Poe is often referred to as being "three-fifths genius and two-fifths fudge" , is this true? how so?

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2002

Answers

His friend the poet James Russell Lowell in a gently comedic poem review of American poets referred to Poe as there goes Barnaby Rudge(contemporary Dickens novel with a Raven etc,). Not meant meanly but Poe had a thin skin when the tables were turned on him.

But Poe was not made of 2/5 fudge which would be anatomically difficult. The hidden derision is perhaps Poe's own fault for using gothic forms in a satiric, manipulative fashion including hoaxes while the public only got the horror story aspect. Admitting it to friends or readers is one thing. Having someone else say it poe always found threatening. In fact Poe's self-deprecation and self-debunking in many writings seems a preemptive defense measure.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2002