In honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s mother on the bicentennial of her death, a Richmond artist painted these two portraits of Eliza Poe. The first is closely based on the only surviving life portrait of Eliza Poe.
The second portrait was painted from the actress Debbie Phillips during one of her performances as Eliza Poe. This painting is currently hanging in the Poe Museum’s gift shop.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 is the bicentennial of the death of Edgar Allan Poe’s mother, Eliza Poe. Though Edgar was only two years old when he lost his mother, his “mournful and neverending remembrance” of her cast a shadow over his life and work. Although Eliza Poe’s fame has long been overshadowed by her famous son, she was actually a talented and popular actress in the early days of American theater.
In observance of the bicentennial, the Poe Museum hosted a lecture by renowned Poe scholar Richard Kopley, a performance by Eliza Poe interpreter Debbie Phillips, and an exhibit of rare artifacts related to her life and career. The weekend began with the Poe Illumination, in which the Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden came to life with thousands of lights and holiday decorations. Below is some video of the Poe Foundation’s President, Dr. Harry Lee Poe, speaking at Eliza Poe’s grave after having laid a wreath on her monument.
The exhibit devoted to Poe’s mother continues until April 1, 2012, so be sure not to miss it. In case you can’t attend in person, some of the artifacts from the exhibit can now be seen in our online collections database.
Edgar Allan Poe was not the first member of his family to bring fame to the Poe name. His mother, Eliza Poe, who died at the age of twenty-four when Edgar was only two, was a gifted actress and singer who performed throughout the country. Just in time for the bicentennial of her death, the Poe Museum is bringing together some of the few remaining artifacts associated with her life for the exhibit Poe’s Mother: The Untold Story, opening December 2, 2011 and running until April 1, 2012. The exhibit will pay tribute to the talented performer who blazed the trail for future American actresses in a day when acting was still considered immoral and an unsuitable profession for women. Among the artifacts on view will be original scripts from plays in which she performed and a copy of her marriage bond and her only known signature.
The exhibit opening on December 2 from 6-9 P.M. will feature a performance by Eliza Poe as performed by Debbie Phillips. The performance will include original songs Eliza Poe is known to have performed. Admission to the opening reception event is free, and warm drinks and live music will be available.
In 1887, the promising young artist James Carling was buried in a pauper’s grave in Liverpool. He was only twenty-nine. During his lifetime, he had been celebrated as the “Fastest Drawer in the World” and the “Lightning Caricaturist.” Though his “lightning” drawing skills had brought him from a childhood in poverty on the streets of Liverpool to the acclaim of audiences throughout the United States, he aspired to something greater. Carling sought to outdo the world’s most popular illustrator, the French artist Gustave Dore, by illustrating Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” better than Dore had done in his own celebrated illustrated 1882 edition of the poem.
Comparing his illustrations to Dore’s, Carling wrote, “Concerning ‘The Raven,’ I have been ‘dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.’ As well as Dore, I have illustrated ‘The Raven.’ Our ideas are as wide as the poles. Dore’s are beautiful; there is a tranquil loveliness in them unusual to Dore. Mine are stormier, wilder and more weird; they are horrible; I have reproduced mentality and phantasm. Not one of the ideas were ever drawn before. I feel that Poe would have said that I have been faithful to his idea of the ‘Raven,’ for I have followed his meaning so close as to be merged into his individuality. The series will be more numerous than Dore’s.”
In spite of (or perhaps because of) their originality and weirdness, Carling’s illustrations remained unpublished at the time of his death. He entrusted the drawings to his brother Henry, himself a successful artist. Over fifty years later, in 1930, Henry Carling exhibited the drawings, which were received with such enthusiasm that, six years later, the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia purchased them, for display in a “Raven Room.” Many a long-time Richmonder recalls with a shudder the time, decades ago, they were terrified by the “Raven Room” filled with James Carling’s masterful illustrations. After forty years on display at the Poe Museum, the drawings were taken down and placed in storage to protect them from damage by light and humidity. For some time the drawings were replaced with small black-and-white reproductions, which, over time, were also removed to make way for other exhibits. Since the 1970s the complete set of James Carling’s illustrations for “The Raven” have been in storage, but in January 2012 in honor of Poe’s 203rd birthday and the Poe Museum’s 90th anniversary, the Poe Museum will once again display Carling’s masterpiece for the first time in a generation. The exhibit will open on January 14, 2012 and will continue until May 1, 2012, after which the artwork will return to storage to prevent further deterioration so that the drawings may be safely exhibited for the enjoyment of future generations.
