{{Short description|American sailor and poet (1807–1831)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Henry Poe | image = | caption = | birth_name = William Henry Leonard Poe | birth_date = {{birth date|1807|01|30|df=yes}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1831|08|01|1807|01|30|df=yes}} | death_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Sailor|clerk|writer}} | parents = {{ubl|David Poe Jr.|Elizabeth Arnold}} | relatives = {{ubl|Edgar Allan Poe (brother)|Rosalie Mackenzie Poe (sister)}} }} '''William Henry Leonard Poe''', often referred to as '''Henry Poe''' (January 30, 1807 – August 1, 1831), was an American sailor, amateur poet and the brother of Edgar Allan Poe and Rosalie Poe.
After the death of their parents, the three Poe children were split up: Henry lived with his grandparents in Baltimore, Maryland, while Edgar and Rosalie were cared for by two different families in Richmond, Virginia. Before the age of 20, Henry traveled around the globe by sea before returning to Baltimore and becoming a published poet and author. One of his works, ''The Pirate'', was a fictionalized account of his brother's first relationship with Sarah Elmira Royster in Richmond. Henry died of tuberculosis in 1831 at the age of 24.
Henry Poe was an inspiration to his brother's life and writings and the two had similar writing styles. Edgar Allan Poe for a time used the alias "Henri Le Rennet", a name inspired by Henry. Henry's influence on Edgar's writing includes a character in the novel ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'' and possibly the name of the title character in the poem "Lenore".
==Biography== thumb|Poe and Clemm family tree William Henry Leonard, who went by the name Henry,<ref name="A to Z">Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001; {{ISBN|0-8160-4161-X}}</ref>{{rp|193}} was born circa January 30, 1807, to traveling actors Eliza Poe and David Poe, Jr., four months after their troupe began performing in Boston.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|5}} Their second son, Edgar, was born on January 19, 1809, and a daughter, Rosalie, was born in December 1810.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|6–7}} Some time before July 1809, however, David Poe had deserted his family, though little is known about his disappearance. He may have died in Norfolk, Virginia on December 11, 1811."<ref name="His Life and Legacy">Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992: 5–6. {{ISBN|0-8154-1038-7}}</ref>{{rp|5-6}} Eliza Poe died of tuberculosis on December 8, 1811, leaving her three children as orphans.<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|192}}
During their mother's illness, Henry had been left in the care of his paternal grandparents,<ref>Stashower, Daniel. ''The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder''. New York: Dutton, 2006: pg. 35; {{ISBN|0-525-94981-X}}</ref> while Edgar and Rosalie had been cared for by actor friends of their parents, namely Mr. and Mrs. Luke Usher.<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|6}} The children were likely at Eliza's side as she died.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|8}} In one of his poems, Henry described her "long... last farewell" to them and was given a lock of her hair to remember her.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|8}} After the death of Eliza, the three children were split up. Henry went back to his grandparents in Baltimore, while Edgar went to live with a foster family, the Allans of Richmond. Rosalie was adopted by the Mackenzies, also of Richmond.<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|7}}
Henry was raised by his grandparents, Elizabeth Cairnes Poe and David Poe, Sr.<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|61}} David Poe, Sr. had been a quartermaster in the American Revolutionary War and paid for supplies out of his own pocket, including $500 for clothing for the troops. His commitment had earned the respect and friendship of the Marquis de LaFayette<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|25}} and the honorary title of "General".<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|2}} David Poe, Sr. died in 1816,<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|191}} and his wife, Elizabeth Cairnes Poe, though sickly and bedridden,<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|60}} outlived her grandson and died on July 7, 1835.<ref>Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1941: pg. 218; {{ISBN|0-8018-5730-9}}</ref>
Henry kept in touch with his younger brother Edgar sporadically as they grew up, often through letters but once he even visited Edgar in Richmond in the 1820s.<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|61}} There, Edgar introduced his brother to his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|30}} Edgar's foster-father John Allan also corresponded with Henry. In one letter, dated November 1, 1824, Allan apologized that Edgar was slow in writing a letter to Henry, complaining that his foster-son "had little else to do, for he does nothing... The boy possesses not a Spark of affection for us, not a particle of gratitude for all my care and kindness towards him."<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|19–20}}
Before the age of twenty, Henry served in South America and elsewhere on board the USS ''Macedonian''.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|37}} As a crewman aboard the ''Macedonian'', a frigate, he also visited the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and Russia. In 1827, he returned to Baltimore to live with his grandmother, his aunt Maria Clemm, and his two cousins Henry Clemm and Virginia Clemm.<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|193}} Around this time, Henry was described as a "slim, feeble, young man with dark inexpressive eyes" who possessed a "singular personal beauty".<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|82–83}}
===Writings=== In Baltimore, while working at a law office, Henry developed his interest in writing. He wrote verse inspired by Lord Byron into the albums of local young women and gave recitations.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|83}} The May 19, 1827 issue of Baltimore's ''North American, or, Weekly Journal of Politics, Science, and Literature'' published Henry's "Dreams", a poem which laments the difference between the dream world and reality.<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|73}} The October 27 issue of the same periodical published Henry's short story "The Pirate", a fictionalization of his brother's love affair with Royster.<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|193}} The main character was named Edgar Leonard, a combination of the names of the two brothers, who pursues a woman named Rosalie, a name borrowed from their sister. The Edgar Leonard character says: "I lost my parents at an early age... and was left to the care of a relation."<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|84}}
One of Henry's poems, titled "Original", was virtually identical to one of Edgar's early poems published in ''Tamerlane and Other Poems'', now known as "The Happiest Day, The Happiest Hour".<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|84}} It is likely that this poem and another called "Dreams" were Edgar's and incorrectly credited to Henry.<ref name=Poe52>Poe, Harry Lee. ''Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories''. New York: Metro Books, 2008: pg. 52; {{ISBN|978-1-4351-0469-3}}</ref> Edgar wrote "The Happiest Day, The Happiest Hour" while he was serving in the Army. He sent the poem to Henry, who had it published in the September 15, 1827, issue of the ''North American'',<ref name="A to Z" />{{rp|103–104}} which included Henry's name.
