The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 668 - Edgar Allen Poe - Part 2

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the writer Edgar Allen Poe. Part two of two.  SOURCES TOUR DATES OFFICIAL MERCH   Rocketmoney  Mint Mobile 

We're going on tour and this is it's been a while March 2025 is when our tour is happening. First of all, we're going to Tempe, Arizona Maybe our best city of all time. It's the best that is on March 16th And then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, maybe our favorite city ever. We really never love the city We've ever gone to that's on March 17th and then we go to Oklahoma City, which is our faith We often say that it's our number one. Yeah, it's our number one. The best city I've ever been to.

That's on March 18th. On March 19th, we're going to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our favorite city without question. And then we head to Dallas, Texas on March 20th. Our favorite city. That's why there's never been a better city. If you don't like it, you're a Dal asshole. Thank you.

And then we go to Houston, Texas on March 23rd, which is by far the best city. And then we end our tour in Austin, Texas, on March 22nd at the Cap City Comedy Club. It's the best city. In the entire world. Number one city in the world. You can get tickets at dolloppodcast.com slash tour.

So, Gareth, we're going to be on tour. We are not available for that. Did you not? I can't make it. The dollop is going on tour. I didn't see what I can do. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise that'll be at every show, but, I'm excited for you.

Let's go back to the roots. So we're going out for- Move a closet on stage, you get in it and just scream like quiz show. A little over a week in March, starting on March 16th, we had to Tempe, Arizona. Then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We just added a second show, which is going to be a best of.

We're going to take a topic from 10 years ago, and one of your favorites, and read it. And we will have new reactions, because we don't remember it. It's really a luxury of this show. Yeah, so that's the second show in Albuquerque. And then we're going to go to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Houston, and then Austin. And then in June, starting on

June 3rd, we'll be at the Sacramento punchline. Then we'll be in Boise, Idaho, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Bend, and San Francisco. That's California, not the other one. And that you can get the tickets at dollapodcast.com slash tour. June tour I'm in for you. You're not helpful. I'm definitely in for that one. By the way, when I was at Cap City, the manager, the great Chandy was saying that maybe we should add a second show there. In the cap?

In the cap. But we're doing like an afternoon show. When would the second show be? I'm really looking to transition to breakfast performance. So I would love to do brunch stuff. So this is Edgar Allan Poe part two. When we left him. Is this a two parter or more? It's just two.

Okay. When we left him, people started to realize that he's not so great with the drinking and the carrying on. And so he's trying to rebuild his reputation. He's still, he's writing things that are very popular, but he's making no money because there's no copyright laws or anything. So he's poor and well known and also known as a drunk. Right, and out of control, really.

Out of control, yeah. So Edgar wrote The Mystery of Marie Roguet, an installment on his detective series, very popular detective series. Right. The stories helped boost his rep as a great American storyteller and he made business friends who admired his talent. Just checking that's on. One was Rufus Griswold. Mm. You know. I love his. That's enough. Thank you. He's a very fashionable man.

Yes, he's a bit of a, yes. Net worker. Absolutely. Griswold had just left his job at the New York Tribune. He was an editor. And he was putting together a poet anthology. This could be good for our boy, assuming he can not drink. Edgar submitted three poems.

The drinking doesn't seem to affect his writing at all. He just cranks them out. Edgar Allan poems. Did he ever think of doing that? Do you have anything on your flat computer? Let's just say you know how upset I am that you finally stumbled across that. Check your computer. Griswold published them near the back.

So he publishes Edgars near the back of the anthology. And he gives more room to poets who are friends, but they're not that good. Edgars poems? No, the ones that he's normally good. Edgars are in the back of the anthology and Griswold's buddies get the front. But they're not good. So people are actually making it to the back. Maybe.

It's very strange to imagine an era where people are consuming that much poetry. It really is. It's, yeah. Yeah. The anthology also featured New England poets heavily and Griswold is from New England. So again, his buddies. Edgar's offended. Edgar's from the South.

He's like, where are my southern bros? Well, he also seems to be, has a very short fuse in general. Yeah. He's like the Michael Jordan of poets. He's like, you don't need to do much and he will find bullets aboard material. I haven't seen the thing. What? The last dance? That's just criminal. That's just criminal. Have you seen Dune? One and two? That's criminal. I saw the first one and that was criminal. The editor should be in jail.

Did he even cut anything? Insane. They should make a movie about me watching Dune and it should be called Dune 3 and it's my struggle to sit there and watch the first two Dunes. Have you ever seen Dune or my car? Don't even bother reacting. It's not struggle to sit there and watch the first two Dunes. Have you ever seen Dune or My Car? Don't even bother reacting. It's not worth it. So Griswold is not a big fan of Edgar the person.

Okay. Especially after reading his review of the anthology. Edgar's review of his own anthology. Of Griswold's anthology. Oh, Edgar's review of Griswold's anthology. Griswold. Not a real networker. Well, Griswold paid Edgar to write it.

And then Edgar, well, okay, can we just focus on the backbone he had for being honest about what he felt? Well, Edgar was like, you're trying to bribe me? So he got, he's like, well, fuck you. And then now he's gonna write a shitty review, even though I got paid to write a puff piece. He did write some nice things about it. Um, but Griswold, uh, and, and some nice things about Griswold, he said there were too many new England's poets. He went after like the, the average ness of the front end of the book. Griswold didn't want to print it, but Edgar, he, he, he don't

want to print it, but then he knew if he didn't print it, then Edgar would see how mad he was. So we didn't want to. It's a little like, how do you handle Trump? You're just like, is it worth it? So Griswold, um, is then hired by Edgar's old boss at Grams to be an editor. So that was the magazine he'd written for. And he got much more leeway than Edgar had and he got a lot more money. So Edgar takes this in stride, doesn't drink about it and is cool and moves on. He's very jealous. He's very jealous.

He's very upset. So he gets his writer buddies to bully Griswold in their writing. So they are now comparing his editor talents to Edgar's and saying that Griswold is bad. And they're making up. How are they even conveying that? Just in their, in their writing. So they're all editors and stuff. So they're writing their own things.

It probably seemed a little calculated to Griswold. I mean, yeah, it had to have, and they were, they were using, he made up name form, names form like Rumpus Grizzle or Rufal Grizzle. Terrible. Yeah. It's very true. Literally like when a kid tries to zing you

and you're like, buddy, you're dealing with an adult brain here. You're not. Googries. Yeah, you're just like, buddy. No, it's not. One wrote. By the way, most of my life is batting down

nicknames from me. I'm sure. Yeah, I know you're sure. How would I, what are you talking about? Quiet. Benji. Stop. One wrote quote,

we would give more for Ed Gray Poe's toenail than we would for Rufus Grizzle's soul. So that is an attempt at, he has more talent in his pinky than Rufus does in his whole body, but it's like a real kind of Tim Burton skew on it. Yeah, it's a Tim Burton skew. Yeah. So, Grizzwald Tim Burton skew. Yeah.

So Griswold's pissed. Sure. A friend described him as, quote, the most irritable and vindictive man I've ever met. Griswold. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.

So this is, we got a feud. We got a feud brewing. So they said he became savage when slighted. These, is it? little Dave Anthony here. Yeah. OK. I was about to be like, this era is so weird with the male ego, but then you undercut. I can't do that now. And Griswold had just found out he has tuberculosis.

So he's like facing a slow death. And he's like, I'll go down. So he's well, he's more irritable than normal, basically. Also, his wife just died. And he went into her vault a month after her death and kissed her rotting, quote, cold black forehead. Ah! Who wrote it, him?

Oh my god. What is with these dudes not moving? Let it go. They're gone. A friend found him the next day with his face resting on her head. What? So a friend was like, real fast? Where the hell is he?

Real fast? And then like went in there and he's like, I love you. So Edward- We shouldn't. We should. Oh my God. We are getting carried away. We really shouldn't. We should. With that, oh my god, we are getting carried away. We really shouldn't.

Oh. You've passed away. Look at how tight and black your skin is. Baby, you're cold outside. I shouldn't kiss you. I died last week. I really have gone askew. Seriously, I died last week. Unbutton gone askew. Seriously, I died last week.

Unbutton your top. Don't do it, I died last week. Oh, baby, I'm cold outside. I really should bang. Baby, I should get moving. Oh, let's bang. Baby, seriously, I'm not here. You're just hearing all this song. You're hearing a duet in your head. Oh, let's bang baby. Seriously. I'm not here.

