Title page of our book...      “…within a ten minute walk of Fairlie Mains, and the Fairlie Estate, of the Dundonald Parish in which our subjects originated, is the centuries-old Earl of Cunningham's estate castle of Ravenscraig, five hundred yards away, "as the crow flies."[1]                            The Mystery of “Mar’se Eddie” in the Shire,                      A Biography of Edgar Allan Poe’s Scottish Connections                                                            By                                      ROBERT DENSMORE BRILL,                                                           With                                      Grace Kimiye Kenmotsu-Kawahara [1]   We would come to see this place-name often.  Our friend, Ms. Irene McCart, formerly of Saltcoats, but now of Willich, Germany, whom we met during our October 7th, 1999 visit at Saltcoats, informed us that the golf course in Irvine is called Ravenspark.  However, far more fascinating is the research done for us by Mr. James, of the Irvine Maritime Museum, who found that John Allan's cousin, Alexander Allan's home, in Ayrshire, that we saw on the map of Cunningham, was called Ravenscraig; from Andrew Boyle, AYRSHIRE Heritage, "Captain Sandy & the Allan Shipping Line," 8.  Moreover, his son, Hugh, Poe's cousin, named his own mansion in Canada Ravenscraig.  Given that Poe and Hugh were same-age cousins, one in Ontario, the other in New York, it is impossible to imagine that each was not aware of the other.  The economic and social standing of each would be an intractable barrier to maintaining any knowledge or recognition of one with, and to, the other.  Moreover, there is a complete index in the book of local history, Allan Fowlds and other Fenwick Worthies, in the possession of Mr. Frank Beattie, but of which book's existence we were first told by Mr. James Gracie, has a two-page index of places namedRavenscraig.  See Strawhorn p. 119.  The author purchased this original etching at Bath, Somerset, England.  Also, consult Wikipedia, for more information of this castle, and the other estates named Ravenscraig.  From Chapter 5 of our "Kilmarnock Survey," pp 78-9, of, The Mystery of "Mar'se Eddie" in the Shire, Edgar Allan Poe's Scottish Connections, above, I provide the following two pages, as an adjunct to Billy Kerr's (aka: Stinan) "Irvine Kirkyard Tour." The Allan Family headstone did not copy here, but can be seen in the Tour, and elsewhere in our site:       "We turn now to informing the reader of The Dick Institute. It is a repository of The Kilmarnock Standard'sissues containing very important facts about the question, the overall subject, and Poe in Kilmarnock. Moreover, there is far more that is not published, but available, about Poe when one visits Ayrshire. Of very great importance is Mr. James Gracie's article, published in The Scotts Magazine, 1992.      This publication is well known in Scotland, but who in the United States has read it? Moreover, Mr. Gracie's article about "Poe's Scot's Connection," would not even be indexed in any of the scholarship of or about Poe. From that article, fortunately, we learned that Eddy was made by his Head Master, of the Irvine Academy, to walk amongst the gravestones of the Kirk, and copy the epitaphs of those who have died. Although several biographers, including Allen, have recorded the fact, the incident was lost under the weight of all the other facts of Poe's life.   Of the three or four kirks in Irvine was the cemetary he walked?  We found which, of the four churches in Kilmarnock, he attended with Allan's family.       However, from old issues of The Kilmarnock Standard, now in archives at The Dick Institute only, in the Reserve Section, Mrs. Geddes gave us such facsimiles as she thought relevant. We did not take time to examine, nor scrutinize under a magnifying glass all the articles of Poe's presence and relevance in the shire that Mrs. Geddes thought relevant, until our return to California. For purposes of the reader's benefit, however, we append the transcribed renderings of the facsimiles of those editions given us by Mrs. Giddes.      From these, however, we think Mr. Hervey Allen, wonderfully kind to Edgar Allan Poe as he was, plagiarized from the same sources as some of these articles? Allan did not provide citations for facts taken from these newspapers.  On the other hand, sometimes giving another researcher or writer credit for something of interest or relevant in one's own writing is not always practicable, as we often omit to do here. Moreover, we would later learn that Quinn, Silverman, and almost all of the other biographers who have commented upon any issue, have failed in the same way. Silverman's biography, for example, reads like a paraphrase of Allen's work.       