It’s that time of year again. Kids are wearing costumes, decorating pumpkins, and hunting for candy. On October 29, they can do all those things and more while getting an introduction to great literature at the same time by coming to Poe’s Pumpkin Patch at the Poe Museum. The event runs from noon until 5 P.M. and is included in the price of Poe Museum admission. The Poe-themed games include a mummy wrapping contest inspired by “Some Words with a Mummy,” a black cat pinata inspired by “The Black Cat,” a treasure hunt inspired by “The Gold Bug” and “The Purloined Letter,” and more. A costume contest will allow guests to show off their costumes, and pumpkin decorating will be available for them to exercise their creativity. So make sure your kids grow up weird by bringing them to Poe’s Pumpkin Patch on October 29.
Think Poe was morbid because he wrote so often about death in poems like “Annabel Lee,” “The Raven,” and “Lenore?” Such poems about death and mourning were actually fairly common in the nineteenth century. With high infant mortality rates and the inability to combat diseases like tuberculosis (which claimed Poe’s mother, foster mother, brother, and wife), death was very much a part of everyday life. One in four children in Poe’s time died in infancy, and many women died in childbirth. Consequently, almost everyone knew someone who had died young. In this light, Poe’s poems about the deaths of loved ones seem less the reflections of a morbid imagination than common experiences shared by many of his contemporaries.
From October 6 until November 30, 2011, the Poe Museum will honor the anniversary of Poe’s Death (October 7, 1849) with an exhibit devoted to the elaborate mourning rituals people of Poe’s era followed after the death of a loved one. The exhibit “Death and Mourning in the Age of Poe” features dozens of unique artifacts, including post mortem photographs, a post mortem portrait, a tear catcher, mourning jewelry, mourning stationery and mourning art from the private collection of Mary Brett, author of Fashionable Mourning Jewelry, Clothing, and Customs. The exhibit will show how Poe’s feelings about death and grief, expressed in his poetry, were typical for his time. The exhibit will complement related items in the Poe Museum’s permanent collection, including a lock of hair taken from Poe’s head after his death and a reproduction of a post mortem portrait of Poe’s wife.
The exhibit will open from 6-9 P.M. on October 6 during the Poe Museum’s annual observance of the anniversary of Poe’s death. During the opening, visitors can listen to the authors of the new horror anthology Richmond Macabre read from their work, listen to DJ Sean Lovelace play creepy music on a theremin, explore the Poe Museum’s permanent exhibits, or see the new temporary exhibit The Raven, Terror & Death. Admission to the exhibit opening and Poe Memorial Service are free.
If you missed last summer’s unique tour/performance of Richmond’s historic Shockoe Hill Cemetery, you’re not alone because every performance was sold out in advance, causing many people to miss this rare opportunity. That’s why Edgar Poe, the Allans, Elmira Shelton, Jane Stanard, and the rest of Poe’s Richmond family and friends are returning for five more performances this September 22-24. Don’t miss what could be the last opportunity to walk in Poe’s footsteps as he (portrayed by Chris Patrick) guides you through the historic final resting place of many of his closest friends while reliving pivotal moments from his life either in the places they occured or next to the graves of those involved.
For the event, the Poe Museum is teaming up again with the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery and Haunts of Richmond. The performances will be held at 8 P.M. on September 22 and at 6:30 and 8:00 P.M. on September 23 and 24. Admission is $18 for adults and $15 for children under 14. Each tour is limited to 25 people, so book now to reserve your spot. Purchase tickets at http://hauntsofrichmond.com/whatsnew.htm#homecoming or call 888-21-EAPOE for more information.
Here is a scene from a previous performance:
Here is the latest newsletter from the Poe Museum featuring updates on educational programs, exhibits, and a Poe Museum staff member whose short story was just published in a new horror anthology.
PoeMuseumSummer2011newsletter
The theme for our July Unhappy Hour centered on Poe’s classic tale of wine and revenge, “The Cask Of Amontillado”. Since Poe’s tale is set in Italy during “the supreme madness of the Carnival season,” we decided to celebrate with a little carnival of our own in the Enchanted Garden.
It was a very hot and humid night, but we had lots of wonderful folks brave the heat to enjoy the festivities anyway and it was well worth the effort.
