160 years later, Poe was given a proper funeral where as many as 700 people arrived for two separate services. A man, known as Poe Toaster, arrives at Poe’s grave for over seven decades at the early hours of January 19th, his birthday, every year, leaving three roses and a partly finished bottle of cognac.
Why should we care about Poe?
We know that the poem is famous and important, but even more than that is the fact that it is a lot of fun. All of his stories are spooky and a little spine tingling, similar to a good horror film. Most importantly, Poe knows how to create a mood, to make his reader feel the shadows, the strange noises in the night, the croak of a bird. They all pull the reader into the exact moment.
"He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry."
- Poemusuem.org
We know that the poem is famous and important, but even more than that is the fact that it is a lot of fun. All of his stories are spooky and a little spine tingling, similar to a good horror film. Most importantly, Poe knows how to create a mood, to make his reader feel the shadows, the strange noises in the night, the croak of a bird. They all pull the reader into the exact moment.
"He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry."
- Poemusuem.org