Joel Miles Porte (November 13, 1933 – June 1, 2006) was an American literary scholar , who was an internationally renowned authority on the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson .
141-527: Porte was born in Brooklyn, New York , to "impecunious and unpedigreed" second-generation Russian Jewish immigrants and was raised there with his two brothers. Intellectually curious from an early age, he mastered Morse code and obtained, at the age of fourteen, a licence to operate the radio station W2YIR. Attending the selective public Brooklyn Technical High School , Porte excelled not only in English but also in
282-563: A Norton Critical Edition (2001). The last two of these were co-edited with Saundra Morris , a former student of his from Cornell who now teaches at Bucknell . Porte's critical editions of Emerson's works have been staples of college reading lists in the United States, but his influence spread much farther afield. In 2002, the French Ministry of Education decided to prescribe the Norton for
423-433: A Pakistani enclave. Brooklyn's most populous racial group, white, declined from 97.2% in 1930 to 46.9% by 1990. The borough attracts people previously living in other cities in the United States. Of these, most come from Chicago , Detroit , San Francisco , Washington, D.C. , Baltimore , Philadelphia , Boston , Cincinnati , and Seattle . Given New York City's role as a crossroads for immigration from around
564-438: A Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21. In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia , where he lived at four different residences between 1838 and 1844, one of which at 532 N. 7th Street has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark . That same year, Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
705-551: A humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ), with partial shielding from the Appalachian Mountains and moderating influences from the Atlantic Ocean . Brooklyn receives plentiful precipitation all year round, with nearly 50 in (1,300 mm) yearly. The area averages 234 days with at least some sunshine annually, and averages 57% of possible sunshine annually, accumulating 2,535 hours of sunshine per annum. Brooklyn lies in
846-527: A 14-block area in 1890. On the southwestern waterfront of Kings County, railroads and industrialization spread to Sunset Park (then coterminous with the city's sprawling, sparsely populated Eighth Ward) and adjacent Bay Ridge (hitherto a resort-like subsection of the Town of New Utrecht ). Within a decade, the city had annexed the Town of New Lots in 1886; the Towns of Flatbush , Gravesend and New Utrecht in 1894; and
987-544: A 40-page collection of poetry titled Tamerlane and Other Poems , attributed only to "A Bostonian". 50 copies were printed, and the book received virtually no attention. Poe's 1st Regiment of Artillery was posted to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina , before embarking on the brig Waltham on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted tradesman tasked with preparing shells for artillery. His monthly pay doubled. Poe served for two years, attaining
1128-536: A diamond ring on every finger. It is believed that only twelve copies have survived of Poe's first book Tamerlane and Other Poems . In December 2009, one copy sold at Christie's auctioneers in New York City for $ 662,500, a record price paid for a work of American literature. Eureka: A Prose Poem , an essay written in 1848, included a cosmological theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80 years, as well as
1269-461: A dormitory. Allan did send additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased. Poe gave up on the university after a year, but did not feel welcome to return to Richmond, especially when he learned that his sweetheart, Royster, had married another man, Alexander Shelton. Instead, he traveled to Boston in April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper contributor. Poe started using
1410-473: A few stories with a Philadelphia publication and began work on his only drama, Politian . The Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded him a prize in October 1833 for his often overlooked short story " MS. Found in a Bottle ". The tale brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy , a Baltimorean of considerable means who helped Poe place some of his other stories and introduced him to Thomas W. White, editor of
1551-561: A form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder. Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold , wrote a slanted, high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that cast Poe as a lunatic, and which described him as a person who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned in passionate prayers, (never for himself, for he felt, or professed to feel, that he
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#17328588475901692-537: A grudge against Poe since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death. Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he included in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There he depicted Poe as a depraved, drunken, drug-addled madman, including some of Poe's "letters" as evidence. Many of his claims were either outright lies or obvious distortions; for example, there
1833-453: A hill near the west end of present-day Atlantic Avenue , was reported to have emotionally exclaimed: "What brave men I must this day lose!". The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, leaving the British in control of New York Harbor . While Washington's defeat on the battlefield cast early doubts on his ability as
1974-504: A land area of 69.38 square miles (179.7 km ) and a water area of 27.48 square miles (71.2 km ), Kings County is the state of New York's fourth-smallest county by land area and third smallest by total area. Brooklyn was founded by the Dutch in the 17th century and grew into a busy port city on New York Harbor by the 19th century. On January 1, 1898, after a long political campaign and public-relations battle during
2115-673: A little more pains over it: the result hardly does credit to the method." Biographer Joseph Wood Krutch described the essay as "a rather highly ingenious exercise in the art of rationalization". During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic. The vast majority of Edgar Allan Poe's writings are nonfictional. Contemporary critic James Russell Lowell called him, “the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America,” suggesting—rhetorically—that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink. Poe's often caustic reviews earned him
2256-501: A living as a writer were mostly unsuccessful. However, he eventually managed to earn a living by his pen alone, becoming one of the first American authors to do so. His efforts were initially hampered by the lack of an international copyright law . American publishers often chose to sell unauthorized copies of works by British authors rather than pay for new work written by Americans, regardless of merit. The initially anemic reception of Edgar Allan Poe's work may also have been influenced by
2397-726: A longstanding cultural lineage include Canarsie , Sea Gate , and Crown Heights , home to the Chabad world headquarters. Neighborhoods with largely defunct yet historically notable Jewish populations include central Flatbush, East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York, Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay (particularly its Madison subsection). Many hospitals in Brooklyn were started by Jewish charities, including Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park and Brookdale Hospital in East Flatbush. According to
