One of the University's most famous alumni was buried Sunday. Again.
The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum honored author and former University student Edgar Allan Poe with a funeral in Baltimore 160 years after his death, said event organizer and Poe House Curator Jeff Jerome. The event drew a flock of about 725 people eager to see the "body" of one of America's most renowned writers, he said - a far cry from the seven people who attended his original, hastily organized funeral, which took place in Baltimore in 1849.
"We just wanted to give Poe the funeral that he really didn't have in 1849," Jerome said.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth, Jerome said, and the Poe House sought to recognize this milestone in a way that would engage a wide spectrum of public interest, while honoring an author known for more than his literary works.
"Some people are attracted to his life - maybe they can relate to the way he suffered, the way he made a name for himself," Jerome said, adding that even in Poe's day, many people - including "a lot of women" - were attracted to him. "I wanted the everyday person to come and learn about Poe and be entertained, and I think we have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams."
Poe attended the University in 1826 and went on to produce short stories such as "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," and poems such as "The Raven." Poe is widely regarded as having invented the detective story and the murder mystery, Jerome said, and heavily influenced authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock.
Jerome said the event attempted to mimic as closely as possible what a real funeral for Poe would have looked like and even used living history reenactors to represent many of its would-be guests and speakers. Reenactors for Doyle and Hitchcock were in attendance, and even the poet Walt Whitman was represented. These reenactors gave eulogies, written by event organizers, that reflected the opinions and views of the characters they were portraying, he said. Organizers drew upon personal writings and the nature of these figures' own works to draw conclusions about what they would have said in honor of Poe's life.
"We didn't want to make up anything; we wanted to use exact words," he said.
Recreating the aura of seriousness and gravity behind the death of such a monumental figure did provide some "tongue-in-cheek moments," he said, but most people in attendance "just played along with it" and "had a great time."
In addition to the event in Baltimore this past weekend, Poe devotees in Charlottesville also are recognizing the literary icon's 200th birthday. The Special Collections Library hosted an exhibition titled "From Out That Shadow: the Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe," from March until August 9, said Kelly Miller, head of programs and public outreach for the University Library. The exhibit, like the event in Baltimore, sought to recognize Poe in a broader context than his works of fiction.
"The exhibit pointed out that Poe influenced not just American literature," Miller said. "He's still pervasive in American pop culture so he's worth remembering and studying anew."
Miller noted that Poe's time at the University even coincided with that of Thomas Jefferson, who died in 1826. Poe watched the completion of the Rotunda and even commented on it in one of his writings.
"Poe really saw the University as it was being created, and I think that is very significant for the U.Va community," she said.
Jerome said Charlottesville and Baltimore are not the only cities to have recognized Poe's influence this year, and other cities that Poe called home, including New York and Richmond, also have attempted to claim him as their own through festivities recognizing his bicentennial birthday.
Nevertheless, after Sunday's funeral, Jerome claimed no city have surpassed - or can surpass - Baltimore in honoring the famed author.
"Baltimore has led the pack in promoting and celebrating Poe's life and works," he said. "We have his body, which irritates people"
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