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Politian (play)
Encyclopedia
Politian is the only play
known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe
, composed in 1835 but never completed
.
The play is a fictionalized version of a true event in Kentucky
: the murder of Solomon P. Sharp
by Jereboam O. Beauchamp
in 1825. The so-called "Kentucky Tragedy" became a national headline and attracted several fictional representations. Poe, however, chose to set his version in 16th century Rome
. Poe wrote the play during his time with the Southern Literary Messenger
and during some personal crises. The first installment of Politian was published in that journal in December 1835 as "Scenes from an Unpublished Drama". A second installment was issued in January 1836 but the play was never completed.
Politian did not receive good reviews. Its failure prompted Poe to stop writing longer works and instead focus on short stories
. Politian remains unfinished and is the only play written by Poe.
. A man named Castiglione becomes engaged to a woman named Allessandra, inciting the jealousy of the orphan Lalage. Lalage meets a man named Politian and, after some flirtation, convinces him to take revenge on Castiglione. In the drama, Politian recites the poem "The Coliseum," which Poe had previously published in 1833.
and styled after Jacobean era
tragedies. Like many of Poe's tales, Politian questions the finality of death or what happens when life is over. Politian proposes a suicide pact
to an orphan named Lalage so that they can meet in the afterlife.
The title character is named after a 15th-century Roman poet, scholar, and teacher.
Poe was dramatizing a murder which occurred on November 7, 1825, in Kentucky
. Ann Cook of Frankfort, Kentucky
gave birth to the child of the state solicitor general
Solomon P. Sharp
but married Jereboam O. Beauchamp
in 1824. Cook asked Beauchamp to murder
Sharp as part of the agreement for marriage. He kept his promise, stabbing Sharp to death on November 5, 1825. He pleaded not guilty during his murder trial but was sentenced to be executed. Cook attempted suicide
by overdosing on laudanum
on the eve of Beauchamp's execution by hanging on July 7, 1826. The story was widely reported in the newspapers. Poe's story also utilized other real-life historical figures; the Earl of Leicester
stands in as Beauchamp and the character Baldassare Castiglione
represents Sharp.
The true event, labeled "The Kentucky Tragedy", was fictionalized in many other works, including Conrad and Eudora (1834) by Thomas Holley Chivers
, Beauchampe (1842) by William Gilmore Simms
, and World Enough and Time (1950) by Robert Penn Warren
. Poe would later fictionalize another murder story that became a national headline in his short story "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
".
, an author himself, very early in his writing career. Kennedy admired Poe's writing and encouraged him and promoted his work to publishers. In 1835 Kennedy wrote to the owner of the Southern Literary Messenger
in Richmond, Virginia
: "He is at work upon a tragedy", and he suggested that Poe be allowed to contribute something to the magazine. The publisher, Thomas Willis White agreed, and Poe's first contribution to the Messenger was "Berenice
" in April. Poe was then hired as a staff writer and critic beginning in August. Between March and November of that year, Poe contributed six new tales as well as the tragedy that Kennedy mentioned, Politian.
As Politian and other works were being prepared for print, Poe had difficulty in wooing his future wife Virginia Clemm
. Emotionally distressed, he turned to drinking and White fired him in late September 1835. White wrote to his friend Lucian Minor, an advocate of temperance
: "[Poe] is unfortunately rather dissipated... He is in addition the victim of melancholy. I should not be at all astonished to hear that he has been guilty of suicide". White's exaggeration may have started the rumor amongst literary figures that Poe was not sane. After his dismissal, Poe went to Baltimore, Maryland with the Clemm family.
White showed sincere concern for Poe's well-being and rehired him in October when Poe's personal crisis had passed. White wrote to Poe, "I should think there was hope of you... If you should come to Richmond again, and again should be an assistant in my office, it must be especially understood by us that all engagements on my part would be dissolved, the moment you get drunk." Poe returned to work in October; his dismissal had caused the cancellation of the October issue of the Southern Literary Messenger and the November issue was delayed to December. It was in this delayed issue that the first installment of Politian was published under the title "Scenes from an Unpublished Drama". Another installment was published in January 1836, though it was never fully completed, possibly because he considered the play unsuccessful or because Kennedy insisted Poe focus on "drudging upon whatever may make money". The entirety of the unfinished work was included in Poe's collection The Raven and Other Poems in 1845.
Plans were made in 1923 to stage a French translation of Politian by the Grand Guignol
players; though an article about the project was published in the New York Times, the project was never completed. The first performance of Poe's original text of Politian was given well after its composition, on January 19, 1933, by the Virginia Players of the University of Virginia
, under the direction of Harry Rogers Pratt
; the production was co-sponsored by the Raven Society
, a group dedicated to keeping Poe's memory alive at the institution he briefly attended.
wrote for the Washington Telegraph that he was disappointed after Poe "had taught us to expect much, for his prose is often very high wrought poetry". One critic for the Lynchburg Virginian wrote:
Poe biographer Jeffrey Meyers faults Poe for not knowing enough about Renaissance Italy and for presenting a wooden hero in a melodramatic plot in an archaic style which "did not do justice to this tragic story". Despite the play being a tragedy, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
wrote that "Politian will make you laugh".