2538-508: A major role in supplying troops and materiel for the American Civil War . The best-known regiment to be sent off to war from the city was the 14th Brooklyn "Red Legged Devils" . They fought from 1861 to 1864, wore red the entire war, and were the only regiment named after a city. President Abraham Lincoln called them into service, making them part of a handful of three-year enlisted soldiers in April 1861. Unlike other regiments during
2679-674: A page saying, "To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated". It once again reprinted the somewhat lengthy poems, “Tamerlane,” and “Al Araaf,” while also including six previously unpublished poems, conspicuous among which are, “ To Helen ", and " The City in the Sea ". Poe returned to Baltimore and to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder brother Henry had been seriously ill for some time, in part due to complications resulting from alcoholism, and he died on August 1, 1831. After his brother's death, Poe's earnest attempts to make
2820-578: A period." Around this time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the administration of John Tyler , claiming that he was a member of the Whig Party . He hoped to be appointed to the United States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from President Tyler's son Robert , an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Thomas. However, Poe failed to appear for a meeting with Thomas to discuss
2961-502: A relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore , "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to Washington Medical College , where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and why he
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#17328588475903102-510: A review of his poetry by influential critic John Neal , which prompted Poe to dedicate one of the poems to Neal in his second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems , published in Baltimore in 1829. Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October 1830, Allan married his second wife Louisa Patterson. This marriage and the bitter quarrels with Poe over children born to Allan out of extramarital affairs led to
3243-529: A separate mayor, elected a Borough President . In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, transportation to Manhattan was no longer by water only, and the City of Brooklyn's ties to the City of New York were strengthened. The question became whether Brooklyn was prepared to engage in the still-grander process of consolidation then developing throughout the region, whether to join with the county of Richmond and
3384-514: A study of Emerson; In Respect to Egotism: Studies in American Romantic Writing ( Cambridge , 1991), and Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau Reviewed ( Yale , 2004). Porte's approach to Emerson was distinctive, and it remains fresh despite the passage of time. Porte brought a luminous intelligence to the often-overlooked specifics of Emerson's language, tracing vibrant images and motifs through his essays and demonstrating
3525-485: A system of student self-government, allowing students to choose their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, and report all wrongdoing to the faculty. The unique system was rather chaotic, and there was a high dropout rate. During his time there, Poe lost touch with Royster and also became estranged from his foster father over gambling debts. He claimed that Allan had not given him sufficient money to register for classes, purchase texts, or procure and furnish
3666-426: A third volume of poems, simply titled, Poems . The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, some of whom donated as much as 75 cents to the cause. The total raised was approximately $ 170. They may have been expecting verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had written about commanding officers in the past. The book was printed by Elam Bliss of New York, labeled as "Second Edition", and included
3807-537: A two-story brick house called Moldavia. Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the University of Virginia in February 1826 to study ancient and modern languages. The university was in its infancy, established on the ideals of its founder, Thomas Jefferson . It had strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol, but these rules were mostly ignored. Jefferson enacted
3948-503: A variation of the place name " Canarsie ". Bands were associated with place names, but the colonists thought their names represented different tribes. The Breuckelen settlement was named after Breukelen in the Netherlands ; it was part of New Netherland . The Dutch West India Company lost little time in chartering the six original parishes (listed here by their later English town names): The colony's capital of New Amsterdam , across
4089-577: A variety of Jewish businesses. Adjacent to Borough Park, the Kensington area housed a significant population of Conservative Jews (under the aegis of such nationally prominent midcentury rabbis as Jacob Bosniak and Abraham Heller) when it was still considered to be a subsection of Flatbush; many of their defunct facilities have been repurposed to serve extensions of the Borough Park Hasidic community. Other notable religious Jewish neighborhoods with
4230-441: A water meter magnate and close friend of President Grover Cleveland ), with nearby Crown Heights gradually fulfilling an analogous role for the city's Jewish population as development continued through the early 20th century. Northeast of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick (by now a working class, predominantly German district) established a considerable brewery industry; the so-called "Brewer's Row" encompassed 14 breweries operating in
4371-630: A year later from pulmonary tuberculosis . Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, a successful merchant in Richmond, Virginia , who dealt in a variety of goods, including cloth, wheat, tombstones, tobacco, and slaves. The Allans served as a foster family and gave him the name "Edgar Allan Poe", although they never formally adopted him. The Allan family had Poe baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son. The family sailed to
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4512-771: Is alleged to have begun to drink heavily due to the stress he suffered as a result of her illness. He then left Graham's and attempted to find a new position, for a time again angling for a government post. He finally decided to return to New York where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror before becoming editor of the Broadway Journal , and later its owner. There Poe alienated himself from other writers by, among other things, publicly accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism , though Longfellow never responded. Poe later emended his accusations by expressing his belief that many writers, having absorbed ideas from others in
4653-462: Is an oversimplification. Poe was increasingly unstable after his wife's death. He attempted to court the poet Sarah Helen Whitman , who lived in Providence, Rhode Island . Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior. There is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship. Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed
4794-555: Is derived from the original Dutch town of Breukelen . The oldest mention of the settlement in the Netherlands is in a charter of 953 by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I as Broecklede . This form is made up of the words broeck , meaning bog or marshland , and lede , meaning small (dug) water stream, specifically in peat areas. Breuckelen on the American continent was established in 1646, and the name first appeared in print in 1663. Over
4935-483: Is generally considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. In addition, he is credited with contributing significantly to the emergence of science fiction . He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living by writing alone, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career. Poe was born in Boston . He was the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe . His father abandoned
