Poe's Fondness of Greece

Edgar Allan Poe's knowledge of Greek and Latin is incontestable. Readers can observe that through a number of works of his in which he frequently attempts to write in these two languages (unsuccessfully so in many instances). Poe's Hellenic education seems to have commenced ever since his teenage years. His University education also demonstrate an inclination to Greek studies. In their seminal Poe Log, Dwight Thomas and David Jackson transport us to Poe's youth. According to them, when the Bostonian writer was 17 years old he began his studies at the University of Virginia. More specifically, they remind us the following:

[1826] 14 FEBRUARY. CHARLOTTESVILLE. Poe is one of five students who matriculate at the University of Virginia on this day. He is 136th on the list of 177 who attend this year. Of the 177, six withdraw, three are suspended, three are dismissed, and three are expelled during the year (Kent, pp. 10-11). Poe pays his fees ($60) for attendance on two professors, George Long, School of Ancient Languages (Greek and Latin), and George Blaettermann, School of Modern Languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish). (Thomas and Jackson, 1987: 67-8)

Later on in his life, Poe demonstrated his philhellenism by lying about having travelled to Greece in order to fight against the Turks who oppresed them. The Poe Log also accounts for Timothy P. Jones' claims of Poe's exaggerating tendencies (Jones was a member of the army who served his country alongside Poe):

On the morning of the 6th [19th] of March [February], when Poe was ready to leave West Point, we were in our room together, and he told me I was one of the few true friends he had ever known, and as we talked the tears rolled down his cheeks . . . . He told me much of his past life, one part of which he said he had confided to no other living soul. This was that while it was generally believed that he had gone to Greece in 1827 to offer his services to assist in putting down the Turkish oppressors, he had done no such thing... (1897: 114) 

Works Cited

Dwight R. Thomas, and David K. Jackson. The Poe Log. A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987. Print.