 | |
| Editor | Richard Beale Davis |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Holley Chivers |
| Subject | Edgar Allan Poe |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton and Company |
Publication date | February 28, 1952 |
| Pages | 127 |
| OCLC | 220128818 |
Chivers' Life of Poe is a biography concerning the American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe as written by his friend and fellow poet Thomas Holley Chivers. The majority of the work remained in manuscript form as the "New Life of Edgar Allan Poe" until 1952, when it was edited and published by the American academic Richard Beale Davis.
Following the wave of criticism from Rufus Wilmot Griswold that followed Poe's death, Chivers began writing a biography aimed at defending the deceased poet's legacy. While he finished it during the 1850s, it remained unpublished until excerpts were published by George Edward Woodberry in 1903. Another five decades passed before the manuscripts for Chivers's "New Life of Edgar Allan Poe" were arranged and published by Richard Beale Davis in 1952 as Chivers' Life of Poe.
Critics praised Richard Beale Davis's abilities in editing the Chivers manuscript, but disagreed on whether the general reader would find his notes to be a help or a hindrance. Several reviewers said that the biography was factually inaccurate and was untrustworthy when talking about Poe. It was suggested that the book was a good way to understand the views of Poe's contemporaries.