You're just hearing all this song. You're hearing a duet in your head. I feel deranged. Don't do it, baby. You're cold inside. That's a Dean Martin necrophilia. So Edgar starts a lecture tour in which Griswold is like the main topic. And again, like if you went to that, you'd be like, can you read some of your stuff?

What's going on? This is also a dipshit for something he did three and a half years ago. I mean, Rufo. Oh, and this is all because he put his palms in the back of the book. He put his palms in the homes of homes. Yeah, right. Yeah. Back in the house. Just he's got a huge problem.

So the insults are fucking brutal. I can't win the lecture in an 1844. Edgar moves to New York with Virginia and muddy looking for better opportunities, right? More and more in New York with Virginia and Muddy, looking for better opportunities, right? More and more New York. And they rent part of a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. Never getting their own spot.

Part of a farmhouse, not the whole thing, just part of it. I believe, if I recall correctly, the rest wasn't finished. Or was that the last one? So the last one was not finished. Okay. The lambs, did the lambs understand the property line

of what we're renting? finished. Okay. The lambs are, do the lambs understand the property line of what we're renting? No. Okay. There will be lambs coming through the house. Let me talk to the family. And some cows. So apparently the lambs don't understand where we're renting. And there's some hippopotamus as we are trying to get that going. So there's some- Is this the right era? Sure. So I guess we're trying to switch from cow meat to hippo right now. So there'll be some hippos to coming through, coming through. Also a rhino. Just one. All right. Let me I'm not actually he is for grazing. He keeps the grass at a lower level.

I feel like he should not be. It's New York and the winter. And there's a pack of hyenas. No, that's fine. That's fine with us. They keep the predators out. Ha, Mahenya. What's that, please? Oh, I should point out that

Scar has killed Mufasa recently in the barn. So. How do you know those names names I'm just trying to think of a little one what's the new one I don't know I didn't say it Simba sure Simba Simba I don't know I'm proud of you Lion King was an enjoyable one you ever see the the Broadway play no but Julie Tammor directed it. It's fucking crazy good. Yeah. So have you ever watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on LSD? No.

Have you ever watched Fritz the Cat on LSD? Not recommended. He's a rapist. Oh, whoa. Oh. Fritz the Cat is a fucking nightmare. You don't mean Pepe Le Pew? No, Fritz the Cat is from the 70s,

and it's about a bad cat, and it's a cartoon, and it's not good. Don't recommend it on. Dudes are just writing stuff being like, hey, this cat likes to put his finger up on the stranger lady cat's butt and sniff it, and that's fine. So, yeah, this farmhouse, they're still super poor.

Sometimes they live on bread and molasses for weeks. It's all they have. And Edgar has to take journalistic work. So slice of life stories about the big city. And then this was all being published in small towns in Pennsylvania. So it's just like that schlocky. Yeah. It's like not well, not his deal.

Right. Beneath him. Yes. He eventually gets a job working for flamboyant editor of the mirror, Nathaniel Parker Willis. Okay. Now he didn't get the job himself. Muddy went to, Muddy is his aunt, Muddy went to Willis's office job hunting for Edgar telling people Edgar was sick and he couldn't do it himself.

Oh, I thought that was like the selling point. You'll love him. He's really sick. So she's networking on his behalf. She's trying to get a job on his behalf because he's fucking drunk. Yeah, because he's out of control living in a barn. a job on his behalf because he's fucking drunk. Yeah, because he's out of control living in a barn. Yeah. So, Edgar was like and respect each other. Edgar is sober. He says he'll be sober for the job.

And I feel like this is totally going to work. This one's going to totally going to work. Yep. As long as I'm Secretary of Defense, I'll be sober. Trust me. Oh, God. That shit. Willis said Edgar had to sit, quote, in the corner. I want to see a drunk Secretary of Defense. I mean, trust me. Oh God, that shit. Willis said Edgar had to sit quote, in the corner.

You kind of want to see a drunk secretary of defense. We've had the sober ones. Yeah, let's do something different. I think the selling, like I obviously am opposed to this guy being in charge of war, but the selling point of like, we've never had someone that so many people have voted against to me is not, this is not getting me.

Yeah, it's not making me be like, I'm not recoiling. I'm like, yeah, no, they're all, no. Your approval doesn't make me think better of people. So, Willis and Edgar had to sit, quote, in the corner of the editorial room, ready to be called upon for any miscellaneous work of the moment, announcing news, answering correspondence for any miscellaneous work of the moment.

Announcing news, answering correspondence, noticing amusements. We need a breaking poem. So he's like, he's like Twitter of the newsroom. He's like a guy that just has to bang shit out really quick. Yeah. Edgar told a friend quote, "'I have reached a crisis in my life.'"

After all the shit, he's finally reached a crisis. Yeah. Edgar then wrote a critique. I mean shit he's finally reached a crisis. Yeah. Edgar then wrote a critique. I mean, he's living in a barn that he doesn't fully have access to all of the barn with his older aunt, his child bride. Child bride. He's an alcoholic who's writing poems

that are undervalued that he's making no money for. Well, they're valued. Right, that he's making no money for. Well, they're valued. He's not making any money. Right, but he's making no money for them. Yeah. And... I mean, that's enough. He drinks constantly.

Yeah. So, he writes a critique of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's new anthology of poems, and accuses Longfellow of plagiarism, and then he lashes out that he's not included in the anthology. So it's all about him not being included. You gotta pick a lane.

He never does though. He always starts with his attack, and then he always throws in like, but my personal reason. Very Trumpy. Very Trumpy. Yeah. She's the worst, nobody likes her opinion.

And by the way, nobody's governed better than I am. Longfellow's friends and Edgar get into a print fight. Great. They're trading accusations about Longfellow's talent and character. And Edgar goes on another lecture tour just railing against Longfellow. Okay. And saying others he thought don't deserve fame. What are his road numbers?

They're good. They're good. People, I mean he's kind of a comedian in that way. Like people love his writing, they love his attacks. You know, he's like fucking Don Rickles, but a little more vicious. Like Don Rickles he always knew was fake, but this guy, it's real. Yeah, he's like fucking Don Rickles, but a little more vicious like Don Rickles. He always knew was fake, but this guy

It's yeah, he's genuine. Yeah, which is kind of nice It adds to Edgar's fame in New York, especially and then Willis publishes a poem that's the Yeah, the root guy owns the Go hired him, right? the guy hired him. Right. He said it was quote, unsurpassed in English poetry.

It will stick to the memory of everyone who reads it. That made Edgar happy. No, it is. Edgar's the Raven. Edgar's the Raven. Yeah, he publishes Edgar's the Raven. Oh, wow. Which is, I mean, everyone should know it,

but if you don't, it's about a narrator visited one night by a raven who repeatedly croaks, nevermore. And the Raven is an instant hit across the country. Papers are going fucking crazy for it. It's been reprinted and reprinted. It's the perfect poem for reciting. Right. And the Edgar loves that because he loves to be. It's got a chorus. The center of attention. Yeah, right. And he gets to do... It's got a chorus. It's the center of attention.

Yeah, right. And he gets to do it. He's often asked to do it. Edgar is invited now to meet important people. So he's moving up in a level because of the poem. It's crazy. Isn't it weird? Yeah, it's nuts.

It's like having a hit song. It is. And it's really weird to know why... I mean, I guess our brains have just changed but like obviously I'm familiar with that poem and I mean that was what like English class was when I was in middle school I would just be like why did like two roads diverged in a yellow wood, you know, I was like, all right The guy hit a fork All right, you know, I mean the they'd break it down, I was like,

I'm not equipped to understand why this is good. Well, there isn't anything else. So the emphasis on words is huge. Yeah. Even then though, I mean, honestly, the Raven, I guess I would be like, I get that one more because of the repeatability of the Raven. Like I understand that more, but like, like yeah, to like Robert Frost, the road less traveled. I was like, okay. Yeah. It's a pass from me. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Obviously. Uh, yeah. It's not for people like yourself. Yeah. You know what I mean? Lower, lowers. What's your favorite poem?

Down. What's your favorite poem? Miami the Ancient Mirror. Oh, water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink. Oh, really? Huh? Suck it. It was a perfect poem for reciting, which he was lied to do.

