“Quoth the raven, nevermore” one of the most famous lines from possibly the most well-known work of one Edgar Allan Poe. Many know him solely by virtue of his many dark and poetic short stories, such as The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart. Others may even be familiar with with the mysterious Poe toaster, a hooded individual that is known to visit the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on his birthday to raise a toast to the dead writer and leave a single rose on his grave marker.

Poe's work is regarded by many to one of the defining entrances into the genre of classical horror, yet that status didn’t come about until many years after his death. It is a somewhat well-known fact that Poe spent his life thinking he had failed as a writer, in fact, he considered himself as a failure in general which served as part of the influence for the dreary tone of much of his work.

But yet in our contemporary time, the legacy left by Poe through his work is well known, so one may expect that the long-dead gothic writer is well commemorated. This is neither true nor entirely false. On the surface, it seems that at least his hometown of Baltimore holds him in relatively high esteem.

Many hotels in the area in which he lived within the city have adopted logos bearing either stylized portrayals of his distinctive face or, more commonly, the stately raven for which he is so often associated. Some may even be aware that within Baltimore there exists an Edgar Allan Poe Museum. But upon visiting this museum one will likely be very disappointed to find that it is simply the Poe family home with a few extra furnishings and word plaques on the walls.

And in the case of the depictions of Poe and The Raven in bars and hotels in the area, this has much more to do with marketing a recognizable image than the legacy of anyone.

The point is that for as well known Poe has become as a writer, albeit long after his death, he is not commemorated to the same level as other authors held in similar esteem. Lord Byron, for instance, has a statue in Italy and is featured alongside other famous writers in at least one stained glass window. The one thing that reflects the fame and recognition Poe’s writing has earned him is his grave. His second grave, more specifically, where his body currently resides. The grave his body was moved to from his family cemetery once his writing rose to prominence.

.But in the end, maybe that is part of the appeal of Poe. Image of the gothic writer, due likely in no small part to his melancholic and thankless life, is one of an underdog of sorts. Maybe the form of recognition figures like Lord Byron, who is considered to be the first modern celebrity by virtue of his writing, just wouldn’t fit with Poe.