5076-412: Is little to no evidence that Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, including John Neal, who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a " Rhadamanthus , who is not to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of newspaper notoriety". Griswold's book nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical source. This was in part because it
5217-444: Is water (27%); the borough is the second-largest by land area among the New York City's boroughs. However, Kings County, coterminous with Brooklyn, is New York State's fourth-smallest county by land area and third-smallest by total area. Brooklyn lies at the southwestern end of Long Island, and the borough's western border constitutes the island's western tip. Brooklyn's water borders are extensive and varied, including Jamaica Bay ;
5358-647: The Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger , but White discharged him within a few weeks, allegedly for being drunk on the job. Poe then returned to Baltimore , where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on September 22, 1835, though it is unknown if they were actually married at that time. He was 26 and she
5499-412: The 2020 United States census , the population stood at 2,736,074, making it the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, the most populous county in the state. Brooklyn, at 37,339.9 inhabitants per square mile (14,417.0/km ), is the second most densely populated county in the U.S. after Manhattan (New York County), as of 2022. Had Brooklyn remained an independent city, it would now be
5640-498: The Agrégation exam required of prospective college teachers. Brooklyn Brooklyn is a borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the State of New York . Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County , one of twelve original counties established under British rule in 1683 in the then Province of New York . As of
5781-590: The Atlantic Ocean ; The Narrows , separating Brooklyn from the borough of Staten Island in New York City and crossed by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ; Upper New York Bay , separating Brooklyn from Jersey City and Bayonne in the U.S. state of New Jersey ; and the East River , separating Brooklyn from the borough of Manhattan in New York City and traversed by the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel ,
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5922-601: The Brighton Beach Line in 1878 heralded the end of this isolation. Sports in Brooklyn became a business. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms played professional baseball at Washington Park in the convenient suburb of Park Slope and elsewhere. Early in the next century, under their new name of Brooklyn Dodgers, they brought baseball to Ebbets Field , beyond Prospect Park. Racetracks, amusement parks , and beach resorts opened in Brighton Beach , Coney Island , and elsewhere in
6063-652: The Brooklyn Bridge , the Manhattan Bridge , the Williamsburg Bridge , and numerous routes of the New York City Subway . To the east of Brooklyn lies the borough of Queens, which contains John F. Kennedy International Airport in that borough's Jamaica neighborhood, approximately two miles from the border of Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood. Under the Köppen climate classification , Brooklyn experiences
6204-471: The Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) also gave way to the new Metropolitan Fire District. Throughout this period the peripheral towns of Kings County, far from Manhattan and even from urban Brooklyn, maintained their rustic independence. The only municipal change seen was the secession of the eastern section of the Town of Flatbush as the Town of New Lots in 1852. The building of rail links such as
6345-777: The City College of New York . In 1957, he received his A.B. magna cum laude in English and Classics from City College, and won two Claflin medals for excellence in Greek and the Ward Prize in English Composition, besides being elected to Phi Beta Kappa . Admitted to Harvard for graduate studies, Porte studied with Perry Miller, earning his Ph.D. in 1962 and receiving the Bowdoin Prize for an essay on Emerson. Seven years later, at
6486-462: The Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University . Virginia died at the cottage on January 30, 1847. Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful woman" stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife. However, as Poe was a prolific writer before Virginia's death, others have suggested that this explanation of his work
6627-536: The Middle Colonies of nascent British America . On November 1, 1683, Kings County was partitioned from the West Riding of York Shire, containing the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island, as one of the "original twelve counties" . This tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of a Brooklyn identity. Lacking
6768-569: The New Netherland colony in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War . New Netherland was taken in a naval action, and the English renamed the new capture for their naval commander, James, Duke of York , brother of the then monarch King Charles II and future king himself as King James II . Brooklyn became a part of the West Riding of York Shire in the Province of New York , one of
6909-589: The Panic of 1837 . There was a booming growth in American periodicals around this time, fueled in part by new technology, but many did not last beyond a few issues. Publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised, and Poe repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and other assistance. After his early attempts at poetry, Poe turned his attention to prose, perhaps based on John Neal's critiques in The Yankee magazine. He placed
7050-447: The USDA plant hardiness zone 7b . Brooklyn's neighborhoods are dynamic in ethnic composition. For example, the early to mid-20th century, Brownsville had a majority of Jewish residents; since the 1970s it has been majority African American. Midwood during the early 20th century was filled with ethnic Irish , then filled with Jewish residents for nearly 50 years, and is slowly becoming
7191-530: The United States Army under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems , which was credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife Frances in 1829. However, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point , declared his intention to become a writer, primarily of poems, and parted ways with Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose, and spent
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#17328588475907332-501: The automobile and commuter rail -driven vogue for more remote prewar suburban communities, such as Garden City, New York and Montclair, New Jersey . The rapidly growing population needed more water, so the City built centralized waterworks, including the Ridgewood Reservoir . The municipal Police Department, however, was abolished in 1854 in favor of a Metropolitan force covering also New York and Westchester Counties. In 1865
7473-406: The fourth most populous American city after the rest of New York City, Los Angeles , and Chicago . Named after the Dutch town of Breukelen in the Netherlands, Brooklyn shares a border with the borough of Queens . It has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan, across the East River , and is connected to Staten Island by way of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge . With
7614-509: The patroon and tenant farmer system established along the Hudson River Valley , this agricultural county unusually came to have one of the highest percentages of slaves among the population in the "Original Thirteen Colonies" along the Atlantic Ocean eastern coast of North America . On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island (also known as the 'Battle of Brooklyn') was fought,