He's invited to meet important people. He's sometimes just introduced as the Raven. That I would really lean into. Yeah. He's like Rocky now because kids are following him around as he walks the streets. Wow. And they throw pebbles at his heels until he'd whip around.

Different than Rocky. And he'll, nevermore. That had to get old. And I don't know. That had to get old. I think he loves it. I think he loves all of it. Yeah, maybe. I mean, know. That had to get old. I think he loves it. I think he loves all of it.

Yeah, maybe. I mean, he's drunk and desperate. Also still poor. Still poor. That hasn't changed. He leaves the mirror. Ever poor. He leaves the mirror to write for the Broadway Journal, and the deal was he'd get a third

of the profits. Pretty good. Yeah. So he's writing reviews. He's still attacking Longfellow. He starts a fight in the Broadway Journal with Longfellow It's a one-sided it is known as the Longfellow War even though Longfellow was not responding sure an anonymous letter Is written in another magazine and it is signed outtas outtas outtas, okay, and

In the letter it dismisses the plagiarism charges and compares the Raven to another poem about a depressed lover being visited by a bird. He's gonna be fucking pissed. So yeah, he goes off. So over weeks, Edgar writes reply after reply reply to Otis attacking Longfellow over 50 pages over five articles of response. Yeah. Otis says he's Longfellow's friend, but he also compliments Edgar calling him one of America's best poets. It's every pretty certain that Otis was actually Edgar writing the critique of himself so that he could write back and forth arguing with himself in the papers.

That is genius. That is true. That is genius shit. He Tony Clifton. He did. He did. That is amazing. That's a lot of people that are Twitter.

Jimmy Dore was doing that on Twitter and got caught. I remember. Yeah. Like he said something from his account. Yeah. He's responding. Yeah. Sometimes his long fellow attacks took up half of the Broadway journal. I mean, if it's good, it's good. Some say he's jealous of long fellows, uh, monetary success long fellow. He's the first American poet to make a lucrative career, like he's making money. One editor said Edgar's jealousy, quote, amounted to a mania, and he labored under the delusion

that everyone was trying to slight him and underrate the value of his work. Okay. Longfellow never responds ever, ever to any of it at all, which must have made him more crazy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Edgar? Yeah.

Yeah, without question. Must have just made him, yeah. Well, cause then you're like, then you'll like write again. Yeah. Look, maybe I was out of line, but you really fucked, and then a no reply, that drives you crazy. The no reply drives you crazy. Yeah.

So Longfellow is just a very nice guy. It would be great if back then, like when you wrote letters, someone could leave you on read because that's when you're like, you son of a bitch. Yeah, Longfellow is a very nice guy. He's very easy going. He understands Edgar's frustration because he knows he's living in poverty and he's a great writer. Right. He said life was, quote, too precious to be wasted in street brawls. Yeah. Well, he's doing well. So during this period of the one sided fight, Edgar starts drinking again. That might be the reason why he did it. He was like, this is a give me a good reason.

Yeah. One day he comes into work and he has to be held up by a friend to get through the door. Physically. Yes. He claimed to be bedridden to friend to get through the door. Physically. Yes. He claimed to be bedridden to get out of a lecture. In a way. That's fine. Fred said he found Edgar quote, tottering from side to side. And so he took him home,

but they had to stop because Edgar tried to fight an editor that he passed in the street. Well, yeah, I mean, I get it. Of course. That swaying drunk is really when you have like the awareness to be like, my balance is gone. I think that was a lot at home. Virginia locks herself in a room. How old is she now? She's maybe early 20s.

OK. She's not new. Now it's OK. Well, no. But yes. Now it's like he's ruined her. But now she, you know. Right.

She I mean, if there's one, the most tragic person in this whole story is her because she wasted her fucking life with this guy. If only she just got with another cousin who was like, I'll save you. Oh yeah. Yeah. So a speaking engagement goes so poorly because he's so fucking shit-faced

that he later said it was a hoax, and he just couldn't believe anyone thought that that could possibly be real. Did you think I was really doing that? Why would I? Oh my God. Falling down? I would never. Throwing up and putting it in my hat off the ground.

Please. It was all scripted, every moment of it. Like I would really shit on stage. You guys just don't even know what a joke it. Like I would really shit on stage. You guys just don't even know what a joke is anymore. I do, you don't. Good Lord, you really think I got so drunk I crapped in a hat, put it on and danced around

and said I'm the Prince of Mud. I mean good Lord, good Lord. He said he had wanted to see what it felt like to be publicly hissed. Obviously no one buys it. Everyone's like, no, dude, everyone knows you're drunk. It just wanted to feel a hiss. For once.

Oh good lord. I've never been not liked. Come on, yeah, you know me. Popular calm, always liked. So there's rumors that he's cheating on Virginia. Oh boy, I can't wait to find this age. She's sick. She's basically wasting away at this point. She's TB just full on it's taken her now. Francis Sergeant

Osgood is a poet and Edgar meets her. He had complimented her during a lecture in writing about her lecture that he saw. And then he meets her afterwards. She's 34 Little old she has a very Well, you say that she has a very childlike appearance and demeanor, okay Griswold called her personality quote almost infantile This is perfect for him when happy she was once described as quote, clapping her hands and crowing like a baby. Oh, Christ. Somehow he made it worse. I know it's like, baby is not great.

But Osgood is the most famous woman poet in America. Okay. She's buried to an older man who is a business guy. He's always away So she and Edgar start trading flirty poems in the Broadway Journal, and then they also start writing private letters Well, the public flirting is strange not good. No, no, and then the private letters obviously no I wonder how that works. Are you just mailing those? the private letters, yeah Probably unless they're in the that works. Are you just mailing those? The private letters? Yeah. Probably, unless they're in the same town that you can messenger.

Yeah. Yeah. Mostly mail, I would think. In the same town, probably not. I mean, I guess Virginia's bedridden and her husband's always gone, but still, I would find a little stress with that. Yeah. Having to hide letters.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're together also. Yeah. Having to hide letters. Oh yeah, yeah. They're together also. Yeah, so they're in the same town, because they're together at salons and parties. They're hanging out together, and they're going to parties together,

and they're always together. People said she watched him with her face upturned in wonder. Well, that's like how you and me. Show me what an upturned face of wonder is. Okay. So that is how I follow you around. Yeah. That is true.

Yeah. A drunk Edgar told a friend he loved her. He begins to pursue her more openly, following as she traveled to different cities, telling her he loved her. Okay. I'm sure she was into it, but that is annoying. I don't know. It just feels like it's like extra evil if your wife's dying.

Well, look, he ruined Virginia. Take Virginia out of it. It's still creepy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's killed this child that he ruined. That's over. Look, let's move on from her.

That's gone. She's dead. If your wife's dying, I could see like whatever people, some people need to emotionally connect with somebody else. Keep it on the down low. That's a down low one. I could see like whatever people some people need to emotionally connect with somebody else Keep it on the down low. That's a down low one. I think DL physically hand jobs only Hj's I don't think you can go further than that until the she's gone Yeah, like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be too judgmental about someone whose wife is dying because I think that's a very like I don't know what that's like and that's a tough. Yes.

Yeah. But the baby stuff. Yeah. I think we can both agree Newt Gingrich handled it properly. Thank you. He's happy right now. That's what's sad. I know.

That is the saddest part. Yeah. It's sad that they're winning, that they won. They're happy. It's an obvious public flirtation, everybody realizes. Edgar writes glowing reviews of her writing. There are a lot of scandalous whispers in the literary world. Everyone's fucking talking about this. And then comes Elizabeth Ellet. She is a writer a serious Christian and a big fan of Edgar's, okay? She has a reputation for being nosy malicious she was accused of stealing another woman's poem and

Plagiarism claims were rampant. Yeah this yeah, I mean, I think it's different then because Like it's the only thing yeah, and I would imagine imagine that that's kind of what I was thinking is like, you know, it's like a lot. There's no copyright, right? No copyright, but also just, you know, you're reading poetry, you're writing, you know, you're going to have some crossover. Yeah. So this one was a guest in her house and then she supposedly stole her poem and published

it in her name. Oh, okay. That's different. So she, Elit goes to visit Virginia. Okay. And I think she finds a letter while she's there. But anyway, she reads a letter written to Edgar from Osgoode. Oh shit.

And Elit then goes after that visit, she goes to Osgoode and she tells her what she knows. Cause she had found evidence in the house. I was good freaks out. She tells Edgar she wants all of her letters back. I was good tells. Oh wow. Edgar, Edgar gives them back. Uh, she is, he's furious now.