For the reader who cannot travel to our sources, we must include as much from the originals as possible, without violating profusely, copyright law meant to return the income to each writer's intellectual property--his research--some measure of payment. Nevertheless, were this book meant to be a scholarly piece of literature, or the barrister's legal brief on points and authorities for the Court's Law and Motion Calendar, certainly every source would be properly cited. Often it is more important to simply have the facts provided. However, still other biographers simply ignored these research materials of Poe's life, as a period not worth inquiry, as we have quoted Quinn, of Harvard!       Nevertheless, we learned from these old issues of newspapers, for example, that John Allan also required the same exercise of Eddie in Kilmarnock! We learned later that as Allan had attended the Irvine Academy in his early years, and from where he learned this exclusive Scots' education practice, he would transfer the technique to his son as well. Those "exercises" would later express themselves in Poe's writing, yet their origins go unknown and unreported. Allen has told his readers, "After a day spent in piling up horrors and cannibal feasting in the chapters of A. Gordon Pym, one can easily imagine him going on a walk with the pallginia amid the graves of old St. John's [church-yard graves in Richmond, Virginia]. There was, to him, an inevitable attraction in such places. [Poe's] mind must have traveled back frequently to Shockoe Cemetery[Richmond, Virginia], or to the ancient epitaphs copied over and over upon the slates of the schoolboy at Irvine. There, on the graves of the Allan relatives, a carven ship bellied its stone sails to an eternal breeze from the realms of nowhere."      Years after we wrote the above quote from Allen, a local historian of Irvine, Billy Kerr, sent us several photographs that he had taken, as well as the Church records out of which John Allan certainly had access. One photograph is of the headstone below, as well as of many others, as well as the factual data in which they are indexed, relevant to the Allan Family, and Edgar Allan Poe’s connection with them. Irvine Cemetery headstone with "carvan sales," from Allen Irvine Registry of Buried. Notice [the] name of Poe. These reminiscences of Irvine and Kilmarnock must have created such tension in a mind and body already taut as a harp's string that he had to learn to express them in some objective fashion.      He developed, therefore, a genre of hieroglyphs that were metaphors raised to the highest level of cryptography. At the time such genre was his alone. We believe that Poe was not traveling "back frequently to Shockoe Cemetery," but rather to those at Irvine, Kilmarnock, and Saltcoats. And we agree completely with Allen's assessment that, "the ancient epitaphs copied over and over upon the slates of the schoolboy at Irvine." But where did he learn about "the graves of the Allan relatives, a carven ship bellied its stone sails to an eternal breeze," which so captures the death at sea of not only Allans, but Galts, and probably some Poes in Ayrshire shipping as well?      Allen then states that, "Amid Poe's various orchestral fugues and lyric songs composed upon the theme of fear, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym may be regarded as a somewhat fumbling prelude to the masterpieces which were to follow. So many others have stated that this was his finest work of prose fiction. But we need to bring the reader forward to the clairvoyant Poe, about whom our correspondent in Ayrshire, Frank Beattie, provides the following factual event from that story:...." Unfortunately, our footnotes in the book do not transfer to these web pages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Of "The Raven," this brief glimps into what we discuss of our findings: "Our offering of one possibility of the inspiration and source of Poe's mystical tale will be rapidly dismissed by scholars who have long held to other explanations, of which one we particularly like is from Mankowitz: "Poe's unforgettable poem, so melodramatic and over-euphonic, so redolent of the contrived gothicity dear to mid-nineteenth-century taste, yet, in spite of the limitations of its period, so much embodying the sense of doom which may oppress and mortal at any time, a work which had engaged him for two years, was completed here at the Brennan farm.  Poe had conceived the idea in Philadelphia some four years before while reviewing Dickens' Barnaby Rudge, in which a far less sinister raven, based upon Dickens' own pet birds, is to be found.  