Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

OTR is pleased to know that virtually every high school graduate in the U.S. has encountered the poem, The Raven.  It brought Edgar Allan Poe instant fame in 1845 and ensured him a secure place in American literature. Poe's appeal to readers, especially young ones, rests in his dark and stormy subjects, his fantastic plots, and rich, descriptive writing. There is a timelessness about his work as well that, in  part, accounts for his appeal to contemporary readers. His influence has lived on the the works of Dostoyevsky. Baudelaire, Lovecraft, Eliot, Sayers, Nobokov, Bradbury and many others.

Poe was born in Boston on this day in 1809. He spent his lifetime living and working between the coastal cities of Boston and Charleston. Death found him in Baltimore in 1849 wrapped in the mystery and tragedy that surrounded him during much of his life. 

Today there is another mystery surrounding Poe. Since 1949, a toaster has appeared at his grave in Baltimore's Westminster Burial Ground in the early hours of his birthday. The toaster leaves three roses and a half full bottle of cognac. The Poe Toaster's identity is unknown. Last year, he or she did not appear. Will the toaster return?  By the time most of us are awake reading our online newspapers, checking email, Facebook or favorite blogs, the world will have an answer or a deepening mystery. Either way, Poe's legacy will live on in classrooms, in private libraries, on glowing Kindles or anywhere readers enjoy imagination at its best.

Who could be at the door at this hour?

UPDATE: The Poe Toaster did not appear.