What Was Griswold's "Memoir of the Author"?

When Edgar Allen Poe died, Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote Poe's obituary with intent to acquire revenge for all of Poe's negative criticism about Griswold. The obituary began with, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." He included false details in order to ruin the reputation of Poe. Following the obituary, Griswold wrote a biography titled "Memoir of the Author." This was the only biography available and influenced the world's view of Edgar Allen Poe immensely. Because it was the only access the public had into Poe's life, the fabricated details of Poe became the ultimate source of his reputation. Griswold had hoped to erase the idea of Poe being a great poet and end his legacy. His plan succeeded in giving Poe a reputation, but the reputation of Poe being a madman boosted the popularity of Poe's work and made him an even more important figure in the history of American literature (http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php).

Rufus Griswold attempted to give Edgar Allen Poe a reputation of being a, "drunken, womanizing madman, with no morals or friends." He included letters that Poe had written to support his accusations, but it is now believed many of the letters were never actually written by Poe. Griswold accused Poe of being a drug addict which is now proven to be false. He criticized Poe's childhood. He label him as reckless and told stories of Poe's disruptive behavior in school and the poor parenting he had. Poe's gambling debt was mentioned along with his disobedience at West Point and desertion. Every possible negative aspect of Poe's life was brought up in this biography in hopes to discredit all of his poetry. Griswold constantly gave attention to Poe's intoxication and wrote about how poorly the poetry was written. Poe was described as envious, arrogant, and villany (http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18500004.htm).

The biography ends with-

"There seemed to him no moral susceptibility; and, what was more remarkable in a proud nature, little or nothing of the true point of honor. He had, to a morbid excess, that desire to rise which is vulgarly called ambition, but no wish for the esteem of the love of his species; only the hard wish to succeed — not shine, not serve — succeed, that he might have the right to despise a world which galled his self-conceit.(http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18500004.htm)"

Many others who wrote biographies about Edgar Allen Poe based their works on Griswold's biography of Poe. Even though a large amount of the accusations were false, the biographies that followed continued to support the reputation Griswold had built for Poe (http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poegrisw.htm). The public became very interested in reading the work of a madman and the publication of Poe's work increased immensely. While Griswold is nearly forgotten, the man's legacy he attempted to destroy lives on.