Lowell recognized the source of Poe's bird: Here comes Poe with his Raven, like Barnaby Rudge, Three fifths of him genius, and two fifths sheer fudge....[1] "Poe had tried at first to make an owl carry his symbolism, but the black bird had ousted it.  As early as 1842 he had shown a draft of the poem to a writer for the New York Mirror.  Work continued through the next year, and his Philadelphia acquaintance Rosneath recorded reading a manuscript copy of it in the winter of 1843-4.  He also remembered the unhappy occasion when the hat was passed around for Poe, and there are several other accounts of Poe reading it to groups through 1844.  Hervey Allen carefully traced the genesis of the poem, demonstrating the long period of incubation Poe required for his poems, and his 'typically slow method of verse composition."[2] "Poe himself wrote about the problems of writing poetry: 'Events not to be controlled have prevented me from making, at any time, any serious effort in what, under happier circumstances, would have been the field of my choice [[3]]   With me, poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence; they must not--they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry commendations, of mankind.'[[4]]    "In the Napoleonic study where he had added his signature to the carving on the fine mantelpiece, Poe finalized his highly theatrical poem.  He might have fairly remarked of it what he had observed of Dickens' bird, that 'its croakings might have been prophetically heard in the course of the drama'.  The Raven in the haunted Gothic study, the wind without, the shadow of the bust of Pallas falling across the scene, is, of itself,mid-nineteenth-century theatricalia; yet it is totally authentic in its symbolism of despair and the profound melancholy of a depressive genius now no more than four years away from insanity.  The unavoidable doom of the poet which is croaked out by the black bird of destiny, that chilling 'Nevermore', is, in a sense, a symbol of the oncoming blackness of the mental confusion which Poe knew lay ahead.[[5]]  The shadow of Pallas spreading over him owed something of its darkness to the deep brown-black tinge of laudanum.[[6]]  The addict in his chamber alone in eternity is only a stage away from being a total egomaniac, as Baudelaire (an addict himself) recognized."[7]  We have quoted the above piece, first with several interrupting editorial entries, indicated with brackets, [ ], and then removed all of them.  The reason was that, rather than disrupt the reader's enjoyment of the foregoing, very informative opinion of a well known biographer of Poe, one could consider our responses outside the quote from Mankowitz' book.  We have elected to make some remarks here.  Nevertheless, the italicized words, in the above quotation are the author's, for the reader's attention.    In that regard, consider the following responses.  First, observe that Mankowitz has taken the identity of the former occupant of Poe's quarters, a Napoleonic officer, and transformed his choice of study into the very motif of the Gothic, which the poem is presumed to represent!    The point is that it was the Napoleonic Officer who had the preceding interest in a Gothic Study, not the subsequent occupant, who merely took advantage of the existing furnishings and motif.  Second, Mankowitz slides in a rather esoteric insulting value-judgment of Poe, as to his "low-class" act of "malicious mischief:" the signature of the carving....  Third, Mankowitz' comment that, "the bust of Pallas falling across the scene, is, of itself, mid-nineteenth-century theatricalia...," another insulting value-judgment of Poe's use of imagery.   Nevertheless, Mankowitz employs the very same "theatricalia," to present his opinions of the man, in an undercutting effort to project the reader's value-judgments of the poetry, for the purpose of supporting the view his work is not worthy of the attention of great literary critics, who regard themselves above Poe.  Mankowitz'  entire paragraph is so laden with bigotry, impertinence, pompousness,  piousness, and pretension that if one where to read Mankowitz as he intended, one should not waste one's time reading the poet about whom he is stating a mere opinion.    However, he does so, not as a contemporary and peer of Edgar Allan Poe, but rather, from the lofty and protected perch of legatee of our ancestors' hardships in making such writers comfortable in their own lives.  Moreover, Mankowitz presumes a God-like importance when he makes such pompous announcements of what Poe "supposes," what "despair" of which he was writing, the connection of "The shadow of Pallas" as it relates to others' reports of Poe's use of laudanum, and so on.  