Celebrate Poe

UVA, letter, middle name

Welcome to Episode 6 of Celebrate Poe – celebrating the life, works, and influence of America’s Shakespeare – Edgar Allan Poe.

Let’s jump right into part two of an exploration of the writer’s life at the University of Virginia. The writer did not really declare a major at the university, although it appears that his studies had a great deal to do with languages because of the fact that he signed up to attend classes in both the School of Ancient Languages and the School of Modern Languages. John Allan had wanted his foster son to attend the School of Mathematics to prepare his foster son for a place at his business. But Allan did not send enough money for three classes.

Most of Poe’s classmates remembered him as a good student due to his talents for quickly memorizing his lessons in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian. Classes each day ended at 9:30 in the morning, and the students had the rest of the day to themselves. Edgar filled that time with a wide range of pursuits. He spent a good deal of time in the temporary library (the Rotunda wasn’t finished until October of that year). The library records indicate Edgar was an eclectic reader, checking out a history of North America, a biography of George Washington, a volume of Voltaire’s works, and a book on plant biology. Some biographers speculate that Thomas Jefferson, the University’s founder and first president, may have frequented the same room.

In the afternoons, Edgar was reputed to have taken long solitary walks through the nearby hills, a recollection that is supported by his later story, “Tale of the Ragged Mountains.” On other days, he participated in field sports on the Lawn, the grassy area in front of the Rotunda. His fellow students say that he was local champion of the running broad jump with a personal best of 21 feet, 6 inches–or just 20 feet, depending on the teller. Despite his accomplishment, his friends recalled that he took part with a serious, even sad, expression, as if he got no enjoyment from the sport.

During the evenings, he would entertain his friends in his room, often reading the poetry of Byron or from his own tales. One of his stories had a hero named “Gaffy” and a friend of Poe’s felt it was comic in tone – in other words not like the serious and somber stories that Edgar usually wrote. He said that the hero’s name appeared too many times in the course of the story. Edgar then angrily threw the manuscript into the fire – Edgar did not have the best sense of humor.

Other times Edgar would halt his recitations and pick up a piece of charcoal to draw an illustration on the walls of his room. Several students remember seeing wild drawings on Edgar’s walls and some of them wondered whether he would become an artist or a poet.

It would be very interesting to strip away the white paint on the walls of his room to reveal the traces of this artwork, and possibly learn more about his imagination.

Like most college students, Edgar experimented with alcohol. Some of his friends felt that he drank to calm his restless and excitable spirit. Other friends felt that he had no real love for the taste, but threw it back in one gulp, an act that most often “used him up” in the sense that he rarely went back for more. A common belief today is that he did not really drink that much at all, but any drinking was quite obvious because he reacted intensely to alcohol. In any case, it is important to remember that his drinking in no way reflected what Rufus Griswold later wrote about Poe in Griswold’s slanderous, and unfortunately influential biography of the writer.

For example, the university’s librarian, himself a student, reported that he never saw Edgar under the influence of strong drink. This would indicate that any revels were likely limited to his evening entertainments and to his gambling visits in the village. One look at Edgar’s academic record shows that he his grades were too good for him to be constantly drunk.

During his time at the University of Virginia, it is likely that the writer composed “Tamerlane,” the long poem published a year later in Boston. Although the preface of “Tamerlane” claims the shorter poems were written during the author’s childhood, several biographers feel the maturity of the work indicate that at least some of the poems were composed during the writer’s stay at the university. Edgar was quite serious about writing, as opposed to the many college students who adopt the persona without actually putting anything on paper.

Other aspects of Edgar’s mindset during that time are somewhat harder to pin down. Some of these students said that he might be a delightful companion one moment and then aloof the next; others simply said that it was very difficult to get to know him in the first place. Three of his surviving letters to John Allan (two written during that year and one written five years later) also offer different views of Edgar the student. The first one is thankful for clothes (a uniform coat and striped cloth for pantaloons) and soap from home, while the second expresses fears about the upcoming exams and the fights taking place outside his door. The third adopts a much different tone and reveals how Allan seems to have undermined his foster son’s education from the start by not sending him with enough money to cover his initial expenses.

Many of the students at the school were sons of wealthy plantation owners, dressed extremely well, and had a great deal of spending money. Poe claims that he was viewed as a beggar because of this and was forced into borrowing money from local merchants for goods and services at high interest. Edgar started gambling to try and raise money, but ended up over 2,000 dollars in debt.

At the end of the term, John Allan paid only the debts that he felt were fair, creating a situation where Edgar could not return to Charlottesville without his remaining creditors issuing warrants against him. Plus, Edgar did not relish the prospect of facing the students that he owed money to, so it is understandable that he did not protest very much when John Allan refused to enroll him for the following session.

As a result, the writer’s hopes for a liberal education were lost, but this was not the only disappointment he experienced during that year. Before leaving Richmond, he became engaged to Elmira Royster, whose family lived near the Allan’s. Edgar’s letters to his fiancée went unanswered because they were intercepted by her father. Mr. Royster apparently felt his daughter was too young to be engaged at 16. Later that same year, however, she became engaged to another young man, news that may or may not have reached Edgar in Charlottesville. Some biographers take this interference on the part of Mr. Royster as an indication that he knew Edgar had fallen out of favor with John Allan, thus decreasing the student’s potential as a marriage prospect. We have no way of knowing whether John Allan deliberately under-funded his foster son’s education and then meddled in his love affair with Elmira Royster, but we can be certain that these matters weighed heavily on the young student’s mind while he was away to college, and quite likely affected the theme of loss love in his future writings.

