Edgar Allan Poe’s whole fifteen-year career was a constant struggle for survival. He received only ten dollars for “The Raven” which was first published in 1845, and, within a few months, read, and recited wherever the English language was spoken. Less than a year later his brother poet, N. P. Willis, issued this touching appeal on the behalf of the Edgar.
"Here Born in poverty at Boston, January 19 1809, dying painfully in Baltimore, October 7, 1849 is one of the finest scholars, one of the most original men of genius, and one of the most industrious of the literary profession of our country, whose temporary suspension of labor, from bodily illness, drops him immediately to a level with the common objects of public charity. There is no intermediate stopping-place, no respectful shelter, where, with the delicacy due to genius and culture, be might secure aid, till, with returning health, he would resume his labors, and his un-mortified sense of independence." {An Appreciation} …
