Politian (play)

"Politian" (1835) is the only play known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, composed in 1835 but never completed.

Plot summary

The play is written in blank verse and takes place in 16th century Rome. 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.

Inspiration

Poe was dramatizing an 1825 Kentucky murder. Ann Cook of Frankfort, Kentucky gave birth to the child of the state soliciter 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. [cite book | title=Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z | last=Sova | first=Dawn B. | authorlink=Dawn B. Sova | publisher=Checkmark Books | location=New York | edition=Paperback ed. | date=2001 | pages=p. 24 | id=ISBN 081604161X ]

The story, labeled "The Kentucky Tragedy", was also fictionalized by several other writers including William Gilmore Simms and Thomas Holley Chivers. [cite book |last=Whited |first=Stephen R. |title=The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People |editor=Joseph M. Flora and Lucinda Hardwick MacKethan |others=Associate Editor: Todd W. Taylor |publisher=LSU Press |year=2002 |isbn=0807126926 |chapter=Kentucky Tragedy |pages=p. 404–405 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rl5_5u3tiRkC |accessdate=2008-01-24] Poe would later fictionalize another murder story that became a national headline in his short story "The Mystery of Marie Roget". [Nelson, Randy F. "The Almanac of American Letters". Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 183. ISBN 086576008X]

Publication and performance history

Though never completed, Poe released excerpts of his work-in-progress in the December 1835 and January 1836 issues of the "Southern Literary Messenger". The full version available today was first published as part of Poe's collection "The Raven and Other Poems" in 1845.

Poe's friend John Pendleton Kennedy recommended he return to writing poetry and short stories after reading "Politian". [cite book | title=Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z | last=Sova | first=Dawn B. | authorlink=Dawn B. Sova | publisher=Checkmark Books | location=New York | edition=Paperback ed. | date=2001 | pages=p. 197 | id=ISBN 081604161X ]

Plans were made in 1923 to stage a French translation of "Politian" by the Grand Guignol players; while an article about the project was published in the "New York Times", the project was never completed.cite news
url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C17FB3E5416738DDDA80994D9415B838EF1D3&scp=1&sq=poe+politian&st=p
title=A First Night for Edgar Allan Poe: His Only Tragedy Never Before Staged or Published Save In Fragments |publisher=New York Times |last=Brock |first=H.I. |date=1923-11-11 |pages=SM6]

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.cite web
url=http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/theatre/regional_uva.html
title=Regional Theatre in Virginia: University of Virginia Drama
accessdate=2008-03-16]

References

External links

* [http://www.eapoe.org/WorkS/poems/politnd.htm Text of "Scenes From Politian"]