Local band Beggars of Life provided the perfect musical accompaniment to the evening. Here is a video of Lulu, Phineas Figg and Stinky Patterson in action in front of the Poe Shrine (video courtesy of Jason Morris):
In addition to our usual food and cash bar, we had many wonderful activities including:
* A Fortune Teller – the fabulous Madame Stephania who gave tarot readings to all who crossed her palm with silver (or carnival tickets)
* People also had the opportunity to make their own carnival masks or get their faces painted
* Thanks to the lovely Heather from The Wine Seller – people even had a chance to participate in an Amontillado tasting. They also got to learn how much wine is actually in a “pipe” of amontillado (130 gallons or 656 bottles of wine) and did NOT have to worry about getting walled up in a basement to do so!
* We also had many carnival games including a chance to dig for buried treasure, coffin races, a black cat ring toss and a Wheel of MISfortune (this is a Poe-themed event, after all).
Some people even wore their own masks to the event!
People really got into the Carnival spirit and had a great time in the middle of July.
This carnival looks like it may become an annual event – so keep an eye out for it next year.
If you’d like to see more pictures from the event, check out the Poe Museum’s flickr group here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/poemuseum/.
There is also VIDEO of the festivities on the Poe Museum’s very own YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/PoeMuseum?feature=mhee#p/u/1/9EYcSkZ2qlo. Check it out and subscribe as more videos will be posted soon! (Maybe even a few from past events!)
And get ready for our next Unhappy Hour, which is coming up on August 25th. The theme will be based on Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom” and will feature sea shanties with Bob Zentz and other nautical activities.
Some of Poe’s most popular tales of terror were inspired by true events. One example is “The Pit and the Pendulum,” which tells of the story of a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, an infamous program of trials in which the judges were allowed to use torture to extract confessions from the accused. Poe sets this story in a torture chamber during the Spanish Inquisition. He may have been inspired by a paragraph in Thomas Dick’s Philosophy of Religion (1825): “On entry of the French into Toldeo during the late Peninsular War, General Lasalle visited the Palace of the Inquisition. The great number of instruments of torture, especially the instruments to stretch the limbs, and the drop baths, which cause a lingering death, excited horror, even in the minds of soldiers hardened in the field of battle.” Poe’s story ends with Lasalle entering the Palace of the Inquisition and rescuing one of the prisoners. Poe imagines a series of terrifying events leading up to that conclusion.
In composing his story, Poe describes tortures that differ from those actually used by the Inquisition. In one room, for example, the victim is placed in a dark room with a seemingly bottomless pit and burning walls that close in on him. In another room, the man is tied to a table over which a sharp blade swings, gradually lowering until it almost chops him in half. Through a combination of luck and intelligence, the prisoner is able to narrowly escape each challenge set before him.
After the French invasion of Spain in 1808, Joseph Bonaparte briefly suppressed the Inquisition and appointed Llorente to take over the Inquisitions archives and to write its history. This work was published in 1812. When the Spanish drove out the French, Llorente moved to Paris where he issued a French translation of his history of the Inquisition. By 1826, two English translations were published. Any of these could have been Poe’s sources for research while writing “The Pit and the Pendulum.” The Spanish Inquisition finally ended in 1834, just eight years before Poe wrote his story, so reports of the terrors of that time would still have been fresh in the minds of the public.
The Poe Museum’s new exhibit, “The Pit and the Pendulum: Fact and Fiction,” recreates a scene from Poe’s story and brings together a rare first printing of the tale, illustrations by Harry Clarke, Mark Summers, and others, as well as translations of the work into other languages.
The show runs until August 30 in the Poe Museum’s Exhibits Building.
On June 4th, as part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival, the boutique cinema experience, The Flicker Club, will kick off a day of celebrations to honor former London N16 resident, American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The day will culminate in the unveiling of a permanent statue of the undisputed master of the horror story on the site of Manor House School on Stoke Newington Church Street, which he attended from 1818 to 1820 from the age of nine.
The day long event will start with a light-hearted panel discussion on Poe, his work and his legacy, which will include references to his work on The Simpsons to having an American football club named after his poem ‘The Raven’. The panel will include horror and fantasy writer Stephen Jones, author Christopher Fowler, crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw, science fiction author Pat Cadigan, short story writer Nicholas Royle and journalist, film critic, and fiction writer Kim Newman
This will be followed a screening of Steven Berkoff’s “The Tell Tale Heart” introduced by Berkoff himself.
