Celebrate Poe

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Celebrate Poe

Answer to Listener

January 28, 2025 • George Bartley • Season 3 • Episode 321

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Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - my name is George Bartley and this is episode 321 - Answer to Listener

The intro music was Come Rest in This Bosom - said to be Edgar Poe’s favorite song.

I’d like to start with a whooper of an apology - last month - yes, last month - I got a kind message with my podcast episode on my iPhone - I was so elated that I did an entire episode in response to the individual’s comments - but I was moving some files around and promptly lost it - I had foolishly named it Attend to This - which of course made it impossible to find. Well, just a few minutes ago I was trying to clean up my Mac desktop, opened a file named Attend to This - and saw in was the podcast script I wrote in response to the message - So before I loose it again, this episode is a response to that message. And thanks for your patience.

The message read:

Thank you for this podcast, Mr. Bartley. It's a refreshing look at Poe’s life and times. I just now finished John Allen's will episode. I'm pro Poe and no matter what he did, I believe that Mr. Allan was wrong to not leave him anything in his will. perhaps he thought Poe would accomplish more if he had to do it on his own? Perhaps we would not have the soulful poems poe left us? I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this matter? 5 stars (For privacy purposes I am not going to say the person’s name - you never know.)

Well, thank you for writing. And the person gave me 5 stars. Thank you.

Well, there is a lot there - and once I get started, I can go on and on. So let me look at your questions a little bit closer. And I must admit, that one I got started, I felt I could go on and on.

Now one of the reasons why John Allan may have had tension with his foster-son Edgar Poe - and there were definitely tensions - was finances. John Allan probably never approved of Poe's pursuit of literature, and definitely not his poetry. In one letter to Allan, Poe swears that he's given up on his "Byronic" pursuits (he didn't give up poetry, just his influence from Byron). Allan, as a successful merchant, believed in good business decisions, and Poe was taking a huge risk trying to be a writer. Be a self-made man, Allan would say, just like me.

Of course, Allan wasn't a self-made man.

His mercantile business, Ellis & Allan, did moderately well, though they lost substantial money when they tried to open an overseas branch in England (generally, Poe's five years growing up in England, from age 6 to 11, are shockingly ignored by people trying to determine or replicate his accent).
That is one reason that I really liked the decision to choose a young English actor, Harry Melling from the Harry Potter series to play the young Poe in the Amazon miniseries The Pale Blue Eyes - but I digress.

Shortly after, by mutual consent, Ellis & Allan disbanded. But as you probably know, Allan really hit it big financially when William Galt died on March 26, 1825. The Allans, unable to afford their own home, were living charitably in a house owned by "Uncle" William at the time. John Allan, William Galt, and adopted son James Galt were having tea and pancakes that day when, as Allan wrote, "suddenly [William Galt] threw back his head & eyes and seemed oppressed." Galt was dead.

He was also the wealthiest man in Virginia at the time. His home was on 15 square miles of land and he owned real estate in Richmond and Lynchburg, plantations throughout Virginia, sawmills, stock in the Bank of Virginia, and hundreds of slaves.

To John Allan, Galt left in his will about 4,040 acres of land — an estate estimated at $750,000. Almost immediately, Allan purchased a new home: a two-story brick structure with wraparound porches, situated at the top of a hill and commanding tremendous views of the city. Inside, a mirrored ballroom with a hand-carved mantel, a wide mahogany stairway, and an octagonal dining room were fitted with extremely expensive and extravagant furniture, decor, and artwork. The house alone was valued at over 100,000 today and was located at Fifth and Main Streets — the Moldavia estate would likely inspire "The Fall of the House of Usher." It is no longer standing and only a couple images are known to exist. Edgar Poe was 16 years old at the time.

John Allan never had to worry about money again. So, in my opinion, there is no reason that Poe should NOT have been included in the will. Unfortunately, in the years that followed, the struggling Poe was forced to beg for money from his "Pa." Allan only occasionally complied and, almost always, offered less than Poe requested. He was such a scrooge, in fact, he often responded to Poe's letters by flipping them over and writing on the back (as if he couldn't afford his own sheet?). As you know, when John Allan died, he excluded his foster-son in his will.

So, in one sense, it almost makes some kind of sick sense that Allan would never fulfill the fatherly duty of providing support for his son after his death. On the other hand, Poe called Allan "Pa" for parts of 15 years. And, remember, Allan was an incredibly wealthy man — one of the richest in Richmond. Either way, when John Allan sat down on April 17, 1832 to write a draft (one of many) of his last will and testament, Edgar Poe was purposely excluded.