And he warns. He's pissing Ella and he warns Ella. And she tells him He's pissing Elliot. And he warns Elliot that she needs to be worried about the letters she wrote to him. Oh, more letters. I mean, this is just a fucking mess. Yeah. This is the kind of shit that drunks get into. Right. Yeah.

One of Elliot's brothers threatens Edgar after he said that to her. Okay. So he goes to a meeting with the guy. Right. Yeah. One of Elit's brothers threatens Edgar after he said that to her. OK. So he goes to a guy to ask for help. Edgar does. And it's a guy that he'd once accused of plagiarism and not being a good writer.

And that guy hated Edgar so much that he had written villains that seemed, that weren't basically Edgar in his works. Okay. So that's the guy he goes to for help. Yep. And he asks for a gun. He goes, I need a gun to protect myself. Why is he going to him?

Because he's not. The only guy he knows with a gun? He's drunk, I think. Okay. So I don't think anything's working. That's a lot harder to get a gun back then. And the guy's like, no, I'm not going to give you a gun. And he goes, you should go apologize to Ellet.

I'd rather kill it. The threat. Yeah, I'd rather. Yeah. So Edgar punches him in the face, and then they get into a fight in the street. OK. Probably going to show up in one of his works.

A bystander said that he was shit-faced. OK. So all this shit that I'm talking about just causes massive gossip. Right. It is a delicious scandal. It is, it's a great scandal. And Virginia finds out.

On Valentine's Day, she writes Edgar a poem begging for all the rumors to stop. What a great poem. Yeah. Honestly, you get that, yeah. Cool. Oh, thank you. Happy Valentine's Day. This is pretty negative, honestly.

Oh, gosh. This is called I Love You. Please, my God, stop fucking around. I'm dying. Please knock it off. Edgar has also written a Valentine's poem. Mine's a little different. Well, that's for Osgood.

Oh, okay. Great. So very different. Yep. Yep. All of this leads to Edgar being ostracized by a lot of his friends Okay, the owners of the Broadway Journal leave so the guys who have the other two-thirds Leave because Edgar's attitude and drinking he's just a fucking nightmare So now he's got to be his own editor for his own paper. Basically, that's probably not great. One called him, quote, a drunken sot and the most purely selfish of human beings.

It's not great. He had total control now, but he's in debt. He also, there's no way it'd be like me and you being like, you do the dollop. I'd be like, Oh boy. Oh gosh. Oh boy. Oh gosh. He asked for money from friends and from magazine subscribers. He even goes to Griswold. Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy. Remember I call you the seaward well. I still hate you, but there's more people I hate more. So you know. Yeah, let's get him.

She may fuck my wife, right. She's a shame, man. Fuck my wife, right? She's awful. Excuse me? Dying and stuff with her face. Okay. But I met a new woman, she's like a little baby. Oh, gross.

Stop it. Stop talking. And I need, oh, I came from money. You came from money? For money. Okay, that sounds horrible. Because I'm writing the Broadway Journal. Uh-huh.

It's very prestigious. I thought that was done printing. Prestigious magazine. What was the last issue? I am in charge of it. What was the last time there was an issue? There is an issue every case of whiskey. Right, okay.

Because it feels like most of us think that that publication's done. Have you met my woman friend? She's a baby. Which no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. Nope. She's a little baby. Stop that. She's a 34 year old. But no, she can put on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. A diaper? No. Stop it.

Anyway, can I have some money? Honestly, a little bit. Yeah, Griswold ends up giving him $25. I knew it. It's crazy. Well, you're just, it's like a shut the fuck up fee. Yeah, probably. So Edgar finally found someone to buy the journal and keep him on his sole editor.

Who's this guy? I don't know, but after a few weeks, Eg was fired for being drunk. OK. Takes the family, leaves New York in 1846 to get away from all the scandal, get Virginia into a healthier environment. So he rents a rural property near the Bronx River.

Nice. Well back then it was out the environment, but now absolutely not. You get Bronx Kitas. I also love that he thinks that this is located. These problems are location based. Yeah. Well that's called, do we talk about this? That's called pulling a geography by alcoholics where you, you have, you have all these issues and you're like, man, I gotta get away from all this shit.

And you move and then you realize, and then it starts happening somewhere else and it's goes, oh, you're the problem. Yeah, there's a lot of that in many things. And whenever you hear about that, you're like, I feel like you can do that here. Like I have friends who are like writers who are like, you gotta go to the cabin.

You're like, just get the fuck out. Yeah, you can do it. Do it at home. Yeah. So, Smith, the health is not great. There are rumors that he is now insane. Fuck it, finally. One friend reported his, quote, mental derangement,

and another said he had brain fever. Good one. I love brain fever. That's a good one. That's a good way of putting it. Added so much whiskey and brain fever. Wasn't that an ABBA song? Brain fever, yeah.

I think that was a Bee Gees album. Saturday night brain fever. Edgar turned down speaking engagements, citing ill health and he complained of quote, being ground into the dust with poverty. Now that's true, look, I think the poverty stuff, you know, you really have to give it a lot of weight. Like that fucks up, that fucks you up,

being that poor, it fucks you up. Well, he's successful and poor. Yeah, which is probably worse than just being poor. I would think that it would give you more of an edge. Yeah. So he's now finding it difficult to write, although he did write some, uh, making fun of New York's literary figures. How long until he writes The Raven 2?

Starts sequeling your shit. Oh my God, if it was, like, he probably didn't do that then, but if he... Oh, that'd be awesome. Yeah, The Raven 9. Okay. Oh, drop a roar. The Raven was at the window wrapping away, saying, I'm getting a little too old for this shit.

The Raven is funny, goddammit, evermore. The Raven had a monocle now. Foil was his friend. So he starts going after, he starts, he does write some about New York's Larry figures, but he's just making fun of their looks. Like now he's gone after people's looks. People love it though. People fucking love it.

And the magazines are selling out. He made fun of women's lips, a woman's lips. He made fun of another woman's ugly nose. He said a guy, quote, "'He is noticeable for nothing in the world "'except for the markedness by which "'he is noticeable for nothing.'" Wow, that is hurtful.

That is so good. That is hurtful. That is really good. It's a little Brendan Chobby. Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. But other writers didn't ignore his insults like Longfellow did. An editor said Edgar had quote, fewer angles than a pumpkin. Well, I don't know.

Not a carved one. He published a description of him as 39 years old, five feet one with watery gray eyes, a tongue too big for his mouth, and a pointed chin that with his broad forehead made his head look like a balloon. Oh my God. That is hurtful. A balloon head and a tongue too big for his mouth.

I mean, I can't even imagine that. I mean, the fun thing about this is we don't really get this today, but when people can write and they find they're fighting, it's pretty fucking great. It is good. Yeah. Um, you, there was a picture of him on the first app, right? And people said, some people said it looked like you and some people said it looked like a combination of us. That was hurt. That was hurtful. Now that I know how he feels, that was hurtful. People are mean.

Because he's not great looking. And I am fantastic looking. Other writers didn't. Oh, I already said that. So this particular description really embarrasses Edgar, and then he asks his editor friends to publish a more accurate description. So all of a sudden these other places are like, no, he's 5'8", 33 and quite handsome. Like he told them a direct. My eyes are dry, and my head is not like a big balloon.

Steel blue gaze. Yes, perfect. Sexy Shakespeare. The guy Edgar got into the fist fight with in the street after he asked him for help. Yeah. He writes of all the times that Edgar asked him for money. And he said he beat him in the fight,

that Edgar was drunk when he canceled all of his lecture tours and that Edgar plagiarized many writers including his uncle. Oh wow. So this this Well, this makes me think there is plagiarism. Yeah, because he's everything he's saying is true Yeah, well maybe so it's so brutal that some Places refuse to publish it. They're like, this is actually a little bit too much. Okay. Griswold said he'd have quote, sooner cut off my hand than used it to write such an ungentlemanly card, even though every word were true.

Oh, wow. Edgar wrote to people in Philadelphia to get details of any fights the guy had ever lost. What if Trump was a writer? Truly. Really? It's it's it's like it's beneath him. Yeah. Right. It's what he does.

Yeah. This is all kind of beneath him. So he challenges, uh, he challenged the guy challenge eggies. Well, sue me for slander then. If none of it's true. So Edgar doesn't and he wins $320. Edgar does. Yeah.

