Poerio

3767

Poggio

associated with the poet's name. Here, on
Jan. 30, 1847, in deepest poverty, Virginia
Poe died, an attractive and pathetic figure,
retaining her fragile and childish beauty to
the last; she was but twenty-four. 'Her
mother was more than a mother to the poet,
and his home life drew out what was best
in his nature, and afforded such measure as
he attained of happiness. In the summer of
1849 Poe visited the South in connection
with one of his magazine projects, and in
Richmond became engaged to Mrs. Shelton,
a well-to-do widow. Starting North to ar-
range preliminaries for the marriage, he was
found in a comatose condition at Baltimore
on Oct. 3, and died at the Marine Hospital
on Oct. 7.

Poe's poetry, limited in theme and quan-
tity, is among the most musical and imag-
inative in the language. His stories have for
sixty years served as models for French
writers; and perhaps of all our creative au-
thors Poe has greatest claim to be considered
a cosmopolitan. His best work in verse and
fiction rises into the loftiest realm of art,
and is independent of any associations of
time or place. His criticism, personally vin-
dictive at times, at its best was good medi-
cine for the gushing 'literati* of his period.
In his own walk he stands unsurpassed, if
not alone, with a halo of mystery, gloom,
and terror about him. Consult Ingram's Life,
Letters, etc.; H. Allen, Israfel (1926); M. E.
Phillips, Edgar Allan Poe (1926); J. W.
Krutch, Edgar Allan Poe (1926).

Poerio, Carlo (1803-67), Italian patriot,
was born in Naples. Denounced as a revolu-
tionist in 1850, he was condemned to twenty-
four years' imprisonment. Gladstone and
others took up his cause, and Poerio and his
companions were ordered to America, but
escaped and returned to Turin (1859). After
the victories of Garibaldi, Poerio went back
to Naples, where he became vice-president
of the parliament (1861).

Poet Laureate. The precise origin of this
office, which is a royal appointment in Great
Britain, is not known; but it is certain that
Chaucer, on his return from abroad, as-
sumed the title. The first poet laureate in the
modern sense was Edmund Spenser, while
Ben Jonson was the first to receive the oflke
by formal letters patent. The following
were poets laureate: Edmund Spenser (1591-
9), Samuel Daniel (1599-1619), Ben Jonson
(1619-37), William Davenant (1660-8),
John Dryden (1670-88), Thomas Shadwell
(1689-92), Nahum Tate (1692-1715), Nich-

olas Rowe (1715-18), Lawrence Eusden
(1718-30;, Colley Gibber (1730-57), William
Whitehead (1757-85). Thomas Warton
(1785-90), Henry James Pye (1790-1813),
Robert Southey (1813-43), William Words-
worth (1843-50), Alfred Tennyson (1850-
92), Alfred Austin (1896-1913), Robert
Bridges (1913-30), John Masefield (1930- ).
Poetry is the first form in which mankind
expresses its emotions or records its doings;
and yet in no department of intellectual ac-
tivity has it been so difficult to arrive at an
adequate definition. The idea lying at the
root of the word is restraint, a moulding of
language into a definite form such that the
human ear can recognize the scheme of har-
mony and be led to anticipate its recurrence.
In all languages, poetry precedes prose in its
order of appearance. The earliest forms of
verse are narrative poems and religious
hymns. The lyric is a later form, which makes
its appearance only when civilization has so
far progressed that the individuality of each
member of the tribe is clearly recognized as
something distinct from that of the tribe as
a whole. An early species of composition in
most languages is the didactic poem, in which
the rules of husbandry, or it may be the
tribal code of morals, are thrown into metri-
cal form with a view to their easier memor-
izing. See the articles in this work on CRITI-
CISM, LITERARY ; ENGLISH LITERATURE : UNI-
TED STATES, LITERATURE; the sections on lit-
erature in the articles on the several coun-
tries ; and the biographies of the poets.

Raymond Poincare.

Poge, Cape, the n.e. point of the Martha's
Vineyard group of islands, on Chappaquid-
dick Island. It has a lighthouse over 50 ft
above sea level.

Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco
(1380-1459), Italian humanist, was born iť