After Frances Allan's death, John Allan married Louisa Patterson on October 5, 1830. Patterson, now the second Mrs. Allan, was listed as "executrix" of the Allan estate in the 1832 will. In 1831, the couple's first son (of three) was born, who they named John Allan, Jr. Now with a legitimate biological heir, Allan Sr. had no reason to provide for Edgar Poe in his will.

Allan did, however, give money to the family of his first wife, specifically to Ann Moore Valentine — amounting to "three hundred dollars annually" throughout "her natural life." Though he ignored his "foster son" Edgar Poe, Allan did provide for his illegitimate children. Allan had fathered twins to a married woman named Elizabeth Wills in 1830 — he called it his "fault." He had struggled for some time with balancing his responsibility to them and concern for his social standing. In the end, he made the decision to do the right thing, and offered them one-fifth of his estate or $4000 each when they reached 21 years old — a social suicide which would be exposed after John Allan's death.

Now, Edgar Allan Poe wrote to John Allan on many occasions. In each letter Poe would use a different point of view, and purpose. Poe’s first letter to John was written to try and build the father-son relationship they never really had. In Poe’s second letter Poe is back to his old self. He is asking for John for money again, but he still cares about his relationship with John and doesn’t want to jeopardize it. It is easy to see that Poe doesn’t want to ruin the relationship, because he wrote, “I would rather have done anything on earth.”

The overall mood of the first letter is regret. Poe shows his regret in sentences such as, “I am ready to curse the day I was born,” and, “when I look back upon the past and think of everything.” The second letter’s mood is guilt. Poe writes in the letter, “If you refuse God only knows what I shall do and all my hopes and prospects are ruined forever.” Poe also writes, “I am in bad health, and unable to undergo as much hardships as formerly,” trying to make the reader, John Allan, feel guilty if he don’t send the money that Poe is asking for. In other words, Poe believed he can make John feel guilty and he will send him the money. In the third letter Poe portrays a pitiful mood. He writes statements such as, “If you knew at this moment how wretched I am you would never forgive yourself for having refused me.”

Now I hope that kinda sets up the relationship between Poe and John Allan.

Now although the Allan family evidently maintained a surface harmony, their marriage obviously had its troubles. John Allan fathered at least three illegitimate children, and it is reasonable to guess he was guilty of other affairs that left no such obvious evidences. We do not know for certain that his wife believed him unfaithful, but it is a tenable theory, and such an awareness could alone account for her lack of “even-temper.” We know even less about Edgar’s attitude. It has been speculated that by the time he reached his teens, Poe became aware of his foster-father’s darker side, and this could possibly explain the remarkably hostile turn in their relations.

Although by all accounts Allan had been reluctant to give little Edgar a home, from what little we know of Poe’s childhood relationship with his “Pa,” it appears to have been stable, and even somewhat affectionate. (It must be noted here that Susan Talley Weiss--allegedly quoting one of the Mackenzie sons--wrote that when Allan would become annoyed with the child, he would "threaten to turn him adrift, and that he never allowed him to lose sight of his dependence on his charity." This dreadful story has some plausibility, considering Allan's later attitude, and has frequently been repeated as fact. Such a threat on Allan’s part would be very cold and downright cruel - implicitly communicating - I took you in, I could easily throw you out on the streets.

At first, Allan was said to have shared his wife’s pride in their little foster-son—although one sometimes gets the impression they saw him as a pleasing household pet to show off before guests—and his surviving letters from Edgar’s childhood, attitude, speak of his ward approvingly as a "fine Boy."

Sadly, Poe’s relations with Allan took a mysteriously nasty turn as the child became a troubled adolescent increasingly conscious of his outsider status in the Allan household. One of the earliest pieces of evidence for Allan’s increasing disgust with his ward comes from a bizarre letter he wrote to Edgar’s seventeen-year-old brother William Henry in 1824.

Allan expressed a creepily extravagant, fawning attitude towards Poe’s brother, expressing his “desire to Stand as I ought to do in your Estimation.” He compared “Henry,” “my Brave & excellent boy,” with the “miserable, sulky & ill-tempered” fifteen-year-old Edgar. “The boy possesses not a Spark of affection for us nor a particle of gratitude for all my care and kindness towards him.”