After reading Politian, Kennedy recommended Poe return to writing poetry and short stories
. Poe took the advice and went on to focus on shorter works after the failure of both Politian and his only novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
, which also led to his abandonment of The Journal of Julius Rodman
. He chose to adapt to the literary marketplace, which then included a bustling newspaper and magazine industry in the 1830s. As Poe described years later, he joined in the effort of "Magazine literature—to the curt, the terse, the well-timed, and the readily diffused, in preference to the old forms of the verbose and ponderous & the inaccessible".
In 1845, Poe accused Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
in print for stealing a quote from Politian for his own play The Spanish Student.
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, composed in 1835 but never completed
Unfinished work
An unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...
.
The play is a fictionalized version of a true event in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
: the murder of Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon Porcius Sharp was attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder at the hands of Jereboam O...
by Jereboam O. Beauchamp
Jereboam O. Beauchamp
Jereboam Orville Beauchamp was an American lawyer who murdered the Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate stillborn child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and...
in 1825. The so-called "Kentucky Tragedy" became a national headline and attracted several fictional representations. Poe, however, chose to set his version in 16th century Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Poe wrote the play during his time with the Southern Literary Messenger
Southern Literary Messenger
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes...
and during some personal crises. The first installment of Politian was published in that journal in December 1835 as "Scenes from an Unpublished Drama". A second installment was issued in January 1836 but the play was never completed.
Politian did not receive good reviews. Its failure prompted Poe to stop writing longer works and instead focus on short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
. Politian remains unfinished and is the only play written by Poe.
Plot summary
The play takes place in 16th century RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. A man named Castiglione becomes engaged to a woman named Allessandra, inciting the jealousy of the orphan Lalage. Lalage meets a man named Politian and, after some flirtation, convinces him to take revenge on Castiglione. In the drama, Politian recites the poem "The Coliseum," which Poe had previously published in 1833.
Analysis
Politian was written in blank verseBlank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
and styled after Jacobean era
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
tragedies. Like many of Poe's tales, Politian questions the finality of death or what happens when life is over. Politian proposes a suicide pact
Suicide pact
A suicide pact is an agreed plan between two or more individuals to commit suicide. The plan may be to die together, or separately and closely timed. Suicide pacts are important concepts in the study of suicide, and have occurred throughout history, as well as in fiction.Suicide pacts are generally...
to an orphan named Lalage so that they can meet in the afterlife.
The title character is named after a 15th-century Roman poet, scholar, and teacher.
Inspiration
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. Ann Cook of Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
gave birth to the child of the state solicitor general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon P. Sharp
Solomon Porcius Sharp was attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder at the hands of Jereboam O...
but married Jereboam O. Beauchamp
Jereboam O. Beauchamp
Jereboam Orville Beauchamp was an American lawyer who murdered the Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate stillborn child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and...
in 1824. Cook asked Beauchamp to murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
Sharp as part of the agreement for marriage. He kept his promise, stabbing Sharp to death on November 5, 1825. He pleaded not guilty during his murder trial but was sentenced to be executed. Cook attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by overdosing on laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....
on the eve of Beauchamp's execution by hanging on July 7, 1826. The story was widely reported in the newspapers. Poe's story also utilized other real-life historical figures; the Earl of Leicester
Earl of Leicester
The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...
stands in as Beauchamp and the character Baldassare Castiglione
Baldassare Castiglione
Baldassare Castiglione, count of was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.-Biography:Castiglione was born into an illustrious Lombard family at Casatico, near Mantua, where his family had constructed an impressive palazzo...
represents Sharp.
The true event, labeled "The Kentucky Tragedy", was fictionalized in many other works, including Conrad and Eudora (1834) by Thomas Holley Chivers
Thomas Holley Chivers
Thomas Holley Chivers was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death....
, Beauchampe (1842) by William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced...
, and World Enough and Time (1950) by Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
. Poe would later fictionalize another murder story that became a national headline in his short story "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
The Mystery of Marie Roget
"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", often subtitled A Sequel to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe written in 1842. This is the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime. It first appeared in Snowden's Ladies' Companion in three installments, November and...
".
Publication and performance history
Poe met John P. KennedyJohn P. Kennedy
John Pendleton Kennedy was an American novelist and Whig politician who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from July 26, 1852 to March 4, 1853, during the administration of President Millard Fillmore, and as a U.S. Representative from the Maryland's 4th congressional district. He was...
