Essay On Edgar Allan Poe

Even some of the works that are about love, involve some sort of twisted necromancy, such as in “Annabel Lee.” His focus on death was extreme, as he explored all aspects of it including the act itself, the burial (sometimes premature), and the subsequent mourning thereafter. Much of this likely had to do with the unfortunate and often tragic losses he dealt with throughout his life, and just as many of his characters often face the loss of their sanity, so does it seem to be the case with Poe. Works Cited Piggush, Yvette, Edgar Allen Poe, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,18, 2, 2010. Quinn, Arthur, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 1998.

He did however manage to become the father of the short story, and the first comprehensive detective story author. During his time, his literary works were overlooked or slandered by his many enemies. But now, to this day, Edgar Allan Poe is a household name. His works such as “The Raven” are known to almost everyone for their rhythmic meter and captivating emotions. The tragedies in Edgar Allan Poe’s life left him lovesick and depressed, and compelled him to write about tales of beauty, love, and loss.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…” The words we have all heard at least one. The Raven was Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem, among many other pieces. His writings depict a life of painful order, which reflect him and his experiences very well. In fact, he is most well known for writing morbid stories and gruesome poems. Poe’s disturbing childhood and ongoing life influenced his dark style and promoted his legacy.

He did not have enough money to make ends meet, so he ran up extremely large gambling debts to trying make more money. Then he could not afford to go to school anymore. John Allan refused to pay off Poe's debts, and broke off his engagement to Sarah Elmira Royster. Since Poe had no other means of support, he enlisted in the army. By this time however, he had written and printed his first book, Tammerlane, and Minor Poems (1829).2 After a few months though, John Allan and Poe were reconciled.

Edgar Allan Poe shows his life’s constant despair through his poetry and short story writings. Poe’s life was full of personal disaster, but among them all the death of Virginia Clemm was the most influential and detrimental to Poe. Virginia was believed to have inspired the poem “Annabel Lee” (Bloom 124). Throughout this poem Poe shows his heart for his wife Virginia. He writes of how Virginia lived “with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me” (Poe 112), but through the alias Annabel Lee.

Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. He was the second child of traveling actors Elizabeth and David Poe Jr. When Poe was just a year old, his father abandoned their family and is said to have died soon after. About a year later Poe's mother Elizabeth died from Pulmonary Tuberculosis, leaving poe and his siblings orphans. Poe was separated from his siblings and taken in by a successful tobacco merchant named John Allan and his wife, giving him the name Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe’s unique, fearless and morbid writing style has influenced literature throughout the world. He was once titled the "master of the macabre" (Buranelli, 57). One of the aspects in his life with which he struggled was social isolation. He used this as a topic in a number of poems and short stories. Poe's life was also filled with periods of fear and irrationality.

Most of Edgar Allan Poe’s work is centered on death and tragic events. In some of Poe’s poems and stories there is the tragic death of a young woman, which corresponds to the loss of women in Poe’s life. It can be inferred that he also suffered from some mental illnesses like many of the characters in his stories. Edgar Allan Poe was a great writer; however his life was full of tragedy and despair, which shaped his writing. To being with, Edgar Allan Poe’s life was full of tragic deaths.

Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe's life problems had a profound impact on his various short stories and poems. Poe's problems started seemingly right after birth. His biological father, David Poe, Jr., was an alcoholic and often abused Poe (Encyclopedia Americana, 274-275). Shortly after the age of two, Poe's mother died. He only had memories of her vomiting and being carried away by "sinister men dressed in black", as he put it (American Writers III).

In the end, the depression consumed him and he became suicidal. In November 1848, Edgar Allan Poe attempted suicide by taking the drug laudanum. This marked the end of Poe’s literary golden age during his life. Poe has left an everlasting imprint on the world with his literature that was made brilliant by his different views as a result of his tumultuous life. His mental state is best illustrated by this Edgar Allan Poe quote: “My life seems wasted--the future looks a dreary blank: but I will struggle on and ‘hope against hope’” (Pruette 398).