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I gave hi, Ari I appreciate that you’re growing older, and I knoe’ll need to consider modifications in your education"

"And in the e live," I said, with emotion that sounded un-characteristic even to me

"And the e live" His voice had a skeptical-sounding inflection that made me look hard at hi at his crisply starched shirt -- deep blue, that day -- with onyx cufflinks securing the precise folds of its cuffs, and recall wishing that, just once, I could find son of disorder

"In any case, what did you ar Allan Poe?"

It was rave fear of acts of passion"

He raised his eyebrows "And you received that impression from which tales?"

"Not so much from the tales," I said "By the way, they’re all overwritten, in rant rationalization, possibly premised on his fear of his own passions"

Yes, we really did talk that way Our dialogues were conducted in precise, forlish -- with lapses on my part only With Kathleen and her fae, and so my lessons

"The essay discusses the composition of ‘The Raven,’" I said, "as if the poem were a mathematical problem Poe maintains that he used a forth, and tone, andBut to me, his claim isn’t credible His ‘forical and reasoned, when in all likelihood he was anything but"

My father was slad to see that the essay provoked your interest to such an extent Based on your reaction to ‘Annabel Lee,’ I’d anticipated so far less" -- here he paused, as he so to think of the most appropriate word; in fact, I think now, the pause was for eed"

I sri like his rare, shy senuine pleasure "For me, Poe will remain a taste to be acquired," I said "Or not"

"Or not" He interlaced his fingers "I agree, of course, that the writing style is florid, even overblown All those italics!" He shook his head "As one of his fellow poets said, Poe was ‘three-fifths genius and two-fifths fudge’"

I smiled (a real smile) at that

My father said, "Nonetheless, his ned to help the reader transcend the fa Poe provides a sort of comfort, I suppose"

He’d never before spoken of literature in such personal terms I leaned forward "Comfort?"

"Well" He seemed at a loss for words "You see" His eyes closed briefly, and while they were shut, he said, "I suppose, one ht say, he describes the way I sometimes feel" He opened his eyes

"Florid?" I said "Overblown?"

He nodded

"If you feel that way, you certainly don’t show it" Part of s?

"I try not to," he said "You know, for all practical purposes Poe was an orphan HisHe was taken in by John Allan’s family, but never formally adopted His life and his work exhibit classic symptoms of a bereaved child: an inability to accept the loss of a parent, a longing for reunion with the dead, a preference for iination over reality

"In short, Poe was one of us"

Our conversation ended abruptly when Mary Ellis Root knocked loudly at the library door My father went outside to confer with her

I felt on fire with so much unexpected information: One of us? My father was a "bereaved child" too?

But I learned no ht upstairs carried him down to the base

I thought of"Annabel Lee," and I recalled Poe’s words in "The Philosophy of Composition": "The death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover"

And I thought of Morella, my mother, and me

Only a short tiun, and I hadn’t seen much of her since that last day at the racetrack School was over for the day, she said, and she needed to see me

We arden I haven’t mentioned that place before, have I? It was an open, six-sided structure with a ser ones at the top of the house Cushioned benches were its only furniture, and Kathleen and I had spentout," as she phrased it Belvedere means "beautiful view," and ours ell na slope covered in vines and overgrown rosebushes, their dark cri the air pink with perfu across one of the benches watching a dragonfly -- a Co but cos slowly pulsed the air -- poised on a cornice, when Kathleen raced in, her hair flying free and her face pink fro one of the thunder-showers that punctuated many late su to catch her breath, then began to laugh "Look…at…you," she said between breaths "Lady…of…leisure"

"And who are you?" I said, sitting up