Edgar Allan Poe: Gothic Writer Of The Romantic Literary Era

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts to David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Poe. Both of Poe’s parents were traveling actors, Elizabeth more successful, yet they were extremely poor. Poe’s birth put his family in even more of a financial bind, having an awful emotional effect on the parents. Dejectedly, David abandoned his family in 1811, leaving Elizabeth to care for three young children on her own. Poe had an older brother, William Henry, and younger sister, Rosalie, whom he was separated from after their mother died in 1812. As a result of becoming an orphan, Poe was taken in by wealthy theatergoers, John and Frances Allan. Because of his toxic relationship with John Allan, the deaths of those dear to him, and

Poe was the prodigious Gothic writer of the Romantic Literary Era because of his unhealthy relationship with John Allan. Despite Allan’s neglectfulness and emotional detachment from Poe, Allan ensured Poe received a liberal education, only as a promise to Poe’s grandfather. However, just because Allan cared about Poe’s education did not mean he cared about Poe as a person. Jeffrey Meyers, the author of Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, comments that “Allan, a poor disciplinarian, confused the child by alternately spoiling and scolding him” (Meyers 9). Poe was given a fine education and was materialistically fortunate, yet Allan constantly threatened to withdraw Poe from school. Allan never formally adopted Poe, nor did he feel for Poe the same way Frances did. Consequently, Allan hardly ever got along with Poe, mostly because of how envious he was of Poe’s education and writing skills. Allan preferred Poe got involved with the family business and Poe opposed. As Poe grew older and excelled in school, so did the tension between him and Allan. In 1826, Poe left to attend the University of Virginia with minimal funds, due to Allan’s stinginess. Poe contacted Allan for money on multiple occasions and

Alcohol played a major role in Poe’s life, mainly as a coping mechanism, which brought on an abundance of trouble for Poe. As a baby, Poe was exposed to “gin and other spirituous liquors”, described by Susan Archer Weiss, author of “The Sister of Edgar A. Poe”. Alcohol had always been a factor in Poe’s life, beginning at infancy, continuing throughout his childhood with dinner guests, and again at the age of seventeen. While attending the University of Virginia, Poe tried keeping up with wealthier classmates, indulging in their unhealthy fixations of drinking and gambling. Charles Baudelaire, a drinking comrade of Poe, revealed that “[Poe] did not drink like an ordinary toper, but like a savage, with an altogether American energy and fear of wasting a minute, as though he were accomplishing an act of murder, as though there was something inside him that he had to kill” (Meyers 25). In accordance to Poe’s debts worsening, he increased his consumption of alcohol, trying to get drunk as quickly as possible to forget about any of his problems. Furthermore, while living with Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, Poe came home intoxicated and almost jeopardized his marriage to Virginia. In the midst of living with his relatives, Poe had a somewhat difficult time finding work and to some employers, he had “the typical denial of a heavy drinker” (Silverman 132). These circumstances momentarily