“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” (Degas). Art is a device used to encompass all the feelings and passions of an artist and circulate them amongst the population, inspiring people to further follow the example created by the artist. Edgar Allan Poe was able to explore his writing style as well as his feelings through experimenting with different types of genres, at the same time inventing the short story and detective fiction. He exchanged his writings through the Romantic Era, spreading his art through the common masses, while being influenced by other artists of his time. Generations of authors encountered Edgar Allan Poe’s publications and were inspired by him to write their own fiction. Through Edgar Allan Poe’s exchange …show more content…
Poe knew one author he held in especially high regards. “Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron” (Poe’s Life”). Despite his father’s wishes, he admired the works of his youth’s inspiration, Lord George Byron, and aspired to become a writer like him. During his time as a writer, he met a woman named Nancy Richmond, a fellow author. “His idealized and platonic love of her inspired some of his greatest poetry, including ‘For Annie’” (“Poe’s Life”). Nancy Richmond was able to influence Poe’s writings due to his love for her. However, she was not the only woman to impact his publications, Poe has been influenced by many women- many of whom were dead. “One of Poe’s biggest fears was female abandonment. Through either death or estrangement, he lost almost every woman in his life, and his creation of some of the most distinctive female characters in fiction can be seen as attempts to reanimate those lost women” (“The Supernatural Psychology of Edgar Allan Poe”). Poe’s fear of female abandonment was prominently displayed in his writings, shown by the constant female deaths in his works. When his wife, Virginia, passed away “Poe was devastated, and unable to write for months” (“Poe’s Life”). He suffered a mental breakdown due to his wife’s passing, which would later influence his writings. The persistent deaths and estrangements of the women in his life led him to be fascinated with tragedy and horror. “Poe’s emotional constitution and life beset by tragedy fostered that would earn him a place among the greatest of the Romantic and Gothic writers. Broody and prone to fits of melancholy, Poe had a natural predilection for dramatic themes of lost love and tragic illness...Poe’s fascination with the macabre led him to
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the great writers of this world. He created several poems and short stories of a dark and dreary setting. His imagination was incredible. Edgar Allen Poe did not have a normal life. Bad luck and heart ach seemed to follow him until his death. His writing style was very different than other writers' style. His most famous pieces of work will be remembered for many generations to come.
Poe has been one of the most influential American authors of all time. Even 165 years after his death, he is still easily recognized by many people throughout the United States. His work has influenced a myriad of different genres of media. Andrew Taylor, a writer for an online newspaper called The Guardian, wrote: “One reason why he is still so important today is that his stories, in particular, have shown an extraordinary capacity to mutate into other media” (www.theguardian.com). Most...
Edgar Allan Poe was an excellent horror, suspense, and mystery writer of the eighteenth century. His use of literary devices and different literary techniques makes this writer important to American literature. This paper will show how Edgar Allan Poe has made an impact on Society and American literature as well as how Edgar Allan Poe developed the short story. I will also discuss and analyze some of his works and techniques he uses in his short stories and poems.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential writers to date. His thrill filled tales of darkness and death helped people see a different side of romantic literature. Many believe that his isolated life and drinking problem helped influence his works. Poe showed his most prominent life accomplishment and disappointments through his life in his stories. He defined a lot of his life’s parallels through his works.
Some of his writings were much more personal for Poe such as “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Even through both poems, reflect his personal life in some way “The Raven” portrays his own personal experiences. The death of his wife was one of the most influential deaths he had to deal with. Her death led to a period of hard drinking and staying up all hours to watch over her grave, sometimes even sleeping on her grave to be closer to her. During this period of hopelessness led to the writing of “The Raven.” The poem “The Raven” is about a man and his sorrow over the death of Lenore. The raven, which may symbolize the devil, forever hunting him and a living reminder of the death of his wife. In the poem, he shows the world of his pain of having his wife taken away from him and compares death to the raven. This shows us how the raven reminds him of what he suffered after the death of his wife. The Raven” gives us an idea of what Poe was dealing with during this time of depression. Poe knew this direct and individual experience well, unlike his other works. “The Raven” was a more personal experience to Poe because it talked about something that touched him deeply and affected his. “The Raven” was a poem about his own actual life. In this way “The Raven” is a prime example of the true Poe and how his life affected his
Known for his mystery, macabre and detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remembered poets of all time. Usually when people think of him, mind images of premature burials, murders, madmen, and mysterious women who are taken back from pure death like some zombie-like creatures comes to mind. In 1809, Edgar was born the second son out of three, two of which became actors. After the death of his mother and father at the age of three, John and Francis Allan raised him in Virginia. Edgar was sent to the best boarding schools and later on attended the University of Virginia where he was successfully academic. He was forced to leave due to refusement to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, he moved back to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army where his first poems titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems were published.
