 Another source of animosity between the two men was their competition for the attention of the poet Frances Sargent Osgood in the mid to late 1840s . While both she and Poe were still married to their respective spouses , the two carried on a public flirtation that resulted in much gossip among the literati . Griswold , who was smitten with Osgood , escorted her to literary salons and became her staunchest defender . " She is in all things the most admirable woman I ever knew " , he wrote to publisher James T. Fields in 1848 . Osgood responded by dedicating a collection of her poetry to Griswold , " as a souvenir of admiration for his genius , of regard for his generous character , and of gratitude for his valuable literary counsels " . 