7755-459: The pseudonym Henri Le Rennet during this period. As Poe was unable to support himself, he decided to enlist in the United States Army as a private on May 27, 1827, using the name "Edgar A. Perry". Although he claimed that he was 22 years old , he was actually 18. He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month. That same year, his first book was published,
7896-694: The " Little Fuzhou ( 小福州 )" of Brooklyn. Many Chinese restaurants can be found throughout Sunset Park, and the area hosts a popular Chinese New Year celebration. Since the 2000s going forward, the growing concentration of the Cantonese speaking population in Brooklyn have dramatically shifted to Bensonhurst/Gravesend and Homecrest creating newer Chinatowns of Brooklyn and these newer Brooklyn Chinatowns are known as "Brooklyn's Little Hong Kong/Guangdong" due to their Chinese populations being overwhelmingly Cantonese populated. Poe Edgar Allan Poe ( né Edgar Poe ; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)
8037-547: The 'h' from its name. By 1841, with the appearance of The Brooklyn Eagle, and Kings County Democrat published by Alfred G. Stevens, the growing city across the East River from Manhattan was producing its own prominent newspaper. It later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19, 1842, and the paper was renamed The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Kings County Democrat on June 1, 1846. On May 14, 1849,
8178-838: The 1883 poem, " The New Colossus " by Emma Lazarus , which appears on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty . The poem calls New York Harbor "the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame". As a twin city to New York, it played a role in national affairs that was later overshadowed by decades of subordination by its old partner and rival. During this period, the affluent, contiguous districts of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (then characterized collectively as The Hill) were home to such notable figures as Astral Oil Works founder Charles Pratt and his children, including local civic leader Charles Millard Pratt ; Theosophical Society co-founder William Quan Judge ; and Pfizer co-founders Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart . Brooklyn Heights remained one of
8319-422: The 1890s and despite opposition from Brooklyn residents, Brooklyn was consolidated in and annexed (along with other areas) to form the current five-borough structure of New York City in accordance to the new municipal charter of " Greater New York ". The borough continues to maintain some distinct culture . Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves . With Jews forming around a quarter of its population,
8460-531: The 19th century and two-thirds of the 20th century. The first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan , which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1816. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a commuter town for Wall Street . Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York . Town and Village were combined to form
8601-617: The 19th century and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to Manhattan and the Bronx ), the remaining rural areas of Kings County, and the largely rural areas of Queens and Staten Island , to form the modern City of New York. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle Long Island's western edge, which was then largely inhabited by the Lenape , an Algonquian-speaking American Indian tribe often referred to in European documents by
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#17328588475908742-625: The 19th century to become more popular in Europe than in the United States. Poe was particularly esteemed in France, in part due to early translations of his work by Charles Baudelaire . Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work in Continental Europe. Poe's early mystery tales featuring the detective, C. Auguste Dupin , though not numerous, laid the groundwork for similar characters that would eventually become famous throughout
8883-640: The 19th century. The waterfront from Gowanus to Greenpoint was developed with piers and factories. Industrial access to the waterfront was improved by the Gowanus Canal and the canalized Newtown Creek . USS Monitor was the most famous product of the large and growing shipbuilding industry of Williamsburg. After the Civil War , trolley lines and other transport brought urban sprawl beyond Prospect Park (completed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1873 and widely heralded as an improvement upon
9024-581: The Allans in 1820. In 1824, he served as the lieutenant of the Richmond youth honor guard as the city celebrated the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette . In March 1825, Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt died, who was said to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, leaving Allan several acres of real estate. The inheritance was estimated at $ 750,000 (equivalent to $ 20,000,000 in 2023). By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his expansive wealth by purchasing
9165-573: The American Civil War, the 14th wore a uniform inspired by the French Chasseurs , a light infantry used for quick assaults. As a seaport and a manufacturing center, Brooklyn was well prepared to contribute to the Union's strengths in shipping and manufacturing. The two combined in shipbuilding; the ironclad Monitor was built in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is referred to as the twin city of New York in
9306-549: The American Jewish Population Project in 2020, Brooklyn was home to over 480,000 Jews. In 2023, the UJA-Federation of New York estimated that Brooklyn is home to 462,000 Jews, a large decrease compared to the 561,000 estimated in 2011. The predominantly Jewish, Crown Heights (and later East Flatbush)-based Madison Democratic Club served as the borough's primary "clubhouse" political venue for decades until
9447-413: The American Renaissance]...have received in superabundance." Porte set out to remedy the oversight. Finely attuned to the intricate ebb and flow of Emerson's writing, Porte's criticism revealed Emerson as a writer of stunning depth, power, and complexity. In Representative Man (1979) Porte brought this approach to its culmination, placing Emerson's imagination in fresh cultural and psychological contexts;
9588-407: The East River, obtained its charter in 1653. The neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North America's first tide mill . It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today. But the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furman 's 1824 compilation. Present-day Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the English captured
9729-472: The English language, and noted its influence on later authors such as Doyle, Henry James , B. Traven , and David Morrell . Horror author and historian H. P. Lovecraft was heavily influenced by Poe's horror tales, dedicating an entire section of his long essay, " Supernatural Horror in Literature ", to his influence on the genre. In his letters, Lovecraft described Poe as his "God of Fiction". Lovecraft's earliest stories are clearly influenced by Poe. At
9870-486: The Frederick J. Whiton Professor of American Literature at Cornell . Two years later, Porte was appointed Cornell's Director of American Studies and Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters. Porte retired from the university in 2004 with the title Emeritus . In recognition of his lifetime contribution to Emerson scholarship, the national Emerson Society granted him the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2006. Porte died in Ithaca, New York , in June,
