~A Dream Within a Dream ~

A Dream Within a Dream
The Life of Edgar Allan Poe
by Nigel Barnes
Peter Owen

"Only exaggerating a little, Arthur Conan Doyle said "each of Poe's stories is a root from which a whole literature has developed". Crime fiction began with his Parisian sleuth Dupin, model for Holmes and Poirot; and he was also a pioneer in SF, fantasy and horror, wrote classic comic hoaxes, and was arguably the first significant American poet. Besides Conan Doyle, his admirers included Baudelaire, Yeats, Dostoevsky and Verne. Yet his 22-year career was one of almost unbroken misery, maudlin boozing and disastrous loves that followed his wife Virginia's death. Barnes ably pleads his case where posterity has been cruel, insisting Virginia was no exploited child bride and her husband no lifelong drunk - just someone who timed his bingeing terribly, as when he was due to meet President Tyler about a government job. Marking the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth, his biography makes unusually good use of the author's letters. But it fails to crack the conundrum of how such an astonishing literary legacy emerged from such a chaotic life."

Grins I could post the poem alas ..

....This version enough...

A wee tired I be .. so this goes to March 20.2009

A Toast to the first Day of Spring .. in these parts it's still gray yet the air is pure and somehow with it the passion and mind set is able to run deep .. Most Magical.. Yes ! It really is The little things that can and shall always capture one most and take one to a very special place ..

*smile*
It is indeed with out a doubt The Depth of and in an other's mind ,soul and being ..

Respect and Love it I do .. Not all get it .. but when one ......does .... Kismet !!!

*Grins*