Rufus Wilmot Griswold (February 15, 1815 -
August 12, 1857) was an American anthologist, editor and
critic, famous for his enmity with Edgar Allan Poe.
Born in Vermont, Griswold left his family at age 15. By 22, he had moved to New York, had become ordained as a clergyman and had married his wife Caroline. During his wife's second
pregnancy, Griswold left her and moved to Philadelphia. He worked as a
journalist and minor writer, in his day best known for his 1842 collection The Poets and Poetry of America, an anthology
of what he deemed the best examples in American poetry. He would produced revised versions and similar anthologies for the
remainder of his life.
It was in Philadelphia that Griswold first met Edgar Allan Poe. Poe had been included in Griswold's anthology but Poe
published a critical response which questioned the inclusion of some of the collected poets. Griswold soon after replaced Poe as
editor of Graham's Magazine, commanding a larger salary than Poe had. The two
also competed for the attention of poet Frances Sargent Osgood. They never
reconciled their differences and, after Poe's mysterious death in 1849,
Griswold began a heavy campaign to destroy Poe's reputation which lasted until his own death eight years later.
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 traveled 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.
Publicly, Griswold was a supporter of the establishment of international copyright, though
he himself often pirated whole works of literature during his time as an editor, particularly
with The Brother Jonathan. A contemporary editor said of Griswold, "He takes advantage of a state of things which he
declares to be 'immoral, unjust and wicked,' and even while haranguing the loudest, is purloining the fastest."[5]
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). Many went through several revised editions. 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."[6]
Griswold died of tuberculosis in New York City on August
12, 1857.
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.[7]
In the mid 1840's, Griswold and Poe also competed for the attention of a female poet named Frances Sargent Osgood.[8]
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."[9]
The "Ludwig" obituary
After Poe's death, Griswold prepared an obituary which he signed with the
pseudonym "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." Much of this
characterization of Poe was lifted almost verbatim from that of the fictitious Francis Vivian in The Caxtons by
Edward Bulwer-Lytton.[10]
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."[11]
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. It is unclear if Poe appointed Griswold his executor (perhaps as part of his
"Imp of the Perverse"[12].), if it were a trick on Griswold's part, or a mistake made by Poe's aunt and mother-in-law Maria
"Muddy" Clemm.[13] 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 Clemm.[14] 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.[15]
In modern days Griswold's name is usually associated with Poe's as a character
assassin.[16] 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.[17] Even so, Griswold's attempts only attracted attention towards Poe's work;
readers were thrilled at the idea of reading the works of an "evil" man.[18]
See also
References
- ^ Tomc, Sandra. "Poe and His Circle." Collected in The Cambridge Companion
to Edgar Allan Poe, Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521797276 p.26
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending
Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 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. ISBN 0521797276 p.26
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending
Remembrance. Harper-Perennial, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 p. 217
- ^ Moss, Sidney P. Poe's Literary Battles: The Critic in the Context of His
Literary Milieu. Southern Illinois University Press, 1969. p. 80-1
- ^ 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. ISBN 0060923318 pp. 211-216
- ^ Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. Cooper Square
Press, 1992. ISBN 0815410387 p. 209
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending
Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 pp. 216-7
- ^ Moss, Sidney P. Poe's Literary Battles: The Critic in the Context of His
Literary Milieu. Southern Illinois University Press, 1969. p. 125
- ^ "Poe and Griswold from The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
- ^ Hoffman, Daniel (1972). Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe, Paperback ed., Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, p. 14. ISBN 0807123218.
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth (1991). Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, Paperback ed.,
New York: Harper Perennial, p. 439. ISBN 0060923318.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Frank, Frederick and Anthony Magistrale. The Poe Encyclopedia.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991. p. 149 ISBN 0313277680
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending
Remembrance, Harper-Perennial, New York, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 p. 440.
- ^ Meyers, Jeffrey (1992).
Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, Paperback ed., New York: Cooper Square Press, p. 263. ISBN
0815410387.
Further reading
- Passages from the Correspondence and Other Papers of Rufus W. Griswold (Cambridge, Mass., 1898), edited by his son
William McCrillis Griswold (1853-1899)
External links
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