Okay. Interesting. That's tough. So the guy wasn't like, so he probably did not plagiarize. Right. I would imagine. And then also, I guess, also said doesn't look like a balloon or whatever. He's got as many angles as a pumpkin So Virginia's really in bad shape now. She's got a fever most of the time shielding her from what he's out there doing like

Yeah, how was it? How was poetry? Yeah good wrote some great stuff Nobody's angry at me. Stayed totally sober. By the way, I'm gonna go to court for the next couple weeks, but this is over some guy's horse kick. Yeah, yeah. So I gotta get to court over that. But everything outside is going really good.

Wonderful. Well, she's like on a straw mattress on the floor using one of his old coats as a blanket. Surely. That's really what's... He could get a little more than that. Well, okay. So part of the thing about, because we've all heard this a million times, that he drank away the money.

It is costly to drink. Sure, yes, yes. So for sure he's spending some of that money that he could to buy her a blanket. I don't understand. Yeah, I mean, honestly, we afford more straw? I mean, we live in a fucking barn. Well, they got their cat to sit on her chest to help warm her.

Ooh, boy. As a guy whose cat is on his chest to help warm her. Ooh, boy. As a guy whose cat is on his chest all the time, that's not gonna pay the bills. The dollop is brought to you by Rocket Money, which you don't know, you don't know what it is. Never heard of it. I'm gonna tell you right now. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions,

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So some of the public becomes aware, and they start getting donations to feed and clothe them. Man. So this has got to cause a new level of anger for him, right? Like, this is just embarrassing to him in the professional world. He's thankful to get the money. He does want to take care of Virginia, but he's fucking embarrassed. You know, on February 1st, 1847, Virginia dies at 24 years old. Wow. Boy, did she have a great life with her with her cousin, lover, teen bride. I mean, then tuberculosis. It's all. She probably was like, thank God. At least they didn't have kids.

Well, he had one. Two kind women from the literary and art scene helped get her a proper burial and they bought mourning clothes for Edgar to wear. Can I wear them in the afternoon too? for Edgar to wear. Can I wear them in the afternoon too? Well, instead he wore the the coat that Virginia used as a blanket to her funeral. Remind me again, how do you get TB? It's through the air. I mean, let's do there. Okay, you can't get it from a coat. I'd still be careful. Yeah, but this is also an old coat he didn't use anymore.

And then she was using a blanket. So it's an old, old coat that was then used as a blanket. And then he's like, well, I love her. And like wears it to the... He's so distraught. And he gets very sick himself. Coat! He would go into the vault, the tomb, the vault, her burial vault.

Oh no. What is with these? We need to lock... And he would hold her body late at night. We can't have this. Going through the snow without putting his shoes on. Christ. He became so ill that people thought he was dying.

I think he is. We need to come up with a way for these men to not be able to touch the women in the vault. Gentlemen, we really need to stop trying to have sex with their wives after they're dead. Absolutely. Once we officially know that they're dead. Or not being able to show the true affection that we would normally as a healthy human being show when they're alive, but only when they're dead.

Here's what we're saying. If your wife's in the vault, you can go in there and cuddle. You can? Yeah. No. Oh. No, we're saying don't cuddle. Yeah, yeah, right. Okay, so, we're saying don't cuddle. Yeah, yeah, right.

Okay, so don't go in there and cuddle. That's a little cupley. What we're saying is, if you gotta go in there to kiss a couple more times before saying goodbye, make it a Frenchie. I don't think we're saying that. I don't think we're saying that. What we're saying is- What are we saying?

Go ahead. Once they're in the vault, you have to let it go and not go in there. You don't go in there. It's time to move on. And if you're gonna go in there, finish the job. Make it a real bang. I think we need a sidebar. And then we will come back with our talk.

Yes, because I think we're pretty much on the same page. We're just trying to figure out what the position is. We are saying, do not go into the vault. Go in there. Are you going into your dead wife's vault? I absolutely am. We're having a baby. All right.

Now that's the rule. Only sleep with the dead wife if you're going to do it for a new baby. We have a problem because your wife and I are also having a baby. That two timing corpse. She is. I knew she was cheating. She is cold. You know what I mean?

She is cold. I do. Freezing frigid. No, it's like banging a bag of peas. But a black, like hardened and black and like, her skin is like the- Pustuous. Yes, it's like the color of my belt buckle. Oh no, that would be silver, wouldn't it?

Hey. It's just good to meet a cock bro. Don't talk to me anymore. Wait. Well, to be called a cock bro. All right. So that should clear it up. So yeah, so he's hanging with her.

But then he starts to get better. And he's got the money from the lawsuit, which helps and he starts looking for a new wife. It's time to get out there mingle, right? Who's not going to want to attach herself to this? Well first it was Jan Locke. Okay. She's a fan from Massachusetts and he started writing back and forth with her.

But then he goes up, he's on a tour in Massachusetts, and he goes up to visit her. This is the DMs. Yeah. And he discovers she's married with five kids. So that's kind of a deal breaker. Not for me. That's a deal maker. But while he's there, he becomes interested in Jane's friend,

Nancy Richmond, who's married, but without all the kids. So Jane is now very jealous. The woman with the five kids is jealous of her friend who's also married. Yes. Okay. So he writes to a woman named Helen Whitman, who is a critic, she's in Rhode Island.

She's had a crush on Edgar for a while. Who wouldn't? All the stories. Oh yeah, no, he's got it all. He's a man's on Edgar for a while. Who wouldn't? All the stories. Oh yeah, no, he's got it all. He's a man's man. Yep, absolutely. And she wrote a Valentine's poem about him, so he sends her his famous poem to Helen,

which is written about his friend's mom that he was in love with when he was a teenager. Which to me doesn't seem great, especially because she's a critic, so you're sending her a poem about somebody else that's the same name. It's weird. It's a critic, so you're sending her a poem about somebody else. It's weird, it's a weird, it would be like, it would be like, okay, someone slides into the DMs, and I'm like, hey, I can't wait to meet you. Here's a clip. He's a clip that did a mill.

Here's a bit that I did about my friend's mom when she's a teenager, but same name. Here's my NFL commentator bit, but your last name's mentioned in it. What? So bad. So she doesn't respond, and then he writes a new poem called Helen, which describes a dream he had about her.

And then he starts asking friends in Rhode Island about details about her, like, what's up with this? This is also what's creepy. This is like, uh, he's now he's, he's becoming a guy instead of Edgar Allen Poe and it's a little sad. He's, he's, um, he's on the hunt and the only thing worse than a drunk, uh, married Edgar Allen Poe is an on the hunt drunk. Right, yeah, as we've learned. So he somehow comes across his old teenage love. Remember, he was engaged. She, the parents wouldn't let her let us through.

Is she gonna get in? Ingrid or whatever. Elmira. Elmira, okay. Elmira Royster, he sees her in Richmond. She's now a wealthy widow. Hello. Hello. And her parents are past.'s now a wealthy widow. Hello. Hello. Hello. And her parents are passed. So many problems can be solved here. Yeah.

So he's thinking about proposing again, but then. This time in person. But then Muddy forwards him a letter from Helen, and that has a very flirty poem in it. So he bails and immediately goes to Providence and spends several evenings with Helen and he would talk shit about Virginia to Helen saying she wasn't smart enough.

She, I wonder why. Ah! It's almost like. I wonder why when you ruin this child's everything. It's almost like when you take a child bride that they- I'll be honest, her maturity level was a bit questionable throughout the whole thing. Even though she died at 24 and I began dating her around 12. So one day he takes Helen on a walk to a cemetery.

Mind if I- It's time to go visit the crows and bodies. You want to cuddle a corpse together? He gets annoyed when she shows him a poem she wrote about her late husband. Yeah, I don't need to see pictures of your ex, I'll be honest. In the cemetery. I'll be honest, I don't love it either. But still, despite that, right there he proposes.

That's an interesting way to handle that. I was going to do this anyway. Well, I'm furious. Will you do this with me? And he later wrote, her words about her late husband were still, quote, ringing in my ears. So he said it in, yeah,

he still asked her to marry him, but he was like, bruh. Besides an unmarked grave, he said he had never known love until now. Besides, oh Christ. They're at a graveyard. Yeah. She's flustered.

