Edgar Allan Poe and the Horror Story

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“’Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!’”(Poe). Edgar Allan Poe, a brilliant writer and poet, is well known for his creation of the horror short story and mystery novel. He has written suspenseful short-stories such as “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” where in both stories it has the reader on edge till the very end. For example, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is about the main character taking care of an older man and begins to despise the old man’s bad eye. In the end the main character kills the old man and places his body under the floor boards and ends up turning himself in due to his own insanity and hallucinations. So to understand how Poe was able to write such masterpieces the reader must understand the life he lived and where his inspiration came from. He had a very rough life from losing his parents at a young age to having to drop out of college later in life. Poe also had a drinking problem, which ran in the family. So Poe’s peculiar life gives an insight to why and how he was able to write such intense, horror stories.
In Boston, a young actress by the name of Eliza Poe, gave birth to her second son, Edgar on January 19, 1809. She had a very fulfilling career as an actress, playing nearly 300 parts including Shakespeare’s Juliet (Meyers 2). After her first husband (Charles Hopkins) died for unknown reasons she married David Poe Jr., who was originally raised to find a career in law (3). However, he ended up becoming an actor and joining Eliza’s group. He ended up playing 137 roles (nineteen were Shakespearean), many of which was the romantic hero because of his charming looks and features (3). However he could not act and m...

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...er dissever my soul from the soul/ of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (Poe).

Works Cited

Beebe, Annemarie. Inge, M. Thomas. Poemuseum.org. 2013. Edgar Allan Poe Museum. Web.
28 February 2014
Mackowiak, Philip. "Edgar Allan Poe Mystery." University of Maryland Medical Center. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Meyers, Jeffery. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000.
Reprint.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Best Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Kansas: Digireads.com Publishing.
2010. Print
Quinn, Arthur H. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography - GoHastings. GoHastings.com. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014
Robinson, Marilynne. “About Books; Beyond the Pale With Edgar Allan Poe”. New York Times.
New York: New York Times. 1987. About Books. Archives.
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Wagenknecht, Edward. Edgar Allan Poe: The Man behind the Legend. New York: Oxford UP,
1963. Print.

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