Rufus Wilmot Griswold
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 1855 engraving by Miner Kilbourne Kellogg |
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| Born: | February 15, 1815 Benson, Vermont, United States |
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| Died: | August 12, 1857 |
| Occupation: | Editor, Critic, Writer |
Rufus Wilmot Griswold (February 15, 1815 - August 12, 1857) was an American anthologist, editor and critic, famous for his enmity with Edgar Allan Poe.
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[edit] Life and career
Born in Benson, Vermont as the twelfth of fourteen children, Griswold left his family when he was 15, calling himself a "solitary soul, wandering through the world, a homeless, joyless outcast."[1] He travelled extensively, worked in newspaper offices, was a Baptist clergyman for a time, and finally became a journalist in New York City.
Griswold had married his wife Caroline after becoming a clergyman at the age of 22. When she was pregnant with their second daughter, he would leave her behind in New York to move to Philadelphia.[2] Upon her death and the death of their third child, a son, he was heavily grieved. He admitted that forty days after her entombment in 1842, he entered her vault, cut off a lock of her hair, kissed her on the forehead and on the lips, and wept for several hours. A friend found him later the next evening, 30 hours later.[3][4]
There he was successively a member of the staffs of The Brother Jonathan, The New World (1839-1840) and The New Yorker (1840). He edited the first American edition of Milton's prose works (1845). From 1841 to 1843 he edited Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia), and added to its list of contributors many leading American writers. From 1850 to 1852 he edited the International Magazine (New York), which in 1852 was merged into Harper's Magazine.
He was a compiler and editor of various anthologies (with brief biographies and critiques), such as Poets and Poetry of America (1842), his most popular and valuable book; Prose Writers of America (1846); Female Poets of America (1848); and Sacred Poets of England and America (1849). He was also a writer himself, including his work Republican Court: or American Society in the Days of Washington in 1854.
In Poe's January 28, 1843 review of Griswold's The Poets and Poetry of America which appeared in the Philadelphia Saturday Museum, Poe asked: "...what will be [Griswold's] fate? Forgotten, save only by those whom he has injured and insulted, he will sink into oblivion, without leaving a landmark to tell that he once existed; or if he is spoken of hereafter, he will be quoted as the unfaithful servant who abused his trust."[5]
Griswold died of tuberculosis in New York City on August 12, 1857.
[edit] Edgar Allan Poe
Griswold first met Edgar Allan Poe in Philadelphia in May of 1841 while working for the Philadelphia Daily Standard. Poe submitted three poems for Griswold's upcoming The Poets and Poetry of America anthology: "Coliseum," "The Haunted Palace," and "The Sleeper." All three were ultimately included in the 476-page volume. Poe actually wrote a critical review of the work, which Griswold purchased and used his influence to have it published in a Boston periodical. The review was generally favorable, though Poe questioned the inclusion or lack of inclusion of certain authors. Griswold apparently had expected more praise and Poe, in private, told others he was not particularly impressed by the book. Making the relationship even more strained, only months later, Griswold was hired by George Graham in Poe's former role as editor. Griswold, however, was paid more and given more editorial control of Graham's Magazine than Poe.[6]
In the mid 1840's, Griswold and Poe also competed for the attention of a female poet named Frances Sargent Osgood.[7] Griswold was known for being vengeful and quick to anger. A friend once called him "one of the most irritiable and vindictive men I ever met." Novelist Ann Sophia Stephens called him two-faced and "constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth."[8]
[edit] The "Ludwig" obituary
After Poe's death, Griswold prepared an obituary which he signed with the psuedonym "Ludwig." First printed in the October 9, 1849 issue of the New York Daily Tribune, it was quickly republished many times. In the obituary, Ludwig asserted that "few will be grieved" by Poe's death as he had few friends. He claimed that Poe often wandered the streets, either in "madness or melancholy," mumbling and cursing to himself, was easily irritated, was envious of others, and that he "regarded society as composed of villains." Poe's drive to succeed, Griswold wrote, was because he sought "the right to despise a world which galled his self-conceit."
Griswold had left his name off the article because his dislike of Poe was well known. His true identity, however, was soon revealed. In a letter to Sarah Helen Whitman dated December 17, 1849, he admitted, "I wrote, as you suppose, the notice of Poe in The Tribune, but very hastily. I was not his friend, nor was he mine."[9]
[edit] Memoir
Later, claiming to be his literary executor, Griswold edited, with James Russell Lowell and Nathaniel Parker Willis, the posthumous works of Edgar Allan Poe in 1850. This edition included a biographical "Memoir" which has become notorious for its inaccuracy. Griswold had in fact served as a literary agent for other American writers but it is unclear if Poe actually appointed him as his literary executor. He did not share the profits of his edition with Poe's surviving relatives, his sister Rosalie and his mother-in-law Maria "Muddy" Clemm.[10] His collection included a "Memoir" serving as a biography of Poe's life. In it, Poe was depicted as a madman, addicted to drugs and chronically drunk. Many parts of it were believed to have been forged by Griswold and it was denounced by those who knew Poe, including Sarah Helen Whitman, Charles Frederick Briggs, and George Rex Graham.[11]
In modern days Griswold's name is usually associated with Poe's as a character assassin. Some of the information that Griswold asserted or implied include that Poe was expelled from the University of Virginia and that Poe had tried to seduce the second wife of his guardian John Allan.[12]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- ^ Tomc, Sandra. "Poe and His Circle." Collected in The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p.26
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991, pp. 212-213
- ^ Tomc, Sandra. "Poe and His Circle." Collected in The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p.26
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. Harper-Perennial, 1991. p. 217
- ^ James Harrison, ed., The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1902, vol XVII. pp. 220-243
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991, pp. 211-216
- ^ Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 209
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991, pp. 216-7
- ^ "Poe and Griswold from The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
- ^ Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z, Paperback ed., New York: Checkmark Books, p. 102. ISBN 081604161X.
- ^ Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z, Paperback ed., New York: Checkmark Books, p. 101. ISBN 081604161X.
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991, p. 440.