Uh huh. She is like, I need time to think. No. So he goes back to New York and she promises she'll write him an answer. Ugh. She wrote and she explains all of her reservations. He's older, she has heart problems, which heart problems are so bad,

that means she can't have sex, it's too dangerous for her. What? Yeah, suspicious. Don't worry. I'll wrap it up real quick. That's why we got anal. Don't worry about it. This won't be long.

Don't worry, you're just gonna take care of me. I finish before I get inside. Just pretend you will let me. Edgar wrote back, he's still going for it. None of that dissuaded him. He's in. He promises no sexual demands during their marriage and he asks, he's like, I want an actual response,

a yes or no. Wow. She replies that she's heard things about his character. Me? I have done nothing wrong over my time as a grown. And it disturbs her. Me? I have done nothing wrong over my time as a grown. And it disturbs her. What? Well, name one thing I... Was that he had, quote, no principle and no moral sense. Okay, yeah, I can see that. That's fair. I'm a fucking poet.

That's fair. We live different. I am a successful poet who has no money and I sleep with lambs. Edgar wrote back that that's all wrong. And he had many enemies successful poet who has no money and I sleep with lambs. Edgar wrote back that that's all wrong and he had many enemies because they were jealous and his dedication to honesty and his critiques. When are you going to understand everyone's crazy but me? People come at me. Good Lord.

I am the right one. Everyone else is wrong. Do you understand? Are we going to do this or what? Come on. He then goes to Massachusetts to visit Nancy Richmond. Right. So he, this is the problem with, she's right to not want to get involved with him because anytime something seems like it's off he's in, he's trying to, you know, get with someone else. That's

right. Now he tells Nancy he doesn't like her name, and he convinces her to start going by Annie. So... You're much more of an Annie to me. She starts going, not just with him, but with everybody. She starts saying, I'm Annie now. So she's all for rocker. Yeah, that's a weird... Uh, okay.

Oh, I love everything about you. Can you go by Annie? Ha ha ha! Please? Okay. Oh, good. You're special. I love you. Well, now that that's over, we can really be together, Annie. Okay.

Annie, Annie, Annie. Stop saying it. My little Annie bear. I have to go. What's your favorite part of being called Annie? Hearing it from you. Let's get that birth certificate. She and Edgar held hands looking into the fire at night. She's married.

Her wealthy husband doesn't know this, because he's always away on business, or he just doesn't notice. Poe biographer Kenneth Silverman said, Edgar's interest in Annie, quote, threatened neither adultery nor divorce, being childlike and desperate. He saw her as a caretaking angelic sibling,

a replacement for Virginia. Holy fuck. So he really, he's not even looking for love in the traditional way. He just wants to be taken care of or he wants to be. Yeah, it seems like he's asexual. Yeah. And he wants someone to love him, but- He wants like a sister, daughter, mother.

Maybe he can't handle physical contact because of all the trauma. He's really fucked up. Yeah, right. He's fucked up. Well, you said in the first one that there's rumors he's impotent. Yeah. He was drawn primarily- We should exhume him and try to figure it out.

I agree. Or just hold him. Like, finally give it to him. Yeah. The love he needs. We took Edgar out of the ground and got him hard. So that can be put to bed. He was drawn primarily to married women or women he could never have. He's maybe repulsed or scared by the sex in marriage. Yeah, so think about it about all these women are a

ways away. They're not in New York. They're all a distant. The one he does have in New York is like a baby. I have a friend who is attracted to those complicated situations. Yeah. Like likes that where it's like she's taken or she's looking or they're on the rocks or something like he likes that. Yeah Before leaving Richmond he made any promise he she'd visit him the day he was on his deathbed That's a I mean that's exactly what I did with my wife. Yep, so I'm gonna take off now When I am dying on the bed, yeah, wait, what'sbed, I want you to come say hello. OK. Just say hi.

I don't. Say yes. On my deathbed, just say you'll come. I will visit you when you're dying. Thank you. It's going to be really soon. There's a great time. Bye.

He then went straight to Rhode Island to see Helen, but spent the night weeping in his hotel room instead. I love those nights. If I have an off night on the road, that's normally what I'm doing. I do laundry and just have a real weep. Definitely not drinking. No, no, no, no. Definitely sober. So absolutely.

Yeah. The next day he bought two ounces of allotinum. And. Fuck me. Took a train to Boston and he wrote to Annie saying he'd be on his deathbed soon. Don't worry, you can come say bye soon. Bye, bye. I'm on a lot of allotinum and on a lot of uptrek.

So he takes one of the two ounces of allotinum. Fuck. This is like 30 doses the two ounces of Loughton. This is like 30 doses of morphine. Oh my god. It's a lot. He's gone. And then the plan was to swallow the rest when Annie got there.

Oh, he really wants to go. Yeah, he wants to. This is a. With her there. This is a genuine attempt at any. Yeah, he's trying to invite to permanently scar a woman to his Yeah, and

But so here's a flaw in the plan. I didn't know it was gonna happen next week He takes the onsel on them and he's got a letter that he's gonna mail to tell her to come He's too fucked up. It must be sent by because how could it? Yeah, so he's got a letter that he's gonna send her But he miscalculated the dose. He doesn't know how strong it is. So he can't mail the letter. So over two days, he experienced quote horse in getting the drug out of his system, but he does survive. Wow. I mean, it seemed like a great plan. You mail the letter, then you get the ounce. Yes. He goes back to Rhode Island and Helen agrees to meet with him.

And he asks her to marry him again, and then come live in New York with him. She doesn't answer. Nor should she. The next day, he calls upon her again at her home. She said, friends told her that a marriage with him was full of evil portents. Oh my gosh.

First of all, what is portents? I don't know what that word means. Secondly, I'm not actually a raven. I'm full of good portents. Yes. For the record. Happy man. Great portents.

Oh my Lord. She had read letters. I am so sick of your friends crapping on my portents. Really? Seriously. I have some of the best portents. I am port... Yeah.

She had read letters describing his poor character. So Edgar leaves, he's very sad. And then he goes to some other woman. He spends the night at his hotel bar and writes a farewell letter to Helen, saying if they met again, they would do so as strangers. Fuck off, woman. How dare you?

He included a lock of his hair. Also this. Also here's part of my body. Like even if you're making a good point, then to be like, and also in closing, I've attached some hair. The next morning, Helen finds him in her home. Oh my God. Screaming.

Oh my God. I want my hair back. He's screaming that he needs her to save him. Oh my God. Which is a great sign. This is ladies. This is what you want. Oh my God. Which is a great sign. This is ladies, this is what you want. Oh my God. It scares her.

What part of it to her wasn't great? I don't know. She said she'd never heard anything so awful in her life. Oh my God. But this is a guy who's passionate about you. No. Listen, I know he has weird ways of showing it, but this guy's super into you.

She hides in her room for two hours as her mom and sister yell at Edgar to get out. Oh, fuck. Finally, she comes down after two hours. He's screaming for two hours. And Edgar says she is an angel. Hi, honey. What'd you hear?

And she says he wouldn't, she would now be deciding his fate. He says that. Yeah. Right. This is great. This is how you get a lady. You say, I'm going to kill myself unless you come with me. Yeah. He clings to her so tightly that he ripped the cloth off her dress. Oh dear. Have I over hugged again? Oh gosh. I guess it's a crime. I'm sorry that I took the cloth off with my love.

Too huggy? Too much love for you? They call a doctor. A doctor's doctor's like, so what the fuck? No, I think you need the cops. God, I like the Raven, but now I kind of get it more I don't know doctor He says Edgar has cerebral congestion. That's right my back stuffy

He's taken a rest and he regains his senses days later, huh? So he is in a good place. I mean, you know, it could be because now we've added law to them in, but you know, not a great addition. Yeah. This guy's a mess. And still. Helen and Edgar do not end their courtship. Oh, my God. Would you even call it that? I don't know what it is. It's abuse, but she's like the next day, just be like, well, thank God that's over.

Well, we're not broken up, not completely. We're not. I'm not going to shut the door yet. There's still some good. He's a pretty good man. Plus I want to get that cloth back. I love his balloon head. Oh gosh. Helen consented to a conditional engagement. That's not good. That's like, that's what an engagement is. He has to stop drinking. No. And her mom has to give a consent to the marriage. Now it's on the mom.

