 After Poe 's death , Griswold prepared an obituary signed with the pseudonym " Ludwig " . First printed in the October 9 , 1849 , issue of the New York Tribune , it was soon republished many times . Here he asserted that " few will be grieved " by Poe 's death as he had few friends . He claimed that Poe often wandered the streets , either in " madness or melancholy " , mumbling and cursing to himself , was easily irritated , was envious of others , and that he " regarded society as composed of villains " . Poe 's drive to succeed , Griswold wrote , was because he sought " the right to despise a world which galled his self @-@ conceit " . Much of this characterization of Poe was copied almost verbatim from that of the fictitious Francis Vivian in The Caxtons by Edward Bulwer @-@ Lytton . 
