Chapter Edgar Allan Poe of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

in 1847. But the journalistic career which had begun so promisingly was interrupted by the habits of indulgence which were to prove the ruin of Poe. In January, 1837, he lost his position on the Messenger and removed to New York. In 1838, he published his longest story, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.

In Philadelphia.

Philadelphia now seemed to offer Poe a better opportunity for success; and, in the summer of 1838, he proceeded thither. Here the poet seems to have made a successful effort to recover his self-control. For a long period he appears to have refrained altogether from the use of wine.

This is the period of Poe's strongest work. The Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque were published in two volumes at the end of 1839 -- two years after the appearance of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales. In his critical reviews of this period, Poe is even more independent and emphatic than in the Messenger articles. He made a notorious attack upon Longfellow, repeated at various times, charging the New England poet with gross plagiarism. While longfellow bore Poe's attacks with unfailing equanimity, this was not the case with all who suffered; not a few of his victims became bitter personal enemies of the imperious reviewer.

The Analytical Tales.

Poe now enters a new field of fiction, of which he may be regarded as the discoverer; this is the story in which a mystery is apparently solved by analysis and reason. The modern detective story is our present popular example of the type. Poe's analytical powers were remarkable. When the opening chapters of Dickens's novel Barnaby Rudge appeared, Poe forecast from them the entire plot of the novel. The solution of papers written in cipher (cryptographs) was a favorite pastime with him. He declared that no one could invent a cipher that he could not solve; and at one period he was kept busy deciphering specimens of enigmatic productions of this sort. It was in 1841 that Poe's masterpiece in this kind of fiction, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, appeared. This was followed by another narrative, The Mystery of Marie Roget, in which the author applied his method in the study of an actual murder mystery which occurred in New York. In 1843 was published The Gold Bug, the third in this group of realistic narratives, the most popular of all his tales. This, also, was a competitive story and brought its writer a second one- hundred-dollar prize.

Again an Editor.

Again Poe enjoyed unusual advantages. In 1839, he became associate editor of Burton's Magazine, one of the most successful periodicals of the time. But he quarreled with his principal and lost his position before the close of 1840. Within a month or two, however, he had been made the editor of Graham's Magazine, as important a publication as Burton's; and then, for some irregularity the nature of which is unknown, again he was discharged. Although all evidence indicates that Poe had fairly conquered his old vice of intemperance during these years, there is unhappily other evidence that he was using opium. The main cause of his journalistic failures, however, probably lay in the temperament of the man himself. Eccentric, irritable, self-willed, as audacious in his treatment of others as he was sensitive to their treatment of him, it is not strange that this singular man, who did not lack admirers or friends, was unable to retain business associations with them. In society, when he chose to enter it, both in Philadelphia and later in New York, he was a marked figure. He was often serious and silent; but his broad and pallid brow, large piercing eyes, his gracious manner when he did converse, and his remarkably melodious voice gave a peculiar charm to his presence. In his home, to both wife and mother, he was the embodiment of kindness and tenderness.

In New York.

From Philadelphia, the Poes removed to New York in 1844, and the struggle for existence became acute. In the course of the first year of residence in New York, Poe made the acquaintance of Willis, the most