Written by Rob Velella, August 17, 2009, as part of "The Edgar A. Poe Calendar: 365 Days of the Master of the Macabre and the Mystery"
Edgar Poe presented an evening lecture on August 17, 1849, in Richmond titled "The Poetic Principle." The lecture, which adapted a similar one presented in Providence, Rhode Island in December 1848, was held at the Exchange Hotel. It began at 8:00 p.m. and admission was 25 cents. Poe spoke to a room filled to capacity.
Poe's appearance was a highly-anticipated event in the city which embraced him as one of their own. One newspaper proudly hailed him as "a ...
history
Birth of Virginia Clemm
Written by Rob Velella, August 15, 2009, as part of "The Edgar A. Poe Calendar: 365 Days of the Master of the Macabre and the Mystery"
Happy birthday to Virginia Eliza Clemm, who was born August 15, 1822.* She would have been 195 today.
What more can be said about Virginia that hasn't been said here already? I've written about the only surviving letter from Poe to his wife, their unusual marriage (and uncertain anniversary date), and Valentine's poem she wrote to her husband — just to name a few. Today, I'd like to introduce the Poe work which is most inspired ...
Poe’s Place In Literary History
Written by Rob Velella, August 14, 2009, as part of "The Edgar A. Poe Calendar: 365 Days of the Master of the Macabre and the Mystery"
Poe's place in literary history is occasionally questioned. Should he be considered a master of American literature? Does he deserve a place in the canon? Is he really important? I might be biased so take my opinion with a grain of salt (this post will shift away from my more academic tone and may, in fact, turn into starry-eyed gushing over my favorite author). Here's my argument: even if you remove the quality of Poe's work from the equation, Poe is one ...
Poe and the Early Development of Photography
*This essay is part of Murray Ellison’s Master’s Thesis from Virginia Commonwealth University on Edgar Allan Poe and Science©
In 1840, Poe became a writer for Alexander’s Weekly Messenger and published three essays on the newly emerging image copying process, then known as the Daguerreotype. This technology was the earliest prototype for modern photography. Alan Trachtenberg in, Classic Essays on Photography, reprints Poe’s essays on the daguerreotype and calls them among the earliest commentaries on the processing of film. Trachtenberg writes that as early as 1828, M. Nicephore Niepce ...
