What Is Poe's Mood In Letter To John American

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Edgar Allan Poe wrote to John Allan on many occasions. In each letter Poe would use a different point of view, and purpose. Poe’s style and content contributed to the power and persuasiveness of his letters. Poe’s first letter to John was written to try and build the father-son relationship they never really had. Usually Poe didn’t write to John unless he needed money, but he felt that he needed to build this relationship that they never had. In Poe’s second letter Poe is back to his old self. He is asking for John for money again, but he still cares about his relationship with John and doesn’t want to jeopardize it. It is easy to see that Poe doesn’t want to ruin the relationship, because he wrote, “I would rather have done anything on earth …show more content…

The overall mood of the first letter is regret. Poe shows his regret in sentences such as, “I am ready to curse the day I was born,” and, “when I look back upon the past and think of everything.” The second letter’s mood is guilt. Poe writes in the letter, “If you refuse God only knows what I shall do and all my hopes and prospects are ruined forever.” Poe also writes, “I am in bad health, and unable to undergo as much hardships as formerly,” trying to make the reader, John Allan, feel guilty if he don’t send the money Poe is asking for. Poe believes he can make John feel guilty and he will send him the money. In the third letter Poe portrays a pitiful mood. He writes statements such as, “If you knew at this moment how wretched I am you would never forgive yourself for having refused me.” He then writes, “Sickness and misfortune have left me not a shadow of pride. I own that I am miserable and unworthy of your notice, but do not leave me to perish without leaving me still one resource,” and, “I am suffering every extremity of want and misery without ever a chance to escape, or a friend to whom I can look up to for assistance.”Poe wrote in the letters how John will not turn away a beggar, but he won’t give Poe the small sum of money he needs. Poe also states that if John were in his position how he would be generous enough to give him the money he needs and that he should think about how

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