Another poem published by Henry was "Lines on a Pocket Book", in which he considers John Allan's accusations that younger sister Rosalie Poe was illegitimate.<ref name=Poe52/> Henry's poems generally have themes of melancholy, despair, and feature women who die and abandon their loved ones who dream of their reunion. Many are so similar to Poe's early work that they may have been collaborative efforts.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|85}} His writing career ended in 1827 when the ''North American Review'' ceased publication.<ref name=Poe52/>
===Death=== [[File:DavidPoeMarker.jpg|thumb|This stone marks the Poe family plot at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, where David Poe, Sr. and William Henry Leonard Poe are buried.]] Henry, who was a heavy drinker and may have been an alcoholic,<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|125}} died of tuberculosis on August 1, 1831,<ref name="His Life and Legacy" />{{rp|61}} in Baltimore, likely in the same room or even the same bed which he shared with his brother Edgar.<ref name="Two verse masterworks">Kopley, Richard; Hayes, Kevin J. "Two verse masterworks: 'The Raven' and 'Ulalume'", ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002; {{ISBN|0-521-79727-6}}</ref>{{rp|195}} He was twenty-four.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|85}} Henry was buried at what is now Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, where his brother would be buried several years later.<ref>"[http://www.eapoe.org/balt/poebalt.htm Poe in Baltimore]", Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Accessed May 24, 2008.</ref> Henry's obituary misspelled his name as "W. H. Hope".<ref>Allen, Hervey. ''Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe''. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1934: pg. 260</ref>
==Influence== Edgar Allan Poe was very close to his brother, as he wrote: "there can be no tie more strong than that of brother for brother — it is not so much that they love one another as that they both love the same parent."<ref name="Two verse masterworks" />{{rp|194}}
Edgar occasionally used the alias "Henri Le Rennet", a French version of his older brother's name. He was also inspired by his brother Henry's travels, often incorporating some of his stories from overseas into tellings of his own life story.<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|37}} The character of August Barnard in Edgar's novel, ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'' (1838), seems to be inspired by Henry, especially in his travels across the sea and his drinking.<ref name="Mournful">Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991; {{ISBN|0-06-092331-8}}</ref>{{rp|135}} Poe may have also transformed his brother's name into the title character in his poem "Lenore".<ref name="Mournful" />{{rp|202-203}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Further reading== *Allen, Hervey and Mabbott, Thomas Ollive. ''Poe's Brother''. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1926. *Brenner, Rica. ''12 American Poets Before 1900''. Freeport: Harcourt, 1933. *Thomas, Dwight. and Jackson, David K. ''The Poe Log''. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co, 1987. *Wood, Clement. ''The Poets of America''. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1925.
==External links== * [http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poegnlgy.htm Poe's Family Tree] at the [http://www.eapoe.org Edgar Allan Poe Society] * Timoney, Janel. [http://www.usna.edu/EnglishDept/poeperplex/whlpoep.htm "William Henry Leonard Poe."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413221718/http://www.usna.edu/EnglishDept/poeperplex/whlpoep.htm |date=April 13, 2008 }}
{{Edgar Allan Poe}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poe, Henry}} Category:19th-century American poets Category:American male poets Category:1807 births Category:1831 deaths Category:Burials at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground Henry Category:Sailors from Massachusetts Category:Poets from Boston Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Maryland Category:19th-century American male writers