The Name Poe

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Did the word "POETRY" come from the name of "Poe"? I know this might be a stupid question but just wondering.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2003

Answers

short story

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2003

No, of course not, it's just a coincidence. I've read, however, that "Poe" is Gaelic for "peacock."

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2003

Poe himself was proud to affirm that he was from Irish origins. When searching for information among other sources than what was traditionally evoked by his relatives, he believed for a time that "Poe" might come from Austrian origin (spelling the "o" with a Germanic umlaut (ö, as he did for the German "Göthe", instead of "Goethe"), a thing curiously adopted - for a very different reason, and with another form - by French speaking (19th century) people/editors who, unknowing how to pronounce rightly his name, chose the wrong "Poë" (with French/Britton "tréma" on the last letter, in this case!) in order to insist for pronouncing the last letter (as with "Robinson Crusoë"!) -- a fault always condemned by Baudelaire.

And your question, moreover, is not at all stupid in a sense you couldn't probably imagine, for Poe was indeed regularly punning about his cognomen, saying that "if we speak of POE, the POET, we are right... to a T"! Perhaps, nevetheless, the fact you are alluding to?

Yours sincerely, Raven's Shade (Belgium).

-- Anonymous, November 05, 2003


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