“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Poe, and “Annabel Lee”
The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, which is open to the public in the Bronx near Fordham University, is where the dark mystery writer penned many famous short stories and poems. Read about it at www.nycgovparks.org/parks/poe-park/monuments/1194. There is also a contemporary-style visitor center at the site where more information is available.
Poe (1809-1949) lived in this cottage for approximately three years in the mid-19th century, a peak time for some of his best-known writing, including Annabel Lee (read the poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44885/annabel-lee). At the time, the Bronx provided open space for the cottage property. The Bronx has since grown exponentially to over a million residents. Sadly, during Poe’s brief period in his New York home, his wife Virginia passed away.
More Resources
You can read more about Poe by going to his authoradventures.org pages in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
“Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore.And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; —
This it is, and nothing more.” — Edgar Allan Poe
This is the eighth stop on our New York Author Adventures Trail.
Patricia Smart
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