10011-404: The Heights, the less exclusive South Brooklyn was home to longtime civic leader James S. T. Stranahan , who became known (often derisively) as the " Baron Haussmann of Brooklyn" for championing Prospect Park and other public works. Economic growth continued, propelled by immigration and industrialization , and Brooklyn established itself as the third-most populous American city for much of
10152-731: The Inner Life in 1863, in which she claimed to have "received" new compositions by Poe. However, the writings appeared to be simple revisions of previously published poems. Poe has also received criticism. This is partly because of the negative perception of his personal character and its influence upon his reputation. William Butler Yeats was occasionally critical of Poe and once called him "vulgar". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted to "The Raven" by saying, "I see nothing in it", and derisively referred to Poe as "the jingle man". Aldous Huxley wrote that Poe's writing "falls into vulgarity" by being "too poetical"—the equivalent of wearing
10293-562: The Mountains of Madness directly quotes him. Lovecraft made extensive use of Poe's concept of the “unity of effect” in his fiction. Alfred Hitchcock once said, "It's because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so much that I began to make suspense films". Many references to Poe's works are present in Vladimir Nabokov 's novels. Other writers inspired by Poe's poetry and fiction include, but are not limited to, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and
10434-814: The New York metropolitan area's most august patrician redoubts into the early 20th century under the aegis of such figures as abolitionist clergyman Henry Ward Beecher , Congregationalist theologians Lyman Abbott and Newell Dwight Hillis (who followed Beecher as the second and third pastors of Plymouth Church , respectively), financier John Jay Pierrepont (a grandson of founding Heights resident Hezekiah Pierrepont ), banker/art collector David Leavitt , educator/politician Seth Low , merchant/banker Horace Brigham Claflin , attorney William Cary Sanger (who served for two years as United States Assistant Secretary of War under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt ) and publisher Alfred Smith Barnes . Contiguous to
10575-506: The Penn Magazine, a Monthly Literary journal to be edited and published in the city of Philadelphia by Edgar A. Poe." However, Poe died before the journal could be produced. Poe left Burton's after a year and found a position as writer and co-editor at Graham's Magazine , which was a successful monthly publication. In the last number of Graham's for 1841, Poe was among the co-signatories to an editorial note of celebration concerning
10716-486: The Town of Flatlands in 1896. Brooklyn had reached its natural municipal boundaries at the ends of Kings County. Low's time in office from 1882 to 1885 was marked by a number of reforms: Brooklyn elected a mayor from 1834 until 1898, after which it was consolidated into the City of Greater New York , whose own second mayor (1902–1903), Seth Low, had been Mayor of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885. Since 1898, Brooklyn has, in place of
10857-759: The United Kingdom in 1815, and Poe attended a grammar school for a short period in Irvine, Ayrshire , Scotland, where Allan was born, before rejoining the family in London in 1816. There he studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817. He was subsequently entered at the Reverend John Bransby 's Manor House School in Stoke Newington , then a suburb 4 miles (6 km) north of London. Poe moved to Richmond with
10998-521: The age of 36, Porte would become one of the youngest persons to reach the rank of full professor in the history of the Harvard English department. Awarded a Rockefeller Scholarship to Bellagio , Italy (1979), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1981–82), Porte's career took him throughout the world as a visiting scholar and lecturer, and also led him to scholarly consultancies with publishers, universities, professional associations, and media groups, and to
11139-493: The appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to have been sick, though Thomas believed that he had been drunk. Poe was promised an appointment, but all positions were eventually filled by others. One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, or tuberculosis , while singing and playing the piano, which Poe described as the breaking of a blood vessel in her throat. She only partially recovered, and Poe
11280-546: The area, and afterward the British generally enjoyed a dominant Loyalist sentiment from the residents in Kings County who did not evacuate, though the region was also the center of the fledgling—and largely successful— Patriot intelligence network , headed by Washington himself. The British set up a system of prison ships off the coast of Brooklyn in Wallabout Bay . More American patriots died there than in combat on all
11421-523: The area. It is called "Brooklyn's Chinatown" and originally it was a small Chinese enclave with Cantonese speakers being the main Chinese population during the late 1980s and 1990s, but since the 2000s, the Chinese population in the area dramatically shifted to majority Fuzhounese Americans , which contributed immensely to expanding this Chinatown, and bestowing the nicknames " Fuzhou Town ( 福州埠 ), Brooklyn" or
11562-988: The ascendancy of Meade Esposito 's rival, Canarsie-based Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in the 1960s and 1970s, playing an integral role in the rise of such figures as Speaker of the New York State Assembly Irwin Steingut ; his son, fellow Speaker Stanley Steingut ; New York City Mayor Abraham Beame ; real estate developer Fred Trump ; Democratic district leader Beadie Markowitz; and political fixer Abraham "Bunny" Lindenbaum. Many non-Orthodox Jews (ranging from observant members of various denominations to atheists of Jewish cultural heritage) are concentrated in Ditmas Park and Park Slope , with smaller observant and culturally Jewish populations in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island. Over 200,000 Chinese Americans live throughout
11703-675: The battlefield engagements of the American Revolutionary War combined. One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City , which was celebrated by New Yorkers into the 20th century. The first half of the 19th century saw the beginning of the development of urban areas on the economically strategic East River shore of Kings County, facing the adolescent City of New York confined to Manhattan Island. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay (border between Fort Greene and Williamsburg) during
11844-429: The beat generation's Allen Ginsberg. In Japan, Edogawa Ranpo was so inspired by Poe that his pen name is a rendering of his name into Japanese. Poe's works have spawned many imitators. One trend among Poe's more ardent fans has been the tendency to employ clairvoyants or psychics to "channel” original poems from Poe's spirit. One of the most notable of these manuscripts was by Lizzie Doten , who published, Poems from
11985-688: The book was widely recognized as an enduring achievement. Works edited by Porte included Emerson in His Journals ( Belknap , 1982), which presented for the first time in generations a well-edited selection from that sprawling masterwork; the Library of America Emerson (1983); the Cambridge New Essays volume (1990) on Henry James ' The Portrait of a Lady ; the Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1999); and Emerson's Prose and Poetry:
12126-457: The borough has been described as "the most Jewish spot on Earth". Brooklyn's official motto, displayed on the borough seal and flag , is Eendraght Maeckt Maght , which translates from early modern Dutch as ' Unity makes strength '. Educational institutions in Brooklyn include the City University of New York 's Brooklyn College , Medgar Evers College , and College of Technology . In