, an author himself, very early in his writing career. Kennedy admired Poe's writing and encouraged him and promoted his work to publishers. In 1835 Kennedy wrote to the owner of the Southern Literary Messenger
Southern Literary Messenger
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes...
in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
: "He is at work upon a tragedy", and he suggested that Poe be allowed to contribute something to the magazine. The publisher, Thomas Willis White agreed, and Poe's first contribution to the Messenger was "Berenice
Berenice (short story)
"Berenice" is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835. The story follows a man named Egaeus who is preparing to marry his cousin Berenice. He has a tendency to fall into periods of intense focus during which he seems to separate himself...
" in April. Poe was then hired as a staff writer and critic beginning in August. Between March and November of that year, Poe contributed six new tales as well as the tragedy that Kennedy mentioned, Politian.
As Politian and other works were being prepared for print, Poe had difficulty in wooing his future wife Virginia Clemm
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe was the wife of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27...
. Emotionally distressed, he turned to drinking and White fired him in late September 1835. White wrote to his friend Lucian Minor, an advocate of temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
: "[Poe] is unfortunately rather dissipated... He is in addition the victim of melancholy. I should not be at all astonished to hear that he has been guilty of suicide". White's exaggeration may have started the rumor amongst literary figures that Poe was not sane. After his dismissal, Poe went to Baltimore, Maryland with the Clemm family.
White showed sincere concern for Poe's well-being and rehired him in October when Poe's personal crisis had passed. White wrote to Poe, "I should think there was hope of you... If you should come to Richmond again, and again should be an assistant in my office, it must be especially understood by us that all engagements on my part would be dissolved, the moment you get drunk." Poe returned to work in October; his dismissal had caused the cancellation of the October issue of the Southern Literary Messenger and the November issue was delayed to December. It was in this delayed issue that the first installment of Politian was published under the title "Scenes from an Unpublished Drama". Another installment was published in January 1836, though it was never fully completed, possibly because he considered the play unsuccessful or because Kennedy insisted Poe focus on "drudging upon whatever may make money". The entirety of the unfinished work was included in Poe's collection The Raven and Other Poems in 1845.
Plans were made in 1923 to stage a French translation of Politian by the Grand Guignol
Grand Guignol
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol — known as the Grand Guignol — was a theatre in the Pigalle area of Paris . From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962 it specialized in naturalistic horror shows...
players; though an article about the project was published in the New York Times, the project was never completed. The first performance of Poe's original text of Politian was given well after its composition, on January 19, 1933, by the Virginia Players of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, under the direction of Harry Rogers Pratt
Harry Rogers Pratt
Harry Rogers Pratt was a professor of music and drama at the University of Virginia from 1923 to 1954. Though he had no academic degree, he is credited with several accomplishments, including drawing the composer Randall Thompson to the University and founding the Virginia Players.Pratt was born...
; the production was co-sponsored by the Raven Society
Raven Society
The Raven Society is the University of Virginia's oldest honorary society. Founded in 1904 by University student William McCully James, and named in honor of the famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe .According to its constitution, one of the Raven Society's main goals is "to bring together the best men...
, a group dedicated to keeping Poe's memory alive at the institution he briefly attended.
Critical response
Politian did not get many good reviews. Beverley TuckerNathaniel Beverley Tucker
Nathaniel Beverley Tucker was an American author, judge, legal scholar, and political essayist.-Life and Politics:...
wrote for the Washington Telegraph that he was disappointed after Poe "had taught us to expect much, for his prose is often very high wrought poetry". One critic for the Lynchburg Virginian wrote:
Poe biographer Jeffrey Meyers faults Poe for not knowing enough about Renaissance Italy and for presenting a wooden hero in a melodramatic plot in an archaic style which "did not do justice to this tragic story". Despite the play being a tragedy, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...
wrote that "Politian will make you laugh".
After reading Politian, Kennedy recommended Poe return to writing poetry and short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
. Poe took the advice and went on to focus on shorter works after the failure of both Politian and his only novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus...
, which also led to his abandonment of The Journal of Julius Rodman
The Journal of Julius Rodman
The Journal of Julius Rodman, Being an Account of the First Passage across the Rocky Mountains of North America Ever Achieved by Civilized Man is an unfinished serial novel by American author Edgar Allan Poe published in 1840.-Plot:...
. He chose to adapt to the literary marketplace, which then included a bustling newspaper and magazine industry in the 1830s. As Poe described years later, he joined in the effort of "Magazine literature—to the curt, the terse, the well-timed, and the readily diffused, in preference to the old forms of the verbose and ponderous & the inaccessible".
In 1845, Poe accused Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
in print for stealing a quote from Politian for his own play The Spanish Student.
External links
- Text of Scenes From Politian
- "Poe's Politian and the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy" by William J. Kimball, from Poe Studies (1971)