At approximately 6pm outside The Fox Reformed on Church Street, exactly on the site of the old school house, a specially commissioned bust of Edgar Allan Poe by artist Ralph Perrott will be unveiled by Steven Berkoff.
The celebrations will then continue into the evening with Tin Shed Theatre Company presenting Edgar Allan Poe’s Terrifying Tales.
To end the day there will be a screening of Roger Corman’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ as a tribute to both Edgar Poe and also to Vincent Price on the centenary of his birth.
Throughout there will be an Edgar Allan Poe exhibition at Stoke Newington Town Hall from the private collection of Peter Fawn which will include hand written letters to the original art work from Marvel’s Batman vs Edgar Allan Poe
All guests will get the regular Flicker treatment of a drinks reception, copies of the source material and limited edition copies of the poster artwork by Royal Academy Artist Emma Molony.
The Flicker Club is a boutique cinema club that redefines the film-going experience by creating a unique way of rediscovering cinematic treasures. They screen movies adapted from short stories or novels and thus celebrate the power of the written word and the silver screen
The club invites surprise special guests from the worlds of entertainment and literature to read the source material before showing its big-screen incarnation. This is also an opportunity of experiencing the process of adaption at first hand.
Every month, the flicker club collaborates with an artist for the event to reinterpret the film poster and create a bespoke flickbook for the event. Previous artists have included Tommy Penton, Kate Gibb, Jo Ratcliffe, Michael Gillette, Shiv, Dan Canyon, Rob Ryan, Adrian Johnson & Graham Humphries.
The Flicker Club was set up in conjunction with FilmMAD, the cinematic branch of the Make a Difference Trust; established to support people facing hardship as a result of HIV and AIDS in Africa. All profits go directly to them. http://theflickerclub.com/
The Statue
The Statue of Edgar Allan Poe was made by the sculptor, Ralph Perrott. It is made in clay and cast in durable resin with stone facade. His company ‘Talisman’ have previously been commissioned to make busts of celebrated figures as diverse Lawrence of Arabia and Terry Gilliam, which was recently featured in The Evening Standard. This is the second time that Talisman has created a bust of Edgar Poe. The previous commission was for the 1999 Poe festival in Prague. Talisman have presented sculpting workshops at The Imperial War Museum. The company specializes in military figurines.
Stoke Newington Literary Festival
Stoke Newington Literary Festival was set up in 2010 to celebrate the area’s history as a gathering place for dissenters, radical thinkers and writers including Daniel Defoe, Mary Wollstonecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and Anna Laetitia Barbauld. It’s a non-profit venture which aims to raise money for literacy initiatives within Hackney.
In its inaugural year, Tony Benn, Prof AC Grayling, Shappi Khorsandi, China Mieville, Iain Sinclair, Jeremy Hardy, Toby Litt and Edwyn Collins joined us for what was to become a sell-out weekend.
This year, as well as the Edgar Allen Poe strand, we’re joined by Alexei Sayle, Jon Ronson, Elif Shafak, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Suzanne Moore, Dan Cruikshank, Shaun Keaveny, Paul Morley, Alex Wheatle, Oliver Jeffers and many more in a programme that covers the area’s role in the growth of reggae & ska, a celebration of Mary Wollstonecraft, African Diaspora writing and an event about bicycles.
Poe’s description of Stoke Newington:
“a dream like and spirit soothing place, that venerable old town. At this moment, I fancy, I feel the refreshing chilliness of its deeply-shadowed avenues, inhale the fragrance of its thousand shrubberies, and thrill anew with indefinable delight, at the deep hollow note of the church-bell, breaking, each hour, with sullen and sudden roar, upon the stillness of the dusky atmosphere in which the fretted gothic steeple lay imbedded and asleep…..
Poe’s description of St Mary’s Church in Stoke Newington which still stands:
…Of this church the principal of our school was the pastor…..This reverend man, with countenance so demurely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely powdered, so rigid and so vast, – could this be he who, of late, with sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand, the Draconian laws of the academy? Oh gigantic paradox, too utterly monstrous for solution!”
Vincent Price will be turning 100 on May 27, so the Poe Museum will celebrate his birthday with cake and a special display of memorabilia from some of Price’s eleven films based on Poe’s works. Here is a photo of Vincent Price’s birthday cake to be served at the May 26 Unhappy Hour.
