Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe

Happy Martin Luther King Jr day!

Did you also know that today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday? He was born in Boston and lived many different places, but he died in Baltimore. The Baltimore Ravens get their name from him and many other Baltimore locations get their inspiration from him.

One of those location is Annabel Lee Tavern in the Canton area of Baltimore, named for Poe's last poem of the same name. I ate there with John and his cousin last week and loved it! If you haven't gone - I highly recommend it.

Anyway - there is Poe stuff everywhere and it inspired me to draw some Poe! I sketched a quick line drawing while sitting at the table waiting for my sliders (they were amazing by the way! Kobe beef burgers with Pulled BBQ on top and some kind of goat cheese spread - yumm!!) and then came home and drew a full sized version in my sketchbook of the month - this time Nancy's.




I love all his lines and shadows - he was the original Goth.

I will leave you with the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe:


Annabel Lee


It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe