Back in the (Poe) Saddle

Some of the topics for Celebrate Poe in 2022

00:08 An apology
03.01 Podcast reflections
06:27 Poe and the uncanny
07:35 Was Poe abused in boarding school?
08:21 The ghost of Mr. Shakespeare meets the ghost of Mr. Poe
09:33 Life at the University of Virginia
12:29 Life at West Point
14:43 The Pale Blue Eye
16:09 Comments regarding podcast guests
17:58 Pulling teeth (Berenice and Les Miserables)
21:04 Best name ever from a really bad play 
25:03 The Fall of the House of Usher
27:01 Reflections on pandemics

Future Episodes and Sources

The episode ends with a plea for obtaining vaccination and booster shots - and remembering - If we are to survive, we must remember that we are all interconnected, and our actions affect our very well-being, as well as that of others.

Transcript

Welcome to Celebrate Poe.  My name is George Bartley and this is episode 99 - Back in the (Poe) Saddle Again.

00:08 An apology

First I’d like to start with an apology.  Since many of you are at home - largely due to the holidays, as well as travel restrictions and circustances brought about by COVID, I started putting on more podcasts in the past week - sometimes as   many as 4 a day.  Then yesterday, I realized that the quality was starting to really suffer.  I was planning to go over some contents from each episode from the past year this week, and realized I was just working too hard.  I had bitten off more than I could chew.  However you want to put it,  I was clearly working too hard.  So I decided that the best thing to do was take a few days off from actively podcasting and recharge my batteries.  I just wanted to say something about this because I like to be as good as my word - so this has not been an easy decision for me.  But I do have a lot planned for the future, and I want to give you an small idea of what Celebrate Poe has in store this year.

So that’s a long way of saying, “I’m back in the saddle again.”  I know Celebrate Poe has quite a few listeners from other countries - so I better explain “back in the saddle “ - an English idiom that might be confusing if English is not your first language.  You see, Someone who is said to be "in the saddle" has now returned to a position of control over a situation.  In this case, I was overworking and getting stressed out - so I had to take a break.  I did learn a bit about meeting deadlines and being more productive, and especially about doing your best without tearing yourself down.  In other words, I realized that I needed some time off from what was basically self-imposed stress - but after a few days I was eager to do the necessary research and recording for some more podcasts.

03:01 Podcast reflections

So I am planning for the next podcast to be on January 3.  You know, I speak of Celebrate Poe as though it is a separate noun - an entity in and of itself. And in a way it really is. Celebrate Poe is almost like a separate entity that is based on historical facts but has sections that are always changing - an examination of the life, times, works, and some of the influences on America’s Shakespeare, as well as some of the individuals who influenced Poe..  While I have a basic outline of the many areas I want to discuss in the future, I am always running into fascinating individuals and events - some historical - some current - that inform our understanding of Edgar Poe and his contemporaries. And it is the purpose of Celebrate Poe to share those findings with you as we learn more together about an individual who was arguably America’s greatest writer.

When I started out, I really didn’t have high hopes for this podcast.  I had done an earlier version called Celebrate Poe several years ago that lasted for less than 7 episodes, and during that time had no idea if anyone ever listened to it.  But I decided to try Celebrate Poe again with Buzzsprout - a wonderful host with an impressive approach to compiling stats. I knew from the start that Celebrate Poe would never have a HUGE audience like the size of a Fox News or Rachel Maddow - but I like to think that most of the episodes of Celebrate Poe are what is called “evergreen” - they are episodes that can be listened to any time - and don’t go out of date like - say the news.  This is the 99th episode of Celebrate Poe on buzzsprout, and the podcast has had listeners in 730 cities and 60 countries.  And at the rate the podcast is growing, over 5,000 people will have downloaded Celebrate Poe by the end of Januarym 2022. For this, I will always be grateful, and owe it to you to try and do my best.  I realize that Celebrate Poe is extremely research intensive - but I enjoy learning about Poe’s world, and his imaginative perception of not just horror and terror, but beauty and justice and goodness.

Arthur Hobson Quinn in his classic biography of Poe, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography  stresses that Poe is “unique among the great American writers of his generation in having spent a portion of his childhood in England. This period of his life is important because for the first time we are able to trace a definite influence in his later fiction from the scenes in which he moved and thought and felt. “

06:27 Poe and the uncanny

The first episode of 2022 will be about the uncanny - a key concept to a better understanding of Edgar Poe - though understanding a concept like the uncanndy will not give you anything like a COMPLETE understanding of Poe - his works are far too complex for that. 

