Thus ended all

In 1831, some 8 years before dear Edgar put pen to paper to scribe this tale, Reverend William Miller predicted the world would end with the second coming of Christ within thirteen years, and thus founded his own religious movement Millerism. As the date of what he termed ‘The Second Advent’ approached his movement grew from a small obscure movement in the early 1830’s to becomes a large national movement of up to half a million people. While Miller himself refused to nail down the actual date most became convinced its would be mid April 1844.

Eventually, if you will forgive the spoiler, the world did not end on the 18th of April 1844. This anticlimactic end to Millerism was pronounced to be, and is remembered today as, ‘The Great Disappointment’. Christ failed to show up, the world did not end, and so many Millerites simply wondered off and rejoined their former churches.

Some of course believed the prophecy was valid and that Miller just had the incorrect date, splintered off and formed two distinct new churches, ‘The Advent Christian Church’ and perhaps more well known ‘the Jehovah’s Witnesses’. Others believed the second advent had occurred and Christ walked among us, forming a short lived group called ‘Holy Flesh’ before joining a splitter sect of the Quakers, called ‘the Shakers’. While a further group chose to believe that the date and prophecy were correct but just not about the second coming and they formed the Seventh-day Adventists which is now the largest single post-miller church with over 15 million members. adding in the Jehovah’s Witnesses at around 9 million and the other smaller groups there are around 25 million members of post-Millerism churches still following aspects of William Millers teachings despite ‘The Great Disappointment’ of 1844.

If nothing else, this speaks of the resilience of religion and the legacy of Reverend William Miller, but what you may be thinking, does this have to do with our Dear Edgar, a somewhat lapsed Episcopalian (Anglican protestant). In short he saw an opportunity to cash in on the end of the world hysteria and so wrote a story set after it had occurred. Which brings us, somewhat convolutedly to ‘The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion’.

Eiros and Charmion, who adopt these names after the end of the world. Who they were before is dismissed as unimportant, these are there new names in the afterlife. Charmion passed into the beyond some ten years before the end of the world, asks Eiros to tell him of it. After some initial conversation which could best be described as waffling on somewhat inanely, Erios tell Charmion how the world ended.

This final part is the story itself, though calling it a story is a stretch. It is more of a monologue that tells us of a comet that crashes into the earth , engulfing it in flames. The idea of a comet goes back to Millerism as there was a comet predicted to cross earths orbit in April of 1844 and wide, if somewhat wild, speculation that this would be the form the end of the world would take. So for this tale Poe tried to envision how this would take place. Which is more or less it, there is not twist at the end, no surprise to come, no real revelation.

There was this comet, it hit the earth, everyone died in a fire storm, why are you calling me Eiros again?

That latter is never explained, Charmion has taken the name Charmion after he passed over and gives Erios his new name when he does. there is little else to this, and while it was successful enough when Poe wrote it, successful enough to be translated into French at least. Much of that success was down to the renowned of Millerism and the general ‘the end of the world is coming’ vibe of the times. This is not to say it doesn’t have value now, it just isn’t exactly what anyone might call riveting. At best its an intriguing bit of fluff, but more for the history that inspired it than the tale itself.

A LONE RAVEN

SHOULD YOU READ IT: I don’t recommend it, but don’t let that stop you

Bluffers fact: Poe came up with the names Eiros and Charmion based on Iras and Charmion a pair of servants and advisors to Cleopatra that feature in Shakespeare ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’ They are quite probably acctual historica figures as Shakespear likely came across the names in Plutarch 2nd century biography of Mark Anthony.

Erios and Charmion are notably absent from the clearly superior work ‘Carry On Cleo’ I mention this for no reason but it is a good excuse to put up this picture of Amanda Barrie in a bath of asses milk, because I am a child of the 1970’s and its Amanda Barrie…