I raise a toast to you Edgar.

Hey Y'all,
Yes, tomorrow is Halloween. It's candy and costume time for the kids, and well for adults...we like to scare the hell out of each other. I've spent a lot of time talking about Stephen King this month. He is considered the King of Modern Horror literature. Some of his books like It, The Shining, and Salem's Lot are legitimately frightening. However King wouldn't be around without Edgar Allen Poe. I'm a real poetry gal, I love the stuff. The first poetry that I clearly understood, as much as an 11 year old can anyway, was his works The Raven and Annabel Lee.

The Raven and Annabel Lee are each about undying devotion. Also the narrator suffers from the contradiction of wanting to remember and at the same time wanting to forget. Memory is cruel reminder which Poe anthropomorphises in the form of the raven. Annabel Lee also embodies this sad feeling of loss. Even as a tween I recognized the dark romanticism that made Poe appealing to me. Sometimes I enjoy a little mist on them moors.

But none of that is any scary. I didn't really understand that Poe was scary until I began to dig into his short stories. The Tell-tale Heart, Masque of the Red Death, etc. are ghoulishly terrifying. Poe willingly exploits the darkness of his characters. The psychological effects of murder and death are scary because they are universal. Everyone, I don't care who you are, finds themselves tested morally and Poe shows the consequences of going the wrong way. It's great and compelling stuff.

One last Poe story. I have always loved the story of The Poe Toaster. I first heard about the Poe Toaster when I was in 6th grade. In our elementary school library I started reading Life Magazine because of the great pictures. I would read it rather than sit with other girls reading Cosmo. I guess I've always been strange. Anyway it was in Life Magazine that I read an article about the Poe Toaster. Every January 19, Poe's birthday, at his grave in Baltimore an unseen black clad figure visits the grave in the early hours of the morning. The figure raises a toast of cognac and leaves three roses at the grave. The Poe Toaster is rarely photographed or identified. Read more about it here. How cool is that eh? I personally hope they never reveal who it is. The coolness is in the mystery and tradition. Long Live Edgar Allen Poe!

Have a great weekend! Book Slave.