07:35 Was Poe abused in boarding school?

Then I will take another look at William Wilson - a story that I want to look at again in light of Poe’s years at a boarding school in Stoke Newington. And this might require several episodes.  You see, Stoke Newington was  - a real place may have influenced the fictional boarding school that William Wilson attended.  I have looked at numerous accounts of life at an English boarding schools, and how child abuse was rampant.  And I have a great section of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens that illustrates this - one of those accounts that are fictional, but could have easily happened. And I found some fascinating recent studies by English psychotherapists about what is called “boarding school syndrome”  - in other words - men who have difficulty in life because of physical, mental, and even sexual abuse they suffered from other boarding school students and faculty.  I will look at other negative views of boarding school as cruel and abusive environments by such figures as C.S. Lewis and Richard Branscom.

08:21 The ghost of Mr. Shakespeare meets the ghost of Mr. Poe

And one area about Poe’s studies that I am really excited about is the subject matter he learned in boarding school.  I want to take a special look at  classical rhetoric with its tropes and schemes. If all this seems foreign to you know, well - Mr. Poe will be returning to talk about rhetorical devices in a fascinating way and how they affected his writing - as well as Mr. Shakespeare, who studied similar subject matter at the grammar school in Stratford on Avon.

Then Celebrate Poe will enter a section where I - or should I say we - since Mr. Poe will be back - we will examine Poe’s  second Richmond period from 1820 - 1826.  I think it is fair to say that this was a time when Poe entered a time of emotional stress, complicated by events in the Allan household and the young writer’s first ideal passion.

09:33 Life at the University of Virginia

The next section of Celebrate Poe will deal with Edgar Poe ’s time at the University of Virginia. When Poe entered UVA on February 14, 1826, the University had only been in existence for one year. The University of Virginia was the dream of Thomas Jefferson and his deep interest in education. The school was founded by Jefferson quote “to develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instil into them the precepts of virtue and order — and generally, to form them to habits of reflection and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others, and of happiness within themselves.

I am trying to track down - certainly should have them by then - some writings that several students wrote about Poe at the University of Virginia.
I do want to have some guests from The Raven Society - the prestigious academic society that is responsible for the upkeep of Poe’s room on the UVA range.  I think it is especially interesting that before the group had an official name, it seemed that name after name was rejected until someone suggested the Raven Society.  Of course, this honors the most famous poem of the University’s most famous poet, but  Charles Kent, Professor of English Literature from 1904-29, has written that just as the raven is constantly search for nutriment, so should a Raven be relentless and broad-minded in his pursuit of knowledge. Dr. Kent also suggested that members emulate the raven’s soaring flight, achieving lofty goals through the same bold determination and tireless strength.  It looks like the literary achievements of Edgar Poe can bring out the best in anyone!

But despite his excellent academic record, Poe only attended UVA for a relatively short time.  You see, he incurred over $2000 in gambling debts after only one term, and John Allan refused to help him.  So Poe was unable to return.

Celebrate Poe will then deal with Poe’s first book, Tamerlane, and his first independent venture.  Then I will delve into Poe’s initial period in the 
army - a period I will admit I don’t know a great deal about now - but will certainly learn by then.

12:29 Life at West Point

I am really eager to talk about Poe and West Point.  Most people know that Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, but far less known is the fact that he also founded West Point.  And most people know Poe attended the University of Virginia, but not as many know that he attended West Point - though I have a feeling that will change by the end of the year. Poe did not have the best track record in the Army, but was able to obtain an appointment to West Point through the influence of Powhatan Ellis, a Senator from Mississippi.

If the name Ellis somehow sounds familar to listeners of Celebrate Poe, it is because Powhatan Ellis was the brother of T.H. Ellis who was John Allan’s business partner.   

i want to take a special look at some of the correspondence related to Poe involving West Point.  For example, Allan Magruder, a fellow classmate from Virginia who left the Academy in 1831, later recalled about Poe:

He was very shy and reserved in his intercourse with his fellow-cadets — his associates being confined almost exclusively to Virginians . . . . He was an accomplished French scholar, and had a wonderful aptitude for mathematics, so that he had no difficulty in preparing his recitations in his class and in obtaining the highest marks in these departments. He was a devourer of books, but his great fault was his neglect of and apparent contempt for military duties. His wayward and capricious temper made him at times utterly oblivious or indifferent to the ordinary routine of roll-call, drills, and guard duties. These habits subjected him often to arrest and punishment, and effectually prevented his learning or discharging the duties of a soldier

14:43 The Pale Blue Eye

And as far as CURRENT  Poe news goes, a Netflix movie called The Pale Blue Eye is currently being filmed in Pennslyvania.  The plot is fictional, but the author of the book, at least, has really done his homework and get across the character of a young Edgar Poe and some of the language and influence that allowed him to develop into America’s Shakespeare. 

