Edgar Allan Poe

The monument erected at Baltimore over the grave of Edgar Allan Poe was unveiled and dedicated November 17, in the presence of a large number of spectators. It was tardy justice to the memory of a man who, whatever his faults of character, was undoubtedly a great genius. The scene presented a striking contrast with the burial of the poet on a dreary October morning twenty-six years ago, when a single carriage followed his remains to the grave in Westminster Church-yard, where he was laid at rest beside his ancestors. The services, which were held in a hall adjoining Westminster Church, consisted of addresses by Professor Henry E. Shepherd and Mr. John H. Latrobe, the reading of a fine poem by William Winter, and of letters from Tennyson, Bryant, Whittier, and others.

At the conclusion of these services the assemblage withdrew from the hall and went to the church-yard, where the interesting ceremony of unveiling the monument took place. This was performed by Miss Sarah S. Rice, of the Western High School, Baltimore, who from first to last has taken the most active interest in the erection of the monument. She was assisted by the ladies who took part in the first literary entertainment in aid of the Poe Monument Association in the autumn of 1865. As the drapery gracefully fell from the marble, the Philharmonic Society of Baltimore, composed of one hundred of the best singers in the city, chanted a dirge which had been composed for the occasion by Mrs. Eleanor A. Fullerton.

The monument is made of the purest white marble from Maryland quarries. It stands upon a granite base about eighteen feet high, and is placed over the poet's grave. It has on one side a finely executed medallion bust of the poet, taken from a photograph copy of an original daguerreotype. It is said to be an excellent likeness. Beneath the bust is inscribed the name “Edgar Allan Poe.” On the opposite side is the following inscription:

Born January 20th, 1809.
Died October  7th, 1849.

A place has been left for an epitaph, which it is expected will be written by Alfred Tennyson.