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Edgar A. Poe's Monument.
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We see the following paragraph going the rounds of the press:
The monument to be erected over the grave of EDGAR ALLAN POE in Westminster Church yard, Baltimore, has been finished. It is of white marble, and stands eight feet high, resting on a granite base six feet square. The design is simple and chaste. On the granite slab are two other bases of marble. On these rests the die block, three feet two inches square, surmounted by a heavy cap, carved with an ornamental lyre in the centre of each face. On the front of the die block is a beautiful chiseled medallion of the poet, carved in the purest Italian statuary marble, after a plaster cast of VOLCK, the sculptor, from a photograph in the possession of a member of POE'S family. The likeness in marble is said to be correct. The memorial will probably be dedicated early in October. Invitations have been sent to HENRY W. LONGFELLOW, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, JOHN G. WHITTIER, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES and JOHN G. SAXE. They have all sent letters In reply, but It is not known whether any of them have indicated an intention of being present. Two poems have been composed for the occasion, ono by a lady in Baltimore and the other by a poet of a Northern State. Prof. SHEPHERD will deliver the oration.
This recalls a little history. Some years ago, PAUL H. HAYNE wrote for the CONSTITUTIONALIST an article descriptive of Poe's grave and the dis graceful neglect that had befallen it. The editor of this paper agitated this question to the best of his ability and Mr. HAYNE'S masterly communication was copied everywhere. It fell into the hands of Mr. J. C. DERBY, who fills an important official position in the house of D. APPLETON & Co., of New York. Mr. DERBY at once sent it to GEORGE W. CHILDS, of Philadelphia, whose wealth is only equalled by his philanthropy. Mr. CHILDS promptly offered to defray all expenses of a suitable monument to Poe and so informed the proper parties in Baltimore. Whether his offer was accepted or not we do not know; but we do know for certain that anew impetus was given to the project and the result is related in the paragraph copied above.
We are told that the committee have extended invitations to certain of the Northern literati, especially those of Boston, whom POE hated cordially, and quietly and, as if contemptuously, ignored the men of letters living at the South. Lest there should be some misunderstanding in the case, the writer, in all humility, may be allowed to say that he feels no personal grievance in this matter. Though born in Baltimore and once supposed to be a poet, his long absence from the place of his nativity has naturally weakened whatever hold such an accident may have had upon his destiny. It may be added, too, that he makes no claim to be ranked with the Boston bards. Long ago he forsook the Muse and acknowledges that his day is over as a writer of verse —
“The grass above his grave will grow as long
And sigh to midnight winds, but not to song.”
But, leaving the writer of this article out of the question, was not Mr. HAYNE, who, to his lasting honor be it said, has never abandoned his art, entitled to an invitation? Is the entire demonstration at the unveiling of Poe's monument to be a New England affair? Are there no Southern men of letters worthy of standing by the grave of a Southern poet? We are not surprised at the turn the affair has taken. The South is her own deadliest foe in some particulars. “We will not specify them. Let them be guessed. But it may be permitted for one who loves her dearly, despite her faults, to say, that when she respects her own children more, the more will she be respected at home and abroad.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - AC, 1875] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - A Poe Bookshelf - Edgar A. Poe's Monument (Anonymous, 1875)