My sensitive temperament could not stand an excitement which was an every-day matter to my companions.'" (Asselineau, 411-12)At this point in his life Poe committed one of the most controversial acts of his lifetime. He brought Aunt Clemm, who had befriended him when he was most vulnerable, and her young daughter (his cousin) Virginia to live with him in Richmond. In May of 1836, he married young Virginia, whom he boldly declared to be "of the full age of twenty-one years" even though she was not yet fourteen, and very immature-looking (Asselineau, 412). Poe was no pedophile, though he could easily be construed as such. In all likelihood, the marriage was never consummated, and he treated his bride more like a sister than a spouse. He kept his Aunt Clemm, whom he affectionately referred to as "dear Muddy," on as both mother-in-law and devoted housekeeper.During this period of his life, Poe wrote with a fervor. "He wrote stories, many forceful and slashing reviews in the manner of the Edinburgh reviewers, waging war on mediocrity, trying to enforce high literary standards, attacking the ‘heresy of the didactic,' and denouncing plagiarism even where there was none." (Asselineau, 412). On the employment front, he went through several editorship positions at literary periodicals throughout the eastern U.S., producing fiction all the while. He wrote several stories for circulation in these various periodicals, notable among them being The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Prymm, and "The Fall of the House of Usher." He also found a publisher for a collection of his stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, which was well-received by critics but did not fare well in the open market. After dismissal from Graham's Magazine, Poe found it difficult to place his stories. He sold some of his best work ("The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Black Cat") for paltry sums to second-rate literary magazines. At this point he real...
