February 25 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
As part of the Poe Beyond Baltimore series, Poe Baltimore presents a guest lecture at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Visiting from the United States, Enrica Jang, Executive Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, explores Edgar Allan Poe’s early life, Scottish connections, and the transatlantic forces that shaped his work.
Orphaned at the age of two, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. Their household was shaped as much by commerce and ambition as by culture. John Allan, a Scottish-born merchant, provided Poe with education and opportunity, but the relationship between guardian and child would ultimately fracture. The resulting tension between sensitivity and pragmatism, art and industry, and belonging and exile left a lasting mark on Poe’s life and writing.
Presented in collaboration with POEtic Justice Productions, the lecture places Poe’s upbringing within its original Scottish context, tracing the Allan family’s roots and the broader nineteenth-century world of migration, commerce, and cultural exchange. Like Robert Burns, Poe emerged from uncertain circumstances and wrote with emotional intensity and fierce independence, transforming personal hardship into a lasting literary legacy.
This illustrated lecture is free and open to the public and does not require admission to the Burns Birthplace Museum, though attendees are encouraged to support the museum through a donation or tour if able. The program includes discussion and audience Q&A.
The following day, the series continues in Irvine with a separate, ticketed cemetery walk and performance. Led by Enrica Jang and actor Stephen Duffy, the event invites participants to visit the places discussed in the lecture, offering a chance to experience Poe’s Scottish connections on the ground rather than only in theory. Details for the Irvine event are available here.
Related Events
February 22 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
As part of the Poe Beyond Baltimore series, a guest lecture at the Charles Dickens Museum in London, England. Visiting from the United States, Enrica Jang, Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, presents a talk exploring the brief but intriguing relationship between Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe.
In 1842, Poe sought out Dickens during the novelist’s American tour, hoping for conversation, connection, and perhaps professional support. Though their direct contact was short-lived, it would echo through the rest of Poe’s career. Drawing on surviving correspondence, sharp literary exchanges, and shared frustrations over international copyright, the lecture traces a transatlantic dialogue shaped by admiration, ambition, and creative rivalry.
Jang also examines Poe’s famously perceptive critique of Dickens’s serialized fiction, the possible influence of Dickens’s pet raven, Grip, on Poe’s most iconic poem, and Dickens’s quiet decision to assist Poe’s surviving family years after his death. While Poe’s admiration for Dickens is well documented, Dickens’s view of Poe remains uncertain, leaving behind a literary connection with a wisp of mystery.
This lecture is included with paid admission to the Charles Dickens Museum.
After museum close, continue the conversation with Enrica and actor, Stephen Smith, at Poe & a Pint, a ticketed evening discussion and performance devoted to Edgar Allan Poe, held at a nearby pub within walking distance of the museum in Bloomsbury. Details for the evening event are available here.
Related Events
Cemetery Tour & Talk in Irvine where legend claims a young Edgar Allan Poe learned his letters by tracing names & symbols on gravestones.
Edgar Allan Poe spent part of his childhood in Scotland, after being orphaned at a young age and taken in by John Allan, an Irvine émigré who later returned with the boy for a formative visit. In Irvine, a long-held story claims that young Edgar learned his letters by tracing names and symbols on gravestones. Morbid? Perhaps. But the lessons seem to have stuck.
Join us for an evening in two parts: a chilly tour of Irvine’s Auld Parish Church Cemetery, then the group will head to The Porthead Tavern (upstairs bar) to warm up with a pint & intimate Poe performance by actor Steven Duffy.
On Thursday, February 26th at 6:30PM, local guide, Billy Kerr and Enrica Jang, Executive Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, visiting from Baltimore, Maryland (USA), lead a relaxed twilight walk through Irvine’s historic cemetery. The stones here range from solemn to sly, many marked with moral warnings, stark imagery, and just enough menace to delight a sharp-eyed child with an active imagination. The cemetery is also filled with figures connected, sometimes directly and sometimes by coincidence, to the Allan family and their circle. Bill and Enrica will discuss Edgar Allan Poe’s history with the Allans and where we might see some of the cemetery influence in Poe’s works.
After the walk, we’ll head to the upstairs bar at The Porthead Tavern for a dram and nibbles, topped off with live dramatic reading of Poe stories and letters by actor Steven Duffy. Enrica will share the strange history of Poe’s mysterious death in Baltimore and stay to answer your questions about the master of the macabre.
Hosted in Scotland by Poetic Justice Productions and Poe Baltimore, this evening is part of a wider traveling series of Poe events with The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum as they share plans for the museum’s historic expansion. Guests will hear more at the close of the night about what is stirring next at Poe’s Baltimore home.
NOTE: This is the second of two events in Ayrshire. Enrica Jang and Poetic Justice will also present a free talk on Wednesday at 2:30 PM in the Roberts Room at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, titled Allan vs. Poe.
An evening devoted to the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe with actor Stephen Smith, and Enrica Jang, Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House.
Visiting from Baltimore, MD (USA), Enrica Jang, Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, and London-based actor Stephen Smith lead an evening devoted to the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe.
Together, they explore Poe’s restless life, the many theories surrounding his strange and still-debated death, and the enduring pull of his writing. Stephen Smith’s acclaimed One Man Poe performances, which have captivated audiences worldwide including at the Edinburgh Fringe and The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival, anchor the evening with intimate dramatic readings from Poe’s poetry and prose.
Presented as part of a wider traveling series with Poe Baltimore, this London gathering offers a rare opportunity to spend time in conversation with the Director of Poe’s Baltimore home and to hear what is stirring next there, including plans for the museum’s historic expansion.
Tickets are limited. One drink is included. Each guest will also receive a small gift from the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum in Baltimore.
NOTE: The evening event follows a 2:00 PM talk “The Rudge and the Raven: Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe” at the Charles Dickens Museum. That earlier event is free with paid admission to the museum. Details here.