More than likely, Edgar’s time at the university only strengthened his desire to become a man of letters, given his academic success and the popularity he enjoyed with his fellow students. Perhaps the most important impact of Edgar’s university days came from the financial difficulties he encountered there, which were the start of a recurring theme that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Even so, he was able to use that experience to achieve the escape velocity he needed to leave the Allan household and embark on his literary career. For the first time in his life, he lived in a place where his creative efforts were appreciated.

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Most of the works by the writer in this podcast will be either poetry (the area that was most important to Edgar) or his stories. But today I would like to read one of his letters from that Poe wrote at the University of Virginia to John Allan. The letter gives us insight into the writer’s emotional state during this period, as well as conditions at the University of Virginia.

September. 21st 1826

Dear Sir,

The whole college has been put in great consternation by the prospect of an examination–There is to be a general on the first of December, which will occupy the time of the students till the fifteenth–the time for breaking up–It has not yet been determined whether there will be any diplomas, or doctor’s degrees given–but I should hardly think there will be any such thing, as this is only the second year of the institution & in other colleges three and four years are required in order to take a degree–that is, that time is supposed to be necessary–altho [sic] they sometimes confer them before– if the applicants are qualified–

Tho’ [sic] it will hardly be fair to examine those who have only been here one session, with those who have been here two–and some of whom have come from other colleges–still I suppose I shall have to stand my exami- nation with the rest–

I have been studying a great deal in order to be prepared, and dare say I shall come off as well as the rest of them, that is–if I don’t get frightened–Perhaps you will have some business up here about that time, and then you can judge for yourself–

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.

We have had a great many fights up here lately– The faculty expelled Wickliffe last night for general bad conduct–but more especially for biting one of the student’s arms with whom he was fighting–I saw the Whole affair–it took place before my door–Wickliffe was much the stronger but not content with that–after getting the other completely in his power, he began to bite–I saw the arm afterwards–and it was really a serious matter–It was bitten from the shoulder to the elbow–and it is likely that pieces of flesh as large as my hand will be obliged to be cut out–He is from Kentucky –the same one that was in suspension when you were up here some time ago–Give my love to Ma and Miss Nancy–I remain,

Yours affectionatly [sic]

Edgar A. Poe

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In my last episode, I first mentioned the Raven Society – a prestigious group at the University of Virginia that is active academically and in the community.

In 1907, then President Alderman and the Board of Visitors charged the Society with the upkeep of Poe’s old room, 13 West Range. In 1924, Professor Edmund S. Campbell, head of the School of Architecture, led efforts to refurnish the room to make it look more like the student rooms of 1826. Then in the 1950s, the room was renovated again to link it even more closely with its former occupant. A. Churchill Young donated Poe’s old bed from the Allan house in Richmond. Today, the room looks much like it did during Poe’s brief stay at the University.

I would like to end this podcast with an email and question from a reader.

I really enjoy your podcast. But I have a question that might sound stupid – is it Edgar ALLAN Poe or Edgar ALLEN Poe – I have seen both ways

I appreciate your email – but in answer to your question – yours is not a stupid question at all. I say the only stupid question is the question you don’t ask. You would be surprised at the number of people who spell his name incorrectly as allEN. I have seen allEn in book titles, on videotapes, and on movie posters. And I have seen youtube videos dealing with the writer than obviously take a long time to do, but are marred by spelling the writer’s middle name with an E. There was even a beautiful commemorative engraving of Poe, prepared with special care in 1909, the hundredth anniversary of Poe’s birth, that spelled his middle name with an E. But remember that the middle name of America’s Shakespeare is A l l A n - That is Allan with TWO As.

From what I understand, Poe did not have a birth certificate, and he was simply born as Edgar Poe. In fact, neither his father nor grandfather had a middle name, so the lack of a middle name was sort of a family tradition. A curious exception pattern was Poe’s older brother, William Henry Leonard Poe, with not one but two middle names. The name Allan entered the picture when John Allan took Edgar in and served as his foster father. Although not legally adopted, Edgar became Edgar Allan Poe on January 7, 1812. As a child he was known as “Edgar Allan” or “Master Allan.”

During his lifetime, Poe showed a preference for signing his name as Edgar A. Poe” or “E. A. Poe. Some people feel this is because of Poe’s estrangement from John Allen, as though by not using his foster-father’s name, the writer would somehow psychologically distance the writer – but there is no real evidence of this. A few letters carry just the last name, “Poe.” In a few cases, such as the handwritten title page for “Phantasy Pieces,” he did sign his full name of Edgar Allan Poe. When he wrote personal letters, such as those to his mother-in-law Maria Clemm, he usually signed his name as Eddy.

Like so many things about our perceptions of the writer, Rufus Griswold even influenced the way we refer to America’s Shakespeare. After the writer’s death, two volumes of his collected writings were published as The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe (edited by R. W. Griswold, 1850). Since that time, it has become almost second nature to refer to the writer as Edgar Allan Poe.

And please email me at celebratepoe@gmail.com

That is celebratepoe (all one word)@gmail.com

Thank you for listening to this episode.

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