12267-409: The brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens , heart disease , epilepsy , syphilis , meningeal inflammation , cholera , carbon monoxide poisoning , and rabies . One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's death resulted from cooping ,
12408-517: The commander, the tactical withdrawal of all his troops and supplies across the East River in a single night is now seen by historians as one of his most brilliant triumphs. The British controlled the surrounding region for the duration of the war, as New York City was soon occupied and became their military and political base of operations in North America for the remainder of the conflict. The Patriot residents largely fled or were cleared from
12549-705: The day after her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, Allan agreed to support Poe's desire to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York . Poe was finally discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a replacement to finish his enlistment. Before entering West Point, he moved to Baltimore, where he stayed with his widowed aunt, Maria Clemm, her daughter Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe. That September, Poe received "the very first words of encouragement I ever remember to have heard" in
12690-417: The day shift and another 12 on the night shift. Every time a rash of burglaries broke out, officials blamed burglars from New York City. Finally, in 1855, a modern police force was created, employing 150 men. Voters complained of inadequate protection and excessive costs. In 1857, the state legislature merged the Brooklyn force with that of New York City. Fervent in the Union cause, the city of Brooklyn played
12831-579: The density and rotation of planets. Poe had a keen interest in cryptography . He had placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger , inviting submissions of ciphers which he proceeded to solve. In July 1841, Poe had published an essay called "A Few Words on Secret Writing" in Graham's Magazine . Capitalizing on public interest in the topic, he wrote " The Gold-Bug " incorporating ciphers as an essential part of
12972-454: The development of literature throughout the world and even impacted such specialized fields as cosmology and cryptography . Since his death, he and his writings have appeared throughout popular culture in such fields as art, photography, literary allusions, music, motion pictures, and television . Several of his homes are dedicated museums. In addition, The Mystery Writers of America presents an annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in
13113-462: The didactic", writing poetry that was preachy, derivative, and thematically plagiarized. Poe correctly predicted that Longfellow's reputation and style of poetry would decline, concluding, "We grant him high qualities, but deny him the Future". Poe became known as the creator of a type of fiction that was difficult to categorize and nearly impossible to imitate. He was one of the first American authors of
13254-535: The earlier Central Park ) into the center of the county, as evinced by gradual settlement in the comparatively rustic villages of Windsor Terrace and Kensington in the Town of Flatbush. By century's end, Dean Alvord 's Prospect Park South development (adjacent to the village of Flatbush) would serve as the template for contemporaneous " Victorian Flatbush " micro-neighborhoods and the post-consolidation emergence of outlying districts, such as Midwood and Marine Park . Along with Oak Park, Illinois , it also presaged
13395-490: The editorial boards of leading academic journals. Even though he now moved in the privileged milieu of Ivy League academia, he still remembered the ethnic and economic marginality he experienced in his youth, which disposed him to extend his generosity to others who "lacked 'natural' entitlement." In 1987, he resigned as Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature and Chair of the Harvard English Department to become
13536-451: The family in 1810, and when Eliza died the following year, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia . They never formally adopted him, but he lived with them well into young adulthood. Poe attended the University of Virginia , but left after only a year due to a lack of money. He frequently quarreled with John Allan over the funds needed to continue his education as well as his gambling debts. In 1827, having enlisted in
13677-467: The first decades of the 21st century, Brooklyn has experienced a renaissance as a destination for hipsters , with concomitant gentrification , dramatic house-price increases, and a decrease in housing affordability. Some new developments are required to include affordable housing units. Since the 2010s, parts of Brooklyn have evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship, high-technology startup firms , postmodern art , and design. The name Brooklyn
13818-557: The first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared , and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the modern sites of Green-Wood Cemetery , Prospect Park , and Grand Army Plaza . Washington , viewing particularly fierce fighting at the Gowanus Creek and Old Stone House from atop
13959-462: The first plausible solution to Olbers' paradox . Poe eschewed the scientific method in Eureka and instead wrote from pure intuition . For this reason, he considered it a work of art, not science, but insisted that it was still true and considered it to be his career masterpiece. Even so, Eureka is full of scientific errors. In particular, Poe's suggestions ignored Newtonian principles regarding
14100-412: The first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. In a parallel development, the Town of Bushwick, farther up the river, saw the incorporation of the Village of Williamsburgh in 1827, which separated as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840 and formed the short-lived City of Williamsburgh in 1851. Industrial deconcentration in the mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to
14241-492: The forerunners of American science fiction , responding in his voluminous writing to such emerging literary trends as the explorations into the possibilities of hot air balloons as featured in such works as, " The Balloon-Hoax ". Much of Poe's work coincided with themes that readers of his day found appealing, though he often professed to abhor the tastes of the majority of the people who read for pleasure in his time. In his critical works, Poe investigated and wrote about many of
14382-427: The foster father finally disowning Poe. Poe then decided to leave West Point by intentionally getting court-martialed . On February 8, 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing to attend formations, classes, and church. Knowing he would be found guilty, Poe pleaded not guilty to the charges in order to induce dismissal. Poe left for New York in February 1831 and then released
14523-535: The highest mark of genius. In Poe's conception of the artist's life, the attainment of the concretization of beauty should be the ultimate goal. That which is unique is alone of value. Works with obvious meanings, he wrote, cease to be art. He believed that any work worthy of being praised should have as its focus a single specific effect. That which does not tend towards the effect is extraneous. In his view, every serious writer must carefully calculate each sentiment and idea in his or her work to ensure that it strengthens
14664-568: The imaginative power not of Emerson's sometimes hazy concepts, but of what Emerson called a "living, leaping Logos." Part of the problem, Porte noted, was the reverential emphasis usually placed on Emerson's character, which could obscure actual attention to his work. In his influential 1973 essay "The Problem of Emerson" Porte noted that despite the triumph of New Critical methods, Emerson's work "has manifestly not been accorded that careful scrutiny of his work as writing which Poe , Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Dickinson, Whitman, [and other writers of