The movie stars Christian Bale from Batman and American Psycho, Gillian Anderson who played Scully from the X Files and Margaret Thatcher from The Queen, Robert Duvall the star dozens of movies from Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird to The Godfather, and many, many others. Harry Mellig, who was Dudley Dursey in the Harry Potter films, has is older and trimmed down, and plays a young Edgar Allan Poe at West Point.  The book by Louis Bayard is incredible, and I have a feeling Celebrate Poe will devote more than a few episodes to this producation.

16:09 Comments regarding podcast guests

I have some fantastic guests planned, but I hate to announce them until
I have recorded them.  I have had some complete bummers in the past, and i want to listen to any speakers before I announce them.  I had a guest much earlier this year who was an excellent speaker on his own podcast and was a college professor - so I wrongly assumed that he was articulate. Before the interview, he said “if you will excuse me, I am going to have a little refreshment” - and that should have told me.  In a few minutes, he was incoherent and started slurring his speech. I don’t know for a fact that he was drunk, but he sure sounded like it.  Again, I wanted to be as good as my word, but when I tried to transcribe the interview, I realized that I could not understand his speech - even when I listened to it over and over. Coming from a family where several members have died from alcohol-related complications, I realized ‘I don’t have to put up with this any more” and did not use his interview.  I couldn’t understand it anyway.  So I guess I just chalked that up to a learning experience. 

Of course as literary works go, next year should see a deep dive into some of Poe’s earlier works.

17:58 Pulling teeth (Berenice and Les Miserables)

For example, this podcast will take a deep dive into the story of Poe’s first horror story, “Berenice” - a story that is frequently noted for its association with the vampire genre.  Berenice is the tale of a man who is so obsessed with his late wife’s teeth that he digs up her grave to retrieve them.  It turns out that his wife was accidently buried alive, and he is so fixated on extracting the teeth that he does not notice the screams of his wife.

The story was first published in 1835, and might have been inspired by events that occurred in 1833.  You see, an article in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter was published on February 23, 1833 that reported that grave robbers had been caught stealing the teeth of corpses for dentures.

Perhaps the most famous fictional example of robbing someone of their teeth to use as dentures occured in the novel and musical Les Miserables.
The character of Fantine is unmarried and is strugglinng to support her daughter in 19th century France.  Fantine is destitue and resorts to sellinng her possessions, her hair, and eventually herself to send money to the family caring for her daughter.  Before she sings her heartbreaking song “I Dreamed a Dream” in the musical, her teeth area are extracted with pliers and no kind of pain killer.  Again, the reason that her teeth are pulled is so that they can be used to make dentures.  There was actually a demand for dentures from wealthy French aristocrats who had rotted their own teeth with unhealthy diets that were characterized by massive amounts of sugar.

But getting back to Poe, when Edgar Poe published “Berenice” in the March 1835 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe told his editor that the story “originated in a bet that I could produce nothing effective on a subject so singular, provided I treated it seriously…”

21:04 Best name ever from a really bad play

Just a year after Poe wrote Berenice, he penned his only play, Politan, in
he Southern Literary Messenger and later reprinted the work in an anthology of his poetry.  The play was based what was called the “Kentucky Tragedy” of 1825.  Here a politician by the name of named Colonel Solomon P. Sharp seduced a girl named Anna Cook. She had a child with him out of wedlock, but Sharp refused to marry the lady. To avenge this rejection, she convinced another suitor, Jereboam O. Beauchamp, to challenge Sharp to a duel, but Sharp declined. After Beauchamp and Cook married - this gets complicated - Beauchamp went to Sharp’s house and stabbed him to death. The case made national headlines, and Poe probably read about it in a book that he reviewed as a literary critic for The Southern Literary Messenger.

Even though Poe never completed the work, the play is a drama about a jealous woman scheming to convince one man to murder another for her.