Well, it's also a key. She put it on the mom. He's going to say that he'll stop. Yeah, but he's still got to convince the mom. And the mom hopefully is just like, absolutely not. I don't know. So he goes, he goes to New York. He's conditionally engaged now. That's like a third of a ring on. Then someone

said, said more rumors to Helen and her mom went into a quote, frenzy of hatred for Edgar. So whatever that's like, he's made so many enemies that people are now just, yeah. But it's also not good that she's, doesn't sound like she's going to consent. Well, also the other thing about this is, is as soon as she said yes, Edgar is kind of over it. That happens too. And he writes a love letter to Annie.

So now he's writing both Annie and Helen trying to get any excited for when they can live together or near each other without without being married or even giving up her husband just being around each other. The idea that Helen has lowered her standards to this level and is like I will and then he's like the old ball and chain. You know how women are they get so easy. Am I right, Bruce? Ladies. To Helen, he writes, Can't live with them. Can't mail a letter to tell them to come visit you on your deathbed when you're halfway through your laudanum D-O-D. He's still into marrying her and to

ignore the rumors she's hearing. And he made steps to marry Helen. And he keeps visiting her. He's telling others that the marriage will never take place. So he's going there. He's planning the wedding, planning the wedding, going forward with the wedding. And the whole time, he's like, never going to happen. This one, come on.

She's all about it. She's making preparations to move into Edgar's home. He visits on a Saturday, and they agree to get married on a Monday. I don't know what happened with the mom here, but there's no way the mom was doing was. No, that probably got dropped. So Edgar sends a public notice to the papers and announcement. We are getting married, but I'm not excited about it. It's right.

You get two different papers. Yeah, right. I'm getting mad. Don't be beautiful woman. This shrew. You won't leave me alone. Oh God. It's just, this is okay. So, um, He, uh, sensitive to the papers, but during that weekend,

so Saturday they agree they're going to marry on Monday, but during the weekend, someone gives Helen another note attacking Edgar. She's getting these letters now from all over the place. Like they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, a Monday, but during the weekend someone gives Helen another note attacking Edgar. She's getting these letters now from all over the place. Like they're coming from everywhere. Helen confronts Edgar. Not at all moved by his pleading. She soaks a handkerchief. She soaked a handkerchief in ether and put it to her mouth and said, love you then passed out on the couch she did that to herself yeah I didn't know that

was an option she yeah she was like she's like self chloroform yeah so she's not in the greatest mental state either bye I'm gonna go nappies now. So now the mother throws Edgar out and the marriage is off. Okay, and I'm sure he's really upset about this marriage he didn't actually wanna have. He keeps writing love letters to Annie. Calling her the only woman in the world who understood him. She's like, I don't understand you.

But she's upset by the broken engagement news and her husband more so. So they're like, what the fuck is up with this guy? The husband was not even paying attention. He doesn't know he's being cheated on basically. But he's not. I mean, whatever you call it emotionally friended. He's also annoyed by all the letters that Edgar is sending to Annie. So Annie breaks off their friendship and she says she's heard about his drinking,

so now he's been broken up by two women. Who want nothing to do with him, who he's sort of in love with, but also not. So what are you doing this? Okay, so what you do is you go to Annie, I mean you go to Helen, and you ask Helen to write to Annie. What the fuck?

And say, I've done nothing wrong. That's how you. So I've been cheating on you. Will you tell the mistress that I'm actually way better than she thinks? What the fuck is he doing? He's out of control. So good.

For some reason, Helen didn't do that. She was like, no. That's a bad idea. What? No, no, no. But I've been like seeing her kind of the whole time. The whole time. And I've been telling her, I've been lamenting you to her.

Will you write her a letter and tell her and her husband that I'm normal? Help a bro out. Good Lord. Now, Edgar blames the women of the literary community for his situation. So he's decided that all the letters that the women are getting are from other women.

They're trying to cancel me. They're coming to cancel me. I'm getting canceled. So now his writing suffers. He wrote some well-known works like Annabel Lee and The Bells, but also passed off old pieces as new ones. He even stole work from other writers. Finally.

He reviewed other authors again. This one's called The Crow. He's like he's double reviewing things. Yeah. He falls ill. He blames it on his depression. Quote, nothing cheers me or comforts me. My life seems wasted. The future looks a dreary blank. Yeah, totally. Muddy tries to help him, but she's also depressed and wish they were,

quote, both in our grapes That's not who you want your sponsor to be then 21 year old writer and a huge fan Edward Howard Norton Patterson offers to fund Edgars magazine vision. Oh god That was from the first Remember those from the first? Yeah first part. He was trying to get his own magazine going. He changed the name. Getting funding, getting money and then not starting it. So this guy rolls in and he's like, I will fund you. You're the best.

I am the best. By the way, this is the worst decision you've ever made. Edgar would have total editorial control. They'd split the profits. So Edgar says called the players club. He would go visit this guy in Illinois. Muddy starts selling everything they own to pay for the trip. Before going West, he's going to do a little, he's going to do a little tour to visit some of the women who had rejected him. Yeah, kind of like a suck it tour.

But then he becomes sick while he's in Philadelphia and there's a cholera epidemic there. He tells Muddy he's sick, but he'd actually been taken to prison for public drunkenness. Okay. So he says that he's kind of cholera-ish, but in reality, he got thrown in the slammer because again, he's an out of control alcoholic. Yes. He was seen walking around the city in one shoe, hallucinating. Once random men behind him on the train were talking about murdering him. So he was like, no, that's not true.

He was made. It was all in his head. So I had to give him one of my shoes. Let's kill that poet. Kill the poet. In prison, he hallucinated that the guards forced him to watch them mutilating money. He wrote to her and told her they needed to die together. That's a nice thing to get from your nephew.

Hey, what's it do? Stop trying to die around ladies. I had a dream that they cut you up. We got to die together. This whole thing is just funny. I'm going to start offering that is the final woman to die. I want to die. I'm looking to die with you. Either wants women to come to his deathbed to talk to him or he's like, let's die together. Let's pick a date. I want to scar you one way or the other. When do you want to die? Maybe July? He stays with a friend in Philadelphia

who is so worried about him he wouldn't give him a razor to shave. And that's the hero of the story. Yeah. Eventually he gets it together. And he goes to visit Nancy Richmond on July 14th, 1849. She's got the five kids? She's the friend of the five kids.

Of the five kids, okay. He turned on friends' invitations to go out because his clothes were so old and worn, and he was, he's a hometown celebrity. He would often do readings of the Raven. He gave paid lectures. He saw his sister, but was annoyed. She always wanted to hang out.

Jesus Christ. And he made fun of his sister's clothes. The guy who can't go out because of his clothes is like, she's real ragged. But now he's got some money because he started the hometown is saving. I'm going to get 600 waistcoats. She told a friend, quote, Edgar could never love me as much as I do him because he is so far above me. Wow. So this Patterson guy, the guy wants to fund the magazine gives him $50 to get the it going. The stylist is going to get it going. He goes to Elmira and

proposes which one's Elmira. The one he was engaged to when he was a teen and then the parents. Oh, right, right, right. Okay. This is teen intercepted. Right. Widow. Yep. Rich widow. He proposes and she laughs. Is that good? No, but he keeps going back and reading poetry to her and break her down. He wear her down. He worked her. And after a bit, she begins to take him very seriously as a suitor. That is a foolish mistake.

She admitted she was extremely jealous when she'd seen him with Virginia. OK. Her kids, for some reason, don't like Edgar. What do you think it is? I don't know. Because he has it all. He has everything.

He's together. He's handsome. Artist. He has everything. He's together, he's handsome. Artist. He's sober, he's creative. Yep. He takes a lot of laudanum and ends up in jail seeing people in his life mutilated. These are all good things. He wants to die with her.

Yeah, all good things. He's about to start a magazine that I'm sure won't get off the ground. Be fine. Edgar joined the Sons of temperance society vowing to never drink alcohol again. Oh, this fucking guy though he'd already gotten drunk twice when in Richmond visiting right almost dying one time. Sure. Edgar wrote to muddy that he

bought a wedding ring for Elmira but said if they married he need to quote be somewhere where I can see Annie I want to live near Annie. So he really has it. I don't know. Like it's really weird. If you be trying to lock women into your nightmare and also already before the relationships off off the ground really. It's weird. That's like crazy. Yeah. He then wished Annie's husband was dead.

He also told money all was going well with his wedding plans. If Annie's husband died, that would be great. Also, this wedding is gonna be awesome. I mean, the one thing I'm gonna leave out, he was charming, so that's why a lot of this is happening. Because there is a charm to him. That's hard to believe.