In commenting upon Poe and his frequent theme of the "death of a young, beautiful woman" in his The Philosophy of Composition, the critic offers that, "Poe has elevated it to an aesthetic principle."[8]  Assigning himself such clairvoyance of one's past existence "of the oncoming blackness," to the message, meaning, and symbolism of the poem is Mankowitz' mistaken self-flattery to comment upon Poe's powers: it supposes that Poe did not have in view any happiness or optimism, presently, or in future.  Our view is that either he did not understand what Poe said, or did not take him seriously.  In either case, the views Mankowitz presents in the above quotation could be damaging to less mature students of Poe.  Aside from the need to fully contravene his forced analysis to fit his views, we say only that his passages are outrageous, and miss their mark." Footnotes for this extract of our text follow:  [1]   Mankowitz, Wolf, The Extraordinary Mr Poe, p. 177. [2]   See Allen, pp. 422, et sec. for this reference. [3]   This heroic effort must be compared with that of most poets of the times, both American, such as Lowell, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, as well as "English" (British), such as Byron, Tennyson, and Keats, etc., all of whom had families with wealth which allowed their indulgence in poetry as a vocation. [4]   Mankowitz, p. 177.  Also see p. 356, fn 710, for specific citation of Gordon's statement of Galt's "literary product was a passion." [5]   Here, Mankowitz presumes to tell his reader what Poe knew of the future.  Such extravagant acumen only a God or Jesus Christ, we believe, would have, if either existed!  But the first was a creation of Hebrew imagination,and the second has been dead for two millennia; therefore, neither available for questioning.  Such is the usurpation of the mind typical of religions, as stated by Thoreau, in his Walden Pond.  While Poe had some notions of what, generally, was in "the" future, he never expresses, nor implies, that he was clairvoyant enough to predict the future--and certainly not of events in his own life.  Then, as now, Americans were largely optimistic, not pessimistic, as Mankowitz would have us believe.  Moreover, if Mankowitz is correct, rather than work at a more heightened pace in correcting his past, and preparing for a happier future, Poe would have given up entirely after Virginia (Lenore’s) death. [6]   Unless the writer of that line actually took laudanum, and in the same dose and in the same frequency as Poe, he simply is not qualified to pronounce what may have been spreading over Poe.  Moreover, any suggestion by biographers, or others, who would presume to know the force and effect of laudanum expose their ignorance to make any respectable guess of what effects such medicine may have had on anyone.  Finally, laudanum and opium are very different products of the same plant, American medicine's effort at the time to provide a remedy for many illnesses, and the British's raw plan to subjugate the Chines.  Just as heroin and morphine are products of that same beautiful flower, presently in the news as coming from Afghanistan to finance Islamic terrorists' war efforts.  Again, whether such persons are writing of the effects of any drug upon the mind or literary product of Poe, they are doing so without fear of having actually to be held to answer for their libel, but they completely discredit the merits and worth of anything else they have said as scholars of Poe.  In due course, all of Poe's scandalous commenters will be dead, and Poe will last into eternity.  [7]   P. 177 of Mankowitz; however, our own experience would not allow us to believe the non-addict's indictment of what Poe, or anyone else, was or was not experiencing under the influence of any narcotic.  Our view is that Mankowitz, and others, who make such statements of what Poe was experiencing, either under the influence of narcotic chemicals, or its connection to anything he wrote is unfounded, and purely academic and  moralistic sensationalism, against which the dead cannot defend. [8]   Mankowitz, 54." This excerpt from the chapter, "The Vikings' Legacy at Largs: "Ode to the Raven” is a page, of which 20 others remain. Not yet available... Compare this illustration of the Riccarton Kirk with that in the romanticized version at the beginning of this Survey.  This hamlet is important for the James Poe family who lived there in 1694.  For the Scots, their Sir William Wallace lived there.  Erected after this etching of 1802 is the Riccarton Relief Kirk, visible in the 1815 etching of the Parish of Kilmarnock.  The area is now a fire station, with a small sign of its cultural and historical importance, to Scotland only.  Illustration courtesy of the Kilmarnock High Kirk, and The Dick Institute.