Edgar Allan Poe's Writing

Edgar Allan Poe, the man known as the father of horror stories. His short stories and poems are known to be gloomy, dark, and morbid. Most people are not aware that many of his works are reflections of his own life. Throughout his whole life, Poe experienced numerous tragedies. Many of his hard experiences can be seen in his poems Annabel Lee, Alone, and Israfel.

(2007). The Raven. In E. Barrosse, Ed. Literature READING FICTION, POETRY, and DRAMA (6th ed. pp.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and was found barely conscious two years after his wife death on a Baltimore street in 1949; three days later, he was dead at age forty. Just like the way he live his life and died, many of his stories and poems were a mystery. Two of his most famous works “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Raven” were dark and mysterious fictions with dark characters and mysterious plots. “The Cask of Amontillado” was a story about the dark act of satanic pursuit of revenge, unlike “The Raven”, which invited us into the soul of a grieving man. Both stories were essential and gave meaning to what Poe was going through during those years of his life.

Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood affected his style which led him to write about sadness and heartbreak. Because Poe’s wife had died of tuberculosis, he became very sad and used drugs and alcohol to overcome his loss. What made him even more depressed was the fact that the day before Virginia, Poe’s wife, had passed away, he had written a letter to his aunt saying that there was no sign of her getting better but she’s not dead yet. This event in his life must have given him the idea to include women in his stories. When reading “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” the first thing that came into mind was that this story was weird and obviously sick.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” (“The Raven” 1). “The Raven” arguably one of the most famous poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is a narrative about a depressed man longing for his lost love. Confronted by a talking raven, the man slowly loses his sanity. “The Haunted Palace” a ballad by Poe is a brilliant and skillfully crafted metaphor that compares a palace to a human skull and mind. A palace of opulence slowly turns into a dilapidated ruin.

“Edgar Allen Poe and the Death of Beautiful Women” Edgar Allen Poe was a deeply troubled man. From a young age he struggled with a love life that would slowly tarnish his mind. Poe frequently turned to controlled substances and alcohol to help sooth his pain. Poe’s only true solace from the harsh reality to which he was doomed to live was through his writings. Poe helped developed several major literary genres including American gothic style and the American Detective Story.

People throughout the history often wondered why Poe’s writings are so fantastically diverse and unusual, why his literary style is dark, and why he has so many supernatural connotations in each of his writings. He displays his tragic life, achievements, and mostly his disappointments which occurred over the course of his life in a series of stories and poems. Edgar Allan Poe's works are not only a product of creative genius, but also a reflection of his countless struggles and devastating personal experiences. These occurrences spawn the themes of untimely death, insanity, and revenge that become the focus of his macabre style of writing. Poe's life experiences have a major influence in his writings, including the use of the nature of death and provocative questions about the afterlife.

Poe was introduced to death and betrayal throughout his young life leaving him in a very depressed state, and these traits are present throughout his short stories and poems. Edgar Allan Poe’s life had a lot to do with his madness in his writings. This is present in Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”(1843). “On the night of the day on which this most cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed... ... middle of paper ... ...is writings.

Web. 7 May 2014 Magistrale, Tony. Student Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001. Print.

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