Poe in the Bronx
Edgar Allan Poe was one of the Nineteenth Century’s most intriguing writers, an investigative journalist, and, for a brief period of time, he was a Bronxite. The brilliant gothic poet once lived in the very same borough where the New York Yankees play baseball and Arthur Avenue arguably produces the finest Italian cuisine in the country. And, while Poe lived in the Bronx he created some of his finest work, including “The Bells”, “Eureka”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “Annabel Lee”.
“Poe would walk the full length of Highbridge in solitude and cross down into Manhattan for the thrill of the city that never sleeps. One can only speculate about the poems, prose, and verse that took shape in Poe’s mind during these therapeutic strolls.”
In 1846, the Bronx was rural and home to farmers such as John Valentine, who rented out his cottage to Poe, and had slowly developed since the early frontier days of founding Bronx farmer Jonas Bronck in the 1600s. The lush pastures, abundant trees, and proximity to Manhattan made the Bronx an ideal place to run a farm and raise a family. In later years, prominent Bronxites, such as New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal, would reflect on their parents’ insistence to enjoy the Bronx’s bountiful nature. In Arlene Alda’s Just Kids from the Bronx, Rosenthal recalls his mother’s instructions ‘“Fresh air!’ she would announce. And then from her lips came the command that rang through every apartment in the Bronx neighborhood every day: ‘Go grab some fresh air! Out! Fresh air!’”
One might assume that Poe distanced himself from contemporary society to wrangle the masterpieces swirling around his head. But it was Poe’s wife, Virginia Clemm, and her doctor’s orders to get as much fresh air possible to battle her tuberculosis, that forced the poet to move his family (including Virginia’s mother, Maria) into a small cottage in the central Bronx. Poe’s nomadic lifestyle led him to bars and salons in Boston, Baltimore, and New York while crafting some of his finest work. But it was in Manhattan, among his network of literary contemporaries, where Poe felt most comfortable. Oftentimes, Poe would walk the full length of Highbridge in solitude and cross down into Manhattan for the thrill of the city that never sleeps. One can only speculate about the poems, prose, and verse that took shape in Poe’s mind during these therapeutic strolls.
Poe lived a half mile from Fordham University when it was still known as St. John’s College, a school dedicated to Catholic education and founded by Archbishop John Hughes of New York. It was here that Poe would often visit the school’s brothers and discuss the current events of the day while playing hands of cards. To say that a writer’s natural environment doesn’t affect their writing in some form or another is to never have written. The flora, fauna, and people that make up our communities seep into our thoughts and subconsciously form the content that is expressed on paper and across screens. One must assume that Poe was influenced by Fordham University’s clanging bells as he was out on one of his many walks or in the brothers’ company. In Poe’s short poem “The Bells” the poet writes:
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
Before multi-story buildings and overdevelopment spread across the Bronx, the Long Island Sound’s majestic waters were visible in the east from homes in Fordham and Kingsbridge Heights. Poe writes about chilling winds and a nearby sea in his poem “Annabel Lee”:
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
It would be daft to discount the intentionally poignant language expressed in Poe’s work while reflecting on Virginia’s inevitable death. Poe must have been extremely in tune with his natural surroundings and the man made constructs, such as Fordham’s bells, that served as constant interlocutors while he worked at his craft. Poe might have experienced a sense of cathartic liberation as he wrote in the Bronx’s vast green openness.
During the early 1900s New Yorkers zeroed in on Poe Cottage’s historical importance and preservation. Reputable public figures and elected officials such as President Theodore Roosevelt and writer Rudyard Kipling fought to ensure that Poe’s legacy would remain intact by preserving the cottage and moving it from its original location, further east on Kingsbridge Road, to where it stands today at Poe Park. However, Poe Cottage wouldn’t become a historic landmark until 1966, when the New York State Landmarks Preservation Commission deemed it so.
Poe Cottage can be found on the corner of East Kingsbridge Road and Grand Concourse and visitors may tour the cottage and observe what Poe’s household might have looked like during his time in the Bronx. The Cottage is managed by the Bronx County Historical Society and a fee of $5 per person and $3 per student, child, or senior citizen is all it’ll cost you to experience this Bronx treasure. Additionally, visitors may stop by Poe Park’s Visitor Center and participate in one of the Center’s free public programs.
Edgar Allan Poe suffered greatly during his time in the Bronx but he must have also been inspired to write and continue honing his art form while enjoying our borough’s natural beauty. “Annabel Lee” and “The Bells” are testaments to this.
In 1847, two years after Virginia’s death, Poe died in a delirious state while living in Baltimore. Many Poe biographers and historians dispute what caused Poe’s death, but what is certainly undisputable is the legacy he left behind and the voluminous catalogue of poems and stories that still resonate with readers today. One can only hope that Virginia and Poe are reunited in their kingdom by the sea.