Honoring Poe by Claudia Sonea

Brilliant minds are rarely understood and often regarded with envy. History is full of men of genius who died in poverty, misunderstood and deeply hated. Edgar Allan Poe is an example of society kills the spirit of those who dare to not fit in. Just like his fellow neighbours across the Ocean, Balzac or Wilde, Poe was marginalised in spite of being a literary genius whose works influence deeply literature all over the world. After he died in poverty, without even having a proper funeral, his enemies who persecuted him during his life, continued to spread their hatred and tried to destroy his reputation. Just like his stories, Poe’s lif! e and death are surrounded by mystery, which in fact offered the perfect weapon to his rivals, especially to Griswold who managed to become the literary executor of the writer. The only biography of Poe is in fact edited by Griswold and although there are many lies (like the drug addiction) and half-truths, people accept it and their reaction was quite the opposite of what the publisher intended, because people loved the idea to read the books of such a controversial man. Men of genius are despised in life and praised after their deaths. What good does that do to them? After living like outcasts and dieing like a stray cat, how could an eternal praise make it up to them? We will never know the answer, but they worth the trouble of trying to do them justice and appreciate the genius mind, his works, while leaving beside the man whose actions are corrupted by the intensity of his passions. This Sunday, Baltimore will honour the writer and at the 200th anniver! sary of his birth, he will finally get the proper funeral for ! a great mind life his. May he rest in peace!

related story (sgx15558): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091006/ap_on_re_us/us_poe_funer...

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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