14805-400: The imperfections in works other critics considered perfect, so as to hasten the evolution of literature, and in particular, American literature. A so-called “favorite target” of Poe's criticism was Boston's acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , who was defended by his friends, literary and otherwise, in what was later called, “The Longfellow War". Poe accused Longfellow of "the heresy of
14946-399: The loss of Brooklyn's separate identity as a city was met with consternation by some residents at the time. Many newspapers of the day called the merger the "Great Mistake of 1898", and the phrase still elicits Brooklyn pride among old-time Brooklynites. Brooklyn is 97 square miles (250 km ) in area, of which 71 square miles (180 km ) is land (73%), and 26 square miles (67 km )
15087-420: The mystery genre. Edgar Poe was born in Boston , Massachusetts , on January 19, 1809, the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English -born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe . He had an elder brother, Henry , and a younger sister, Rosalie . Their grandfather, David Poe, had emigrated from County Cavan , Ireland, around 1750. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died
15228-410: The name that its origin has been debated; some have claimed breuckelen means "broken land". The current name, however, is the one that best reflects its meaning. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island , grew to be a sizeable city in
15369-462: The name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ; on September 5, 1938, it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle . The establishment of the paper in the 1840s helped develop a separate identity for Brooklynites over the next century. The borough's soon-to-be-famous National League baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers , also assisted with this. Both major institutions were lost in the 1950s:
15510-454: The nation. Brooklyn contains dozens of distinct neighborhoods representing many of the major culturally identified groups found within New York City. Among the most prominent are listed below: Over 600,000 Jews , particularly Orthodox and Hasidic Jews , have become concentrated in such historically Jewish areas as Borough Park , Williamsburg , and Midwood , where there are many yeshivas , synagogues , and kosher restaurants, as well as
15651-463: The nature of decomposition , the popular concerns of Poe's day about premature burial , the reanimation of the dead, are all at length explored in his more notable works. Many of his writings are generally considered to be part of the dark romanticism genre, which is said to be a literary reaction to transcendentalism , which Poe strongly criticized. He referred to followers of the transcendental movement, including Emerson, as "Frog-Pondians", after
15792-792: The next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore , Philadelphia , and New York City . In 1836, when he was 27, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm . She died of tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845, he published his poem " The Raven " to instant success. He planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn , later renamed The Stylus . But before it began publishing, Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under mysterious circumstances . The cause of his death remains unknown and has been attributed to many causes, including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse , and suicide. Poe's works influenced
15933-433: The northern part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems. However, the East River shore was growing too fast for the three-year-old infant City of Williamsburg; it, along with its Town of Bushwick hinterland, was subsumed within a greater City of Brooklyn in 1855, subsequently dropping
16074-487: The paper closed in 1955 after unsuccessful attempts at a sale following a reporters' strike, and the baseball team decamped for Los Angeles in a realignment of Major League Baseball in 1957. Agitation against Southern slavery was stronger in Brooklyn than in New York, and under Republican leadership, the city was fervent in the Union cause in the Civil War . After the war the Henry Ward Beecher Monument
16215-506: The past two millennia, the name of the ancient town in Holland has been Bracola , Broccke , Brocckede , Broiclede , Brocklandia , Broekclen , Broikelen , Breuckelen, and finally Breukelen . The New Amsterdam settlement of Breuckelen also went through many spelling variations, including Breucklyn , Breuckland , Brucklyn , Broucklyn , Brookland , Brockland , Brocklin , and Brookline/Brook-line . There have been so many variations of
16356-467: The past, often confuse the source of their ideas with their original thoughts, but most of his contemporaries found that interpretation incomprehensible, and continued to be antagonistic towards Poe. On January 29, 1845, Poe's poem," The Raven ,” appeared in the Evening Mirror and quickly became a popular sensation. It made Poe a household name almost instantly, though at the time, he was paid only $ 9 (equivalent to $ 294 in 2023) for its publication. It
16497-441: The pond on Boston Common , and ridiculed their writings as "metaphor—run mad," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake". However, Poe once wrote in a letter to Thomas Holley Chivers that he did not dislike transcendentalists, "only the pretenders and sophists among them". Beyond the horror stories he is most famous for, Poe also wrote a number of satires , humor tales, and hoaxes. He
16638-453: The pseudosciences that were then popular with the majority of his fellow Americans. They included, but were not limited to, the fields of astrology, cosmology, phrenology , and physiognomy . Poe's writings often reflect the literary theories he introduced in his prolific critical works and expounded on in such essays as, " The Poetic Principle ". He disliked didacticism and imitation masquerading as influence, believing originality to be
16779-583: The rank of sergeant major for artillery, the highest rank that a non-commissioned officer could achieve. He then sought to end his five-year enlistment early. Poe revealed his real name and his actual circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard, who promised to allow Poe to be honorably discharged if he reconciled with Allan. Poe then wrote a letter to Allan, who was unsympathetic and spent several months ignoring Poe's pleas. Allan may not have written to Poe to inform him of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829. Poe visited
16920-434: The reputation of being a "tomahawk man". Poe's idea of criticism was not to praise prose or poetry that was obviously successful, and therefore could speak for itself, but to draw attention to what was not successful in the writings of even those he highly respected, his aim being to elevate the art of literature as a whole. Poe felt no need to praise what was already so obviously praiseworthy. Rather, he attempted to point out
17061-496: The same year, from esophageal cancer . He was survived by his second wife Helene Sophrin Porte and his only child, Susanna Maria Porte, from his first marriage to Ilana d'Ancona, which had ended in divorce. Porte was prolific and original in his contributions to the study of nineteenth-century American literature. He published 12 books, the most highly admired of which were Representative Man ( Oxford , 1979; rev. ed., Columbia , 1988),
17202-457: The science of industrial processes , mechanical drawing , and printing technology. Porte enrolled at Cooper Union (1951–52) after graduating from high school and intended to pursue an engineering career, but left owing to lack of interest and of perceived ability. A paragraph from Mark Van Doren 's A Liberal Education (1943) compelled him to switch to literary studies, first at night school at Brooklyn College (1952–53) and subsequently at