An American writer and critic who is credited with refining the short story form and inventing the modern detective story, Poe has been denied the full respect due his accomplishments. The details of his life, rife with reports of gambling, drinking, addiction to opiates, and other profligate behavior, combined with his marriage to a 13-year-old cousin, have overshadowed his achievements, which include the publication of more than 350 poems, short stories, and critical reviews and essays, and his influence in creating a uniquely American form of literature, as well as his continuing influence on contemporary literature and
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.
“The scariest monsters are the ones who lurk within our souls” was once said by Edgar Allan Poe. He of all people should know. One would think that Edgar had an extremely twisted mind because of the things he writes and some of the things he did. Most of those choices were some of the smartest but he did have good intentions. So he started to build himself up to become an editor and literary critic but the thing he is most well known for is his poetry about mystery and bloodcurdling stories. Gradually more and more people got sucked into the horror of his writings that erased the line of fiction and reality. Though should he really be held up by such expectations and get the spot in the memories of the public and history?Seeing that he started with good intentions and accomplished his goals to become better; he does in fact deserve to be at high praise by society. Through his life choices to become the famous author we all know today, his writings, and how it affected other people.
Poe was likely influenced by the death of his wife, his gloomy childhood, and Tuberculosis. To begin, Poe may have been influenced by his wife’s death to write “Annabel Lee.” First, Poe loved his wife Virginia very much and they lived a good life. Similarly, the narrator in “Annabel Lee” was in love with Annabel and they were very happy together. In addition, Poe’s wife Virginia died of Tuberculosis at a young age. Likewise, Annabel died at a very young age by “the wind chilling her.” Therefore, the death of Virginia, Poe’s wife, influenced him to write “Annabel Lee.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was born to traveling actors in Boston. He was hit hard with death at a young age as his mother and father both died within two days when Poe was only two years old. The wealthy John Allan and his wife became the legal guardians of young Edgar. When Edgar was fourteen, he met the first woman in his life, Jane Stith Stanard, the inspiration to his poem “To Helen”(1831). However, Mrs. Stanard passed away only a year after Poe first met her. In 1825 Poe became engaged with Elmira Royster. While he was away from her, he would write her many letters; however, Elmira’s parents intercepted the letters. Edgar wondered why she never replied, and when he went back to see her, he found out that she married someone else. This left Poe in a very depressed state. Poe’s relationship with the Allans was never secure, and this became evident when John Allan refused to pay Edgar’s debts at the University of Virginia. Edgar was then kicked out of school. In the next couple of years Poe has to fight through the death of his foster mother and his brother. Then in 1833 he moved in with his Aunt Maria Clemm. John Allan died a year later. He then married his cousin Virginia three years later. Virginia then died in 1842 (Anderson 9-64). 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 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. Both his short stories and poems are littered with themes expressing deeply macabre scenes such as mutilation, gore, and criminal insanity. However, one of his most prominent and well known topics in Poe’s writing deals with the death of beautiful women. This is directly
Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, death was a frequent visitor to those he loved around him. When Poe was only 3 years old, his loving mother died of Tuberculosis. Because Poe’s father left when he was an infant, he was now an orphan and went to live with the Allan’s. His stepmother was very affectionate towards Edgar and was a very prominent figure in his life. However, years later she also died from Tuberculosis, leaving Poe lonely and forlorn. Also, later on, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin 13-year-old Virginia, whom he adored. But, his happiness did not last long, and Virginia also died of Tuberculosis, otherwise known as the Red Death, a few years later. After Virginia’s death, Poe turned to alcohol and became isolated and reckless. Due to Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of those he cared for throughout his life, Poe’s obsession with death is evident in his works of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in which in all three death is used to produce guilt.
He would often channel his dark emotions into his poetry and short stories, and create dark masterpieces. Two poems that Poe created were toward his mother figure and his wife so he could remember them, even after they had passed away. Poe’s literary work, of his poem and short stories are that of a gothic, dark, nature. Another one of his influences is that of his dreams, and ambitions that created “El Dorado” for his ambition/dream to become famous and rich. Influenced by Nancy Richmond by his “idealized and platonic love for her,” gaveway to one of his greatest poetry that he ever created” “For Anna”. One of his greatest critics Rufus Griswold said about him was that he was a “drunken, womanizing madman with no morals and no
Edgar Allan Poe was a man who unfortunately was born into a life full of morbidity and grief. The stories and poems that he created reflect the experience he has with agonizing situations, in which Poe’s dark side developed; his evil reasoning and twisted mentality allowed Poe to develop extremely vivid and enthralling stories and works. Due to not only his family members but also his wifes to passing from tuberculosis, morbidity and grief is present in almost every work that Poe created. From major works such as “the Raven”, “Black Cat”, “Annabel Lee”, and the Tell- Tale Heart, Poe utilized themes such as death, premature burials, body decompositions, mourning, and morbidity to enhance his point an the image he attempted to convey.