Philadelphia’s Influence on Poe

Kathleen Gilligan

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greatest writers in American history.  His stories are read everywhere and by everyone.  Many wonder what inspired Poe, and how he came up with such unique and interesting ideas.  Did they come from events in his life, crimes he heard of, or perhaps just the twisted genius that was his mind?  While nobody will ever be able to get into Poe’s head, one thing is clear: every place Edgar Allan Poe lived had a dramatic effect on him and greatly influenced his stories and poetry.  And what was Philadelphia’s impact?

Arguably the happiest times of Poe’s life were spent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Now known as the Poe House, the building in which Poe lived with his wife and mother-in-law from 1842 until 1844 still stands.  Many of Poe’s best known works were written in Philadelphia, among them “The Black Cat.”   Those who have visited Poe house and ventured into the cellar will see the extreme similarity between it and the one in “The Black Cat.”  Though the steep stairs, bricks, limestone, and plaster could resemble any old basement, there is one thing that without a doubt was the inspiration for 1843’s “The Black Cat.”  The room, like the other rooms in the Poe house, is bare.  It makes the experience all the more chilling.  Poe writes, “… in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar.” (Poe 398)  It cannot be mere coincidence that the cellar in “The Black Cat” had an exact replica of the cellar in Poe’s Philadelphia house. 

The cellar in the Poe House in Philadelphia may also have, in part, inspired 1946’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”  Though this story was published a few years later, when Poe was no longer living in Philadelphia, it too has one of the main characters walled up.  (And perhaps Poe started writing it while he was in Philadelphia?)  The sizes of the chimney in the Poe House and the crypt in “The Cask of Amontillado” are quite similar.  In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe writes of “…a still interior crypt… in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven.  It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself.” (Poe 501) 

The remnants of the Poe House chimney still stand.  Those who work and give tours at the Poe House say that supposedly a body is able to fit in the space, though they claim to never have tried…  This boy, on the other hand, tried and succeeded!

Other influences??

“The Mystery of Marie Roget” was most certainly based on the murder of a New York woman named Mary Rogers in 1841.  Supposedly this is the first mystery based on the events of a real crime.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” may have been inspired by The Usher House in Boston: legend goes that a jealous husband brought the house down around his wife and her lover.

Works Cited

Gruenemann. Cellar Niche, Edgar Allen Poe House, Philadelphia. 2006. Photograph. Philadelphia. Flickr. Yahoo.com. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruenemann/493723068/.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Inc., 1970. v-564.