A few years ago, the Drama Department at the University of Virginia gave what is probably the only performance of Politan.  I read in a review that the cast was excellent, but even they couldn’t save it.

Here are some lines from Politan:

“Speak not to me of glory!
I hate — I loathe the name; I do abhor
The unsatisfactory and ideal thing.
Art thou not Lalage and I Politian?
Do I not love, art thou not beautiful —
What need we more? Ha! glory! now speak not of it —
By all I hold most sacred and most solemn —
By all my wishes now — my fears hereafter —
By all I scorn on earth and hope in heaven —
There is no deed I would more glory in,
Than in thy cause to scoff at this same glory
And trample it under foot.”

Not exactly Poe’s best.  I would be willing to bet that you haven’t heard those lines by Poe before - and for good reason.

But I look forward to delving into Politan.  Besides, I really like the heroine’s name - L A L A G E - Lalage - if you are listening to this, say the name yourself slowly - L a l a g e - emphasis on the g a - you knoe, that would be a cool name to name a kid - though, on second thought, I wouldn’t do that to any child.

25:03 The Fall of the House of Usher

Another one of Poe’s earlier stories that Celebrate Poe should cover this year is The Fall of the House of Usher.  Here the mad Roderick Usher buries his twin sister Madeline alive in the cellar of their ancestral home.

Now Poe’s inspiration for the insane Usher twins may have been two real-life Usher twins, James Campbell Usher and Agnes Pye Usher were the children of Luke Noble Usher, an actor who performed with and was a close friend of Poe’s actress mother, Eliza Poe. Like the Usher brother and sister in the story, it is believed that the real Usher twins also went insane.

But back to Edgar Poe -

By the end of the year, Celebrate Poe should be taking a deep dive into some of the writer’s early works - especially another work that Netflix is filming - The Fall of the House of Usher.   It is supposed to be an 8 episode series, and appears to already have several characters that are not in the story.  The Netflix production does have a great cast - such as Mark Hamill
and Henry Thomas, but I would put my money on The Pale Blue Eye.
The Christian Bale movie is based on a solid story where an excellent author has had to write a engaging story where all the pieces fit together, where The Fall of the House of Usher is going to have to do a lot of padding.

27:01 Reflections on pandemics

I don’t like to end on a bummer, but the reality is that we are living in - to state that overused phrase - troubled times.

Situations DO change, and Celebrate Poe will certainly deal with any and other subject matter if warranted.  One area that I think would be very timely would be an examination of Poe’s works regarding the pandemics of his era.  Of course, Celebrate Poe has looked at The Masque of the Red Death earlier with two episodes, but I want to return to the story in light of the current increase in Covid cases.  During Poe’s life, such diseases as consumption and cholera were rampant - and since science did not know that diseases could be passed via germs and viruses, individuals were largely helpless in the face of disease.  Today we have no excuse - we KNOW that vaccines are extremely effective - not 100% effective in all cases - but someone who is vaccinated is far, far less likely to need medical services - especially if he or she has had a booster shot. 

I know this might sound like a petty concern when compared to such areas as natonal medical shortages and supply chain problems, but I used to go to the local gym everyday and it was really beneficial.  But there are so many people at the gym who are actually proud - in some twisted way - that they are not vaccinated and even become angry if they suspect someone IS vaccinated.  The main reason I went to the gym was FOR my health - now the reason I stay away from the gym is BECAUSE of my health. 

So if you have not been vaccinated or have a booster shot - please get the approprite protection or - in the words of our President - "For the unvaccinated, you're looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”
If we are to survive, we must remember that we are all interconnected, and our actions affect the very well-being of others.

TRANSITION

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.  And here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year - a year when we finally realize what we should do for our own health and welfare, as well as the health and welfare of others.

Future Episodes

And join us for Episode 100 of Celebrate Poe to be released January 2 at midnight.   This episode is called “The Uncanny Mr. Poe,” and deals with the important theme of the uncanny in William Wilson, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Fall of the House of Usher.  This episode will also look at some of Freud’s ideas about the uncanny.  If all this sounds new to you, well I just learned about the idea of Poe and what uncanny in his works means - and it all makes a lot of sense.

So that’s been a look at just some of the topics that Celebrate Poe has planned for 2002 - and if you have any suggestions, comments, crticicisms, etc. contact me at celebratepoe.gmail.com.

Sources

Sources include the web site for The Raven Society, the blog of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond by Christopher Semtner, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, and The Poe Log by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson.