Arthur Hobson Quinn, in Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography (1941), is skeptical of the final paragraphs of James Russell Lowell’s revised biographical essay in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe (1850), suggesting that they seem hasty and potentially forged by Griswold. Quinn cites two 1849 letters from Griswold asking Lowell about revisions to the biographical sketch for the edition. Quinn writes, “Unfortunately we do not have Lowell’s replies to these letters” (659), positing that these missing letters may reveal more about Lowell’s contribution to this first posthumous edition of Poe’s work. We now have one of those letters and a few more answers to the questions about Lowell’s involvement in this project.
Rufus W. Griswold’s infamous “Ludwig” obituary and The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe are responsible for a number of enduring misconceptions about Poe’s life and work. The latter of these, of course, has...
