Spotlight on Baltimore writers: a city rich in literature

Maryland Day celebrates the day settlers landed in the new world at what is now St. Mary's County, Md., on March 25, 1634.

The holiday is a time for people to recognize the state in which they live and what is has to offer the public. Maryland not only offers the Chesapeake Bay, crabs, and Baltimore and Annapolis, but the state is also rich in history. The annual Maryland Day is a great way to learn something about the history of the state.

Maryland is home to many literary legends of our time and time passed. A few of these are Edgar Allan Poe, H.L. Mencken, and Tom Clancy.

Whether you celebrate Maryland Day by heading to Annapolis, Fells Point, or even York Road the holiday is a time for citizens to explore the history and appreciate what the state has to offer.

Edgar Allan Poe did not move to Baltimore until 1833. He lived in a small row house that still stands at 203 Amity Street. Poe spent his time in Baltimore writing short stories to support himself.

A delirious Edgar Allan Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore on October 3, 1849 and taken to Washington College Hospital, where he died on October 7. Though the cause of Poe's death was never found, partly due to the fact that he was not coherent enough to explain how he had come to the strange mental state and disheveled clothes he was found in, doctors are convinced that his death was due to alcoholism.

Because of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, most of the city's Poe-related sites have been lost. However, there are a few options if you are interested in taking a look at the celebrated writer's past. The Baltimore Poe House and Museum, which was his actual home at 203 Amity Street, provides many videos, stories, and objects all relating to Poe, and his works. Another site is Poe's grave at Fayette and Greene Streets, where tourists can pay their respects to the writer and learn about the famous "Poe Toaster."

The "Poe Toaster" is an anonymous individual, who since 1949, on the anniversary of Poe's birth, comes to the cemetery to pay his respects and leave a bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe's grave. Though the significance of the cognac is uncertain, many of the bottles from past years are on display at the Poe House and Museum. It is not certain, but the three roses are believed to represent Poe, his mother-in-law Maria Clemm, and his wife Virginia. The three individuals' remains are found beneath the monument.

H.L. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore" was a great American critic, author, and newspaper man. Mencken grew up in the German section of Baltimore, where his father was a cigar maker and eventually ran his own tobacco firm. Mencken passed on the opportunity to move to New York and lived in Baltimore all his life. He is quoted as referring to New York as "a third-rate Babylon" and calling Baltimore "the immense protein factory of the Chesapeake Bay."

Mencken attended the nearby Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. "Happy Days," his biography up to his twelfth year, is an account of a bourgeois childhood in Baltimore. At age eight, Mencken was given a small press as a Christmas present. Due to trouble Mencken had when learning how to set the lowercase r's he decided to use "H.L. Mencken" instead of the full "Henry L. Mencken."

The Christmas gift gave Mencken a thirst for the press and he became a newspaper man. After much persistence he received a job at the old Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899, and later at The Baltimore Sun in 1906.

Mencken had a special passion for the Pratt Library and spent much of his time there, and eventually was where he left most of his collection of works. The large collection is stored in a special room on the third floor. The room is open to the public only once a year on Mencken's birthday in September.

A more recent author associated with Baltimore is Tom Clancy. Tom Clancy was born and raised in Baltimore. He attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson and studied English Literature at our own Loyola College, graduating with the class of 1969. He explained in a message to the Usenet Newstroup (alt.books.tom-clancy), that he studied English because "I wasn't smart enough to do physics."

Tom Clancy not only shared a love for English and literature but also for sports. In 1988 he made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Minnesota Vikings. However, he is currently the Vice Chairman of Community Projects & Public Affairs for the Baltimore Orioles.

Clancy's most recent novel was "The Teeth of the Tiger," which was published in 2003. If you enjoy reading military science, Cold War, and technically detailed works, Tom Clancy is an author you should look into.