The beginning of the end for Allan and Edgar came - and you probably know this - happened when the young man was sent to the University of Virginia in February 1826. For reasons which remain a complete mystery, Allan—who was, thanks to that legacy from his uncle, now a very wealthy man—sent Edgar to a highly expensive school with funds that were far short of what was needed for even basic living expenses. Poe—never known for his financial luck—desperately tried to make up the deficit by gambling. The almost-inevitable result was that, in addition to his school bills, he now was burdened with humiliating “debts of honor." Allan evidently refused to pay any of the money Poe owed. The older man’s solution to the problem was to simply force Edgar to withdraw from the university after only one semester—a break that Poe would forever resent.

After Poe returned to Richmond, tensions between the two increased until, like an active volcano finally finding release, they had what was probably their worst quarrel to date in March of 1827. Poe angrily fled the Allan home—essentially for good, as it would turn out—and, obviously still fuming, wrote his foster-father a letter the same day, announcing his determination “to find some place in this wide world, where I will be treated--not as you have treated me.” He went on to list reasons for his departure—reasons that were obviously a rehash of their earlier fight:

“Since I have been able to think on any subject, my thoughts have aspired, and they have been taught by you to aspire, to eminence in public life — this cannot be attained without a good Education, such a one I cannot obtain at a Primary school — A collegiate Education therefore was what I most ardently desired, and I had been led to expect that it would at some future time be granted — but in a moment of caprice — you have blasted my hope because forsooth I disagreed with you in an opinion, which opinion I was forced to express —

Again, I have heard you say (when you little thought I was listening and therefore must have said it in earnest) that you had no affection for me —

You have moreover ordered me to quit your house, and are continually upbraiding me with eating the bread of Idleness, when you yourself were the only person to remedy the evil by placing me to some business —

You take delight in exposing me before those whom you think likely to advance my interest in this world…”

Whatever Poe’s original plans may have been, by May he had enlisted in the Army. After Frances Allan—who had evidently stayed devoted to her foster son to the last—died in February 1829, Poe got a brief leave of absence and returned to Richmond, where he and Allan patched things up temporarily.

Poe was probably not without some blame in their relationship, but whatever his errors may have been, it is chilling to see the ease and thoroughness with which Allan was able to sever all ties with an obviously suffering youth who had spent virtually all his life thinking of Allan as a father. Even at his worst, Poe still comes off as human. John Allan does not.

As you know, Allan did not bother even mentioning Poe in his will, leaving the young poet nothing but largely painful memories he carried the rest of his life. A biographical sketch of Poe from 1843, which he undoubtedly contributed information to, if he did not actually write it, is openly contemptuous of his guardian, stating that “Mr. Allan’s principal recommendation was his wealth…He treated his young protege with as much kindness as his gross nature admitted…” In an 1839 letter to his cousin George Washington Poe, Edgar was even blunter, stating that when Allan inherited his uncle’s fortune, it “nearly turned his brain, and, worse, confirmed him in habits of habitual drunkenness…[he] gave loose to all the baseness of his nature.”

It goes without saying that if he had continued to treat Poe as his ward, or at least left him some amount of money, the poet’s life would have been radically different. Even more importantly, however, he obviously failed to ever give Poe the emotional grounding such a sensitive and acute boy required. It is small wonder that Poe was later to cling to his aunt Maria Clemm so desperately. With her combination of unconditional love and practical support, she was both the mother and father he never really had. One wonders what his life would have become if she had been the principal figure of his childhood, rather than the materially rich but spiritually deficient Allan.

It might also help to look back at the relationship between Allan and Poe. John Allan, a Scottish-born tobacco merchant, took in the orphaned Edgar Poe at the age of two but never legally adopted him. The relationship between Allan and Poe was tumultuous from the start. Allan was a stern, pragmatic businessman who valued financial success and social standing, while Poe was a sensitive, artistic soul with a penchant for poetry and storytelling. And the tension between them grew as Poe entered adolescence and young adulthood.

Additionally, Poe became aware of Allan's extramarital affairs, which likely contributed to his disillusionment with his foster father. The discovery of Allan's moral failings may have fueled Poe's resentment and contributed to their eventual estrangement - and Allan’s eventual exclusion of Poe from his will.

Now, just from a moral and familial perspective, many would argue that Allan was indeed wrong to exclude Poe from his will. Despite their conflicts, Allan had raised Poe for most of his childhood and had, at times, provided for his education and basic needs. The complete exclusion of Poe from the will could be seen as a final act of rejection and abandonment.

However, it's important to consider Allan's perspective - although I personally don’t agree. John Allan likely viewed Poe as ungrateful, irresponsible, and a potential embarrassment to the family name. Allan's decision may have been influenced by his OWN values and his disappointment in Poe's life choices.

