'Just the right word, or phrase'

 

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” – Edgar Allan Poe

Poe was born in Boston on this date in 1809.   A key figure in the worldwide Romanticism movement, he was both a poet and one of America's earliest writers of short mysteries, many of which were macabre in nature.

The first well-known American writer to try to make a living by writing alone, Poe had spurts of decent amounts of income followed by periods of destitution.  Ultimately, his lack of income may have been a contributing factor to his early death.  But the actual cause of his death at age 40 has never been determined, and has been the subject of many movies and “whodunit?” books.

Poe probably would have liked that.  He enjoyed writing both a good mystery and a good detective story.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle noted, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed . . . Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"  The Mystery Writers of America have named their annual awards for excellence, "Edgars.”

His use of  “just the right word or turn of phrase” also might reflect back to his love of poetry.                           He once noted,  “I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.”