiv Miles George, Richmond State, May 22, 1880. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1851/18800522.htm
xv Douglass Sherley “Old Oddity Papers — IV,” Virginia University Magazine, April 1880. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1851/oop18802.htm
xviEdgar Allan Poe to John Allan — May 25, 1826
xvii https://www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p2609210.htm
xviii Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — January 3, 1831, https://www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p3101030.htm