Poe's unfair financial difficulties undoubtedly had a significant impact on his life and work. Without inheritance or consistent patronage, Poe was forced to rely on his writing and editorial work to make a living. This struggle for survival shaped both his career choices and the themes in his writing.
For example, many of Poe's most famous works, such as "The Raven," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "The Pit and the Pendulum," are characterized by themes of loss, despair, and psychological torment. These themes may have been influenced by Poe's own experiences of financial hardship and personal struggles. The necessity to earn a living through his writing may have pushed Poe to be more prolific and to experiment with different genres. He wrote poetry, short stories, literary criticism, and even attempted to start his own literary magazine. This diversity in his body of work might not have existed if he had been financially secure.
Some argue that financial struggle can lead to greater artistic integrity, as the artist is not beholden to wealthy patrons or commercial interests. Poe's work often challenged conventional tastes and explored dark, psychological themes that were not always popular with mainstream audiences.

But to put Poe's financial situation in context, it's worth comparing his earnings to those of other prominent American writers of his time.

Washington Irving
Washington Irving, often considered America's first true literary celebrity, earned substantial sums from his writing. His collection "The Sketch Book," which included "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. Irving's earnings allowed him to live comfortably and even purchase a huge estate, Sunnyside.

James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper, author of "The Last of the Mohicans," was another financially successful writer of the era. His Leatherstocking Tales series was immensely popular, and he earned enough from his writing to live a comfortable life and travel extensively in Europe.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow, a contemporary of Poe, was one of the most financially successful poets of his time. He earned a comfortable living from his poetry and translations, supplemented by his position as a professor at Harvard.

In contrast to these successful authors, Poe struggled financially for most of his career. He earned modest sums for his stories and poems, often receiving only $10 to $15 for works that would later become classics. In fact, for most of his career his annual income was one half of the poverty level for that time.

Poe's financial struggles were exacerbated by the lack of international copyright laws, which meant that his works could be reprinted in other countries without compensation. This was a common problem for American authors of the time, but it hit Poe particularly hard due to his lack of other financial resources.

It's intriguing to consider how Poe's work might have differed if he had inherited wealth from John Allan or achieved financial security through other means. And personally I don’t think that John Allan consciously thought that keeping funds from Poe would improve his writing - I don’t think he cared at all.

But it can be argued that with Poe not having to worry about finances, he would have had more time for writing. With financial stability, Poe might have been able to focus more on his writing without the constant pressure of earning a living.

Financial security might have allowed Poe to take more risks in his writing, potentially leading to even more innovative and groundbreaking work.
Many of Poe's health issues were worsened by poverty and stress. Better living conditions might have prolonged his life and increased his literary output.

With more resources, Poe might have been able to travel more extensively, potentially broadening his literary horizons and inspiring new works.

But there are potential drawbacks to financial security:

The desperate need to earn a living through writing may have been a driving force behind Poe's prolific output. Financial security might have reduced this urgency.

Some argue that Poe's financial struggles and personal hardships informed the dark, psychological themes in his work. Financial comfort might have altered his perspective and the tone of his writing.

The need to earn money pushed Poe to write in various genres and styles. Financial security might have led to a more narrow focus - in other words, Poe might have taken the easy way out

John Allan's decision to exclude Poe from his will had far-reaching consequences for the young writer's life and career. While it undoubtedly caused Poe significant hardship, it also may have contributed to the creation of some of the most enduring and influential works in American literature.

The question of whether Poe would have produced the same caliber of work if he had been financially secure is ultimately unanswerable. What we can say is that Poe's struggles, both personal and financial, played a significant role in shaping the themes, tone, and urgency of his writing.

Perhaps it is this very tension – between despair and creativity, between struggle and genius – that continues to fascinate students, readers, writers, professors, scholars, and even podcasters.

And yes, I do strongly agree with you - John Allan certainly could have afforded to include Poe in his will, and I do not think that he was leaving his son out so that his son would work harder - based on the historical record, I believe John Allan resented Poe and could care less what happened to him. And personally - this is just my opinion - is that Poe had so much inward talent that he would have produced excellent works whether he was extremely wealthy or very poor. There have been great writers who were wealthy, as well as great writers who were poor.

Wow - this is probably the longest episode that Celebrate Poe has ever had, but I think it deals with a very important question that affected Poe for the rest of his life.

Join Celebrate Poe for episode 322 - Dreaming of Monsters

Sources include Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson, the Baltimore Edgar Allan Poe website, and the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.

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George Bartley

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