There was much more to Edgar Allan Poe than the macabre masterpieces he's most known for, said Waltham resident Rob Velella.
Velella, a Poe aficionado, has tried to capture the poet's many dimensions through a daily desk calendar he created in celebration of Poe's 200th birthday, which is Jan. 19.
"Really each date gives the opportunity to tell a story," Velella said. Each of the 365 days of the year are filled with facts of Poe's life - his writings, relationships, travels and correspondence with other authors, such as the letters he sent to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Velella estimated he spent anywhere from 300 to 600 hours putting together the calendar. It was basically a one-man show, as Velella did the design work, the exhaustive research and also published the calendar.
Strangely enough, the calendar was first made available on Oct. 7, the same day as Poe's death, a fact which Velella said was "just a coincidence."
Velella was first drawn to Poe's works when he was a student at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where he majored in English, specializing in 19th century American literature.
While Poe's tales of horror seem to get a lion's share of the attention from the public, Velella said Poe's works also touched on a number of other literature genres - including comedy.
"Horror was really a small part of what he was really writing," Velella said. "His comedies were very funny."
Poe was born on Carver Street in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809, in a lodging house across from the Boston Common. Poe was often disdainful of the city's literary scene and the poet's Beantown heritage has never been touted by the city.
"There's definitely some friction between Poe and the city of Boston," Velella said.
Velella said Poe was a proponent of poetry as "art for art's sake" and that such works didn't need to teach lessons.
As Poe's bicentennial birthday approaches, Boston is one of several cities that's been trying to stake a "claim" to the 19th century writer as being one of its own, Velella said.
"It's fascinating that so many places are trying to find a way to claim Poe," he said.
Velella's calendar can be purchased by visiting the Web site http://edgarallanpoe200.com.
Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.