17343-638: The southern part of the county. Toward the end of the 19th century, the City of Brooklyn experienced its final, explosive growth spurt. Park Slope was rapidly urbanized, with its eastern summit soon emerging as the city's third "Gold Coast" district alongside Brooklyn Heights and The Hill; notable residents of the era included American Chicle Company co-founder Thomas Adams Jr. and New York Central Railroad executive Clinton L. Rossiter. East of The Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant coalesced as an upper middle class enclave for lawyers, shopkeepers, and merchants of German and Irish descent (notably exemplified by John C. Kelley,
17484-525: The southern parts of Brooklyn, primarily concentrated in Sunset Park , Bensonhurst , Gravesend , and Homecrest . Brooklyn is the borough that is home to the highest number of Chinatowns in New York City . The largest concentration is in Sunset Park along 8th Avenue, which has become known for its Chinese culture since the opening of the now-defunct Winley Supermarket in 1986 spurred widespread settlement in
17625-540: The story. Poe's success with cryptography relied not so much on his deep knowledge of that field (his method was limited to the simple substitution cryptogram ) as on his knowledge of the magazine and newspaper culture. His keen analytical abilities, which were so evident in his detective stories, allowed him to see that the general public was largely ignorant of the methods by which a simple substitution cryptogram can be solved, and he used this to his advantage. The sensation that Poe created with his cryptography stunts played
17766-503: The theme of the piece. Poe describes the method he employed while composing his most famous poem, “The Raven,” in an essay entitled " The Philosophy of Composition .” However, many of Poe's critics have questioned whether the method enunciated in the essay was formulated before the poem was written, or afterward, or, as T. S. Eliot is quoted as saying, "It is difficult for us to read that essay without reflecting that if Poe plotted out his poem with such calculation, he might have taken
17907-419: The tremendous success the magazine had achieved in the past year: "Perhaps the editors of no magazine, either in America or in Europe, ever sat down, at the close of a year, to contemplate the progress of their work with more satisfaction than we do now. Our success has been unexampled, almost incredible. We may assert without fear of contradiction that no periodical ever witnessed the same increase during so short
18048-451: The volumes received generally mixed reviews. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal called The Stylus , although he originally intended to call it The Penn , since it would have been based in Philadelphia. He bought advertising space for the prospectus in the June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post : "Prospectus of
18189-554: The western portion of Queens County , and the county of New York , which by then already included the Bronx , to form the five boroughs of a united City of New York. Andrew Haswell Green and other progressives said yes, and eventually, they prevailed against the Daily Eagle and other conservative forces. In 1894, residents of Brooklyn and the other counties voted by a slight majority to merge, effective in 1898. Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties, but
18330-474: The works of Jules Verne , who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket called An Antarctic Mystery , also known as The Sphinx of the Ice Fields . And as the author H. G. Wells noted, " Pym tells what a very intelligent mind could imagine about the south polar region a century ago". In 2013, The Guardian cited Pym as one of the greatest novels ever written in
18471-421: The world, Brooklyn has evolved a globally cosmopolitan ambiance of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership . In 2010, 51.6% of the population was counted as members of religious congregations. In 2014, there were 914 religious organizations in Brooklyn, the 10th most of all counties in
18612-426: The world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" The Mystery Writers of America have named their awards for excellence in the mystery genre "The Edgars ". Poe's work also influenced writings that would eventually come to be called "science fiction", notably
18753-399: Was a master of sarcasm. For comic effect, he often used irony and ludicrous extravagance in a deliberate attempt to liberate the reader from cultural and literary conformity. " Metzengerstein " is the first story that Poe is known to have published, and his first foray into horror, but it was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the popular genres of Poe's time. Poe was also one of
18894-501: Was already damned)". The long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune , signed, “Ludwig" on the day Poe was buried in Baltimore . It was further published throughout the country. The obituary began, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." "Ludwig" was soon identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, and anthologist who had borne
19035-412: Was an American writer , poet , editor , and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre . He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of early American literature . Poe was one of the country's first successful practitioners of the short story , and
19176-440: Was built downtown to honor a famous local abolitionist . A great victory arch was built at what was then the south end of town to celebrate the armed forces; this place is now called Grand Army Plaza . The number of people living in Brooklyn grew rapidly early in the 19th century. There were 4,402 by 1810, 7,175 in 1820 and 15,396 by 1830. The city's population was 25,000 in 1834, but the police department comprised only 12 men on
19317-636: Was concurrently published in The American Review: A Whig Journal under the pseudonym "Quarles". The Broadway Journal failed in 1846, and Poe then moved to a cottage in Fordham, New York , in the Bronx . That home, now known as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage , was relocated in later years to a park near the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road. Nearby, Poe befriended
19458-509: Was only 13. Poe was reinstated by White after promising to improve his behavior, and he returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained at the Messenger until January 1837. During this period, Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500. He published several poems, and many book reviews, critiques, essays, and articles, as well as a few stories in the paper. On May 16, 1836, he and Virginia were officially married at
19599-491: Was published and widely reviewed. In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine . He published numerous articles, stories, and reviews, enhancing the reputation he had established at the Messenger as one of America's foremost literary critics. Also in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though Poe received little remuneration from it and
19740-520: Was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof were later revealed as forgeries . Poe's best-known fiction works have been labeled as Gothic horror, and adhere to that genre's general propensity to appeal to the public's taste for the terrifying or psychologically intimidating. His most recurrent themes seem to deal with death. The physical signs indicating death,
19881-420: Was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord help my poor soul". All of the relevant medical records have been lost, including Poe's death certificate . Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of
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