I know it is, but there is a charm to him. So in his next letter, he said, quote, my heart sinks at the idea of this marriage. What the fuck is he doing? He's marrying her for money. He is, yeah. Yeah, he's gotta be. But he liked her a long time ago.

It's more than that, probably. He's just, his brain is toast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he write, so then Elmira writes to Muddy, Edgar asked her to, to say she looked forward to one day being family. And then he goes to visit New York on September 27th, and he writes that he and Elmira had reached a, quote,

partial understanding and hoped to marry her when he returned. Okay. So, that day, a printer named Joseph Walker found Edgar in a Baltimore tavern, incredibly drunk, barely conscious. And Edgar mumbles that he knew an editor named Snodgrass. So this guy, Walker, he's in the business, so he recognizes this famous guy.

And Edgar's like, I know a guy named Snodgrass. And Walker's like, I work for Snodgrass. You shut the fuck up. You don't know me. I didn't say I did. You did a chair when you first walked in here. I said I knew Snodgrass. I work for Snodgrass. I know him. I know a man named Snodgrass. That's a small little town in Lebanon. What was your name? What is your name? Police? My name is my name police. So you're a cop, are you? No.

Who sends you Snodgrass? I'm not. Come here. Come here. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I don't Wait, who sends you Snigress? I'm not Come here. Come here. Oh Are you touching me? I don't want you to touch me. I want to marry you. I don't I'm what? Okay, that's not legal or guys who sends you please What who sent you?

No, I just came in cuz I saw I saw I did you know that I was in here the whole time? I didn't. I came in here to drink. I came in here to drink. Yeah, it's a saloon. Oh my God. That is so crazy. It's not.

We should have met to meet my friend named Snodgrass for you. You're going to like this guy. You're a hell of a guy. I want you to be the best man at my wedding. But I can't get tied down. I love Annie too much. Okay. We should kill our husband.

I'm gonna kill myself. Then do it with me, together tonight. Snag grass, snag grass, you and me, snag grass. The charm is fine's term is fine it's not and I go like a boy get away from me who are you so the guy calls snog grass they finds Edgar Slash in a chair with a quote, vacant stupidity look. He's in dirty clothes that don't fit and they are not his clothes, obviously. I got these.

I got these off a boy. They get Eggers uncle to come down. They're estranged and the uncle doesn't help him. He just calls for a carriage to take Edgar to the hospital. Oh my God. So Edgar has no idea where he was. He spent the night drenched in sweat, sweats delirious, hallucinating, and talking

to imaginary objects on the walls. They're not even on the walls. Oh. That clock was very important to my recovery. There's no clock there. The next day, the doctor suggested Edgar could be cared for by his friends, and Edgar replied, quote, the best thing his best friend could do would be to blow his brains out with a

pistol. This guy is asking to leave. He goes back into Delirium. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to dip back into my psychosis. I've got to go screaming and yelling again. I'm going to go back down the lava tube and shout at the devil for a little while. I'll be back for macaroni in a bit. OK. They straight into the bed. He's just ranting. He calmed down a bit.

Then he said, Lord, help my poor soul and died. Oh, wow. Great last words. We talk about it on the show. 40 years old. Great. Last four. He lived. Oh, I was going to say for a four year old. Yeah, four. Four years old. He really packed to say for a four year old. Four year old, yeah, four. Four years old. He really packed it in.

His death has been widely speculated on, then and now. Alcohol poisoning, syphilis, mercury poisoning, rabies, suicide. Rabies is a great contestant. Some think he was the victim of cooping. Cooping? We've talked about cooping before. Cooping is when gangs working for a politician kidnap someone, get them very drunk and force them to vote over and over again because it was an election day and he was found near

a polling place. I don't buy the coop. He was self-cooping. Yeah, I mean, it's probably like this guy. That was just convenient. Like how much longer was he going to live the way he was? He was getting drunk all the time. Every day was election day. Cooping is doing him a lot of favors by being like, we think some people got him drunk. It's like, are their names Edgar, Allen and Poe? So there's no definitive answer for how he died. Some people have all kinds of theories. His funeral was the next day paid for by a strange family,

friends and acquaintances. Only eight people attended the three minute long service. That guy was like, I have a 1245. All right, look, this guy was drunk a bunch and we're all really here. Pretty wreaths, anyone want to say anything? No, maybe we start the lowering. Hallelujah, he is gone.

Hallelujah, he is gone. All right, thanks everybody, thanks for coming out. Bye. Muddy and Almira had not been told of his death yet. Muddy was overcome with grief. She went to stay with Edgar's beloved Annie for a while. She's like. Like what in the?

I actually tried to get him out of my life repeatedly. My husband's freaked out. I know you two loved each other. He spoke of you so often. Muddy just wants to survive, right? She's like just poor. Yeah. Muddy would bounce around friends' houses for a while,

often annoying them or overstaying her welcome until she died in a home for poor women. She had signed power of attorney to Orufus Griswold, who Edgar had chosen to be his literary executor when they were on good terms. Wow. So he didn't change the paperwork in a while. Yeah. Yeah, he didn't. Yeah. Griswold published his obituary. It began, quote, Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday.

This announcement will startle many, but but few will be grieved by it. Wow, what the fuck? You gotta pretend, eulogy is where you pretend. He obituary slandered Edgar. Yeah, you gotta pretend. Yeah, obituary, that's where you pretend. No, he accused him of not only being a drug addict, but being dishonest, distrustful,

a paranoid man who often walked the streets mumbling. Griswold then published a biography of Edgar saying he was expelled from university for gambling and he was hysterical drunk with no friends. Many who knew Edgar strongly disagree with Griswold's biography, but that became best known and the image most people have of Edgar Allan Poe today. Frenden editor George Lippard published his own obituary, quote, As an author, his name will live while three fourths of the bastard critics and mongrel authors of the present day go down to nothingness and knighthood.

That's how you do it. And the men that now spit on his grave by way of retaliation for some injury, which they imagine they received from Poe living, will do well to remember that it is only an idiot or coward who strikes the cold forehead of a corpse. I mean, that seems like a lot of the guys in the story loved a cold forehead of a corpse. Yeah, artists. What a crazy little life that is. Right?

Yeah, that's crazy. That is so... crazy little life that is. Right? Yeah, that's crazy. That is so... I mean, that's a guy, you know, tortured by everyone dying early, you know? Everyone died around him when he was young. Yeah, but even then, I mean, in that era, like a lot of people died early. It's also that relationship with John, his dad, that was so brutal. But even then, that behavior is predetermined in a way that is like, there's combinations of environment that maybe make you turn out like that, but that is incalculably bizarre and sad and wild. And he's fucked up. He's a fucked up weirdo. Yeah. Tortured artist. Research done by Brittany. But at least his legacy is a football team.

That's right. That's pretty cool. I didn't think about that. But yeah. That had a murderer on it. Yeah. I didn't think about that. Yeah. Because he died in Baltimore. Yep. So they were like, so some. Why not? Some owner was like, hey, drunk lunatic who, uh, wanted to kiss corpses and marry a bunch of ladies. Still better than the commanders.

Well, yeah. By the way, the fact that those, that they're a game away from the super bowl and Dan Snyder didn't want to sell that team is just, They're probably going to win it all. Brittany Cohen Brown did all the research. Thank you, Brittany. Edgar Allan Poe sources. Edgar Allan Poe, a mournful and never ending remembrance by Kenneth Silverman, A Mystery

of Mysteries, The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dowodziak. Edgar Allan Poe is Life and Legacy by Jeffrey Meyers and Quoth Raven more more by Molly Langmere which was in New York magazine. Boy oh boy that is that is absolutely wild. What a what a drunk alcohol really can do some fucking damage. It's not great. It's weird. It's like the desire to drink kind of starts

to vacate you a little bit as you get older and older. Yes. But if it doesn't, those people who hang on, you're like, wow, that is, it's a, yeah, it's considered a progressive disease and it really can make you psychotic. Yeah. I mean, you can fuck you up when your dad and I were drinking on that last day It was really crazy to see what he was talking about the last love you yeah his last day of drinking together He he really well first of all things turned a little nasty late night It's really hard to do a podcast I mean, I'm locked in business-wise with a man who killed my father and kill him. I barely knew him. I

didn't kill your dad. I loved your dad, but I didn't know him and I never met him. But that last day was wild.