Text: Samuel Tyler, “The Grave and Monument of the Poet Poe,” Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. LXXVII, no. 133, October 18, 1875, p. 4, col. 5

[page 4, column 5:]

[Communicated.]

The Grave and Monument of the Poet Poe.

Editors of the Sun: In this morning's Sun I notice an article in regard to the removal of the monument to Poe. As a Marylander and a friend of the Poe family I take the liberty of saying a word on the matter. Let the monument remain in Westminster Cemetery ever the remains of the remarkable man whose genius it commemorates. That cemetery is known as the resting-place of the mortality of Poe, not only in our country, but also in Europe. With it his name will ever be associated, just as the names of the great dead of England are with Westminster Abbey. The obscurity of the place will rather interest and attract the class of visitors who pay homage to intellectual superiority. In 1856 Mr. Alexander B. Grozart, a graduate and prizeman in the class of Sir Wm. Hamilton, in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, brought to me in Frederick, as a present from the great philosopher, the second edition of his then published works. While sojourning with me for two weeks, we talked over the works of great authors, both European and American, and no American author interested him as much as Poe. He had studied all his works and had discussed their literary merits with the scholars of Scotland. Such was his estimate of Poe that he told me he could not leave the country without visiting his grave. On his way back to Scotland he took a letter of introduction from me to Mr. Nelson Poe, of Baltimore, and with him visited the spot he longed to see. From Edinburg he wrote to me, expressing the great pleasure he had in viewing the grave of Poe in Westminster Cemetery. This he has told to many a Scotchman and Scotchwoman. The obscurity of the place did not prevent him from finding it.

SAMUEL TYLER.

Georgetown, D. C., October 16, 1875.