The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe

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Recommended: Thesis for critical analysis of edgar allan poe

Throughout the life of Edgar Allan Poe, he suffered many unfortunate events and endured several difficult situations. Some speculate that it was these experiences that helped to formulate the famous writing style of Edgar Allan Poe. His dark tales such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" are horrific, and his poems such as "Alone" and "The Raven" show evidence that his life experiences influenced their dreariness. Poe's story plots and his own life are undeniably related and this relationship is intricately defined in many of his works.

Poe lived in poverty all of his life, never seeing enough money from his writings to allow him to live comfortably, and never seeing his writing arrive at the famed status that it has today. Poe drank heavily throughout his life due to all of the downfalls he suffered. In between these drinking binges Poe had spurts of creativity, this is when he wrote his best material (E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore Inc. "Poe, Drugs and Alcohol" 1). Poe's sad and troubled life gave him the material he needed to create stories and poems that would capture his audience. Though Poe lived a hard life and was criticized by many for being evil and demonic, his stories and poems are still with us today as some of the greatest American literature ever published. Edgar Allan Poe's life experiences including the untimely death of his parents, his use of drugs and alcohol, the many other deaths in his life, and his unhealthy relationships with women influenced his tales and poems now famed for being dark and horrific in tone.

Edgar Allan Poe faced his first of many hardships at the young age of 3. Poe was born in 1809 into an impoverished family, son of aspiring actor and actress David and ...

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...the greatest writing that we still read and enjoy today.

WORKS CITED

Davidson, Edward H. POE: A Critical Study. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1957.

Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Inc. "Poe Chronology." Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. 1997. 28 Nov. 2004 www.eapoe.org

Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Inc. "Poe, Drugs and Alcohol." Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. 1997. 28 Nov. 2004 www.eapoe.org.

.Hough, Robert L, ed. Literary Criticism of Edgar Allan Poe. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1965.

Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. San Francisco: PEARSON Longman, 2005.

""We Have Put Her Living in the Tomb!" Edgar Allan Poe's Relationships With Women." 2003. Talulah Whisker. 7 Dec. 2004 http://www.helpfulresearch.com/.

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