EDGAR ALLAN POE
Many authors have made great contributions to the world of literature. Mark Twain
Introduced Americans to life on the Mississippi. Thomas Hardy wrote on his pessimistic views of
the Victorian Age. Another author that influenced literature is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known as
the father of the American short stories and father of the detective story. To understand the literary
Contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, one must look at his early life, his literary life, and a summary of
two of his famous works.
“Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston” (Inglis 505) “on January 19, 1809” (Asselineau
409). He was born to a southern family that were in a traveling company of actors (Inglis 505).
His father, David Poe, was from a Baltimore family. He was an actor by profession and a heavy
drinker. Soon after Edgar Allan Poe was born, he left his family. Poe’s mother, Elizabeth Arnold
Poe, was a widow at the age of eighteen. Two years after his birth, she died of tuberculosis
(Asselineau 409). When his mother died, Poe was adopted by John Allan (Perry XI) at the urging
of Mr. Allan’s wife. In 1815, John Allan moved his family to England. While there, Poe was sent
to private schools (Asselineau 410).
In the spring of 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. There he studied Spanish,
French, Italian, and Latin. He had an excellent scholastic record. He got into difficulties almost at
once. Mr. Allan did not provide him with the money to pay for his fees and other necessities. Poe
was confused and homesick. He learned to play cards and started drinking. Soon he was in debt
in excess of two thousand dollars. Poe discovered that he could not depend upon Allan for
financial support. His foster father refused to pay his debts, and Poe had to withdraw from the
University (Asselineau 410).
In May of 1827, Poe enlisted in the army as a common soldier. He did this under the
name of Edgar A. Perry. He was stationed on Sullivan’s Island in Charleston Harbor for over a
year. Poe adapted very well to military discipline and quickly rose to the rank of regimental
sergeant major. After a while, he got tired of the same daily routine involved in military life. Poe
wrote regularly to Mr. Allan. He met with Mr. Allan after the death of Mrs. Allan in February of
1829. With Allan’s support, he received his discharge and enlisted in West Point on July 1, l830
(Asselineau 410). While at West Point, Mr. Allan, who had remarried, continued in not providing
Poe with enough money. Poe decided to have himself kicked out of school. Cutting classes and
disregarding orders were his solutions. He was court-martialed for neglect of duties in January,
1831, and left West Point the following month (Asselineau 411).
“Poe was great in three different fields , and in each one he made a reputation that would
give any man a high place in literary history. Poe wrote great short stories, famous not only in his
own country, but all over the world (Robinson V).” “Hawthorne, Irving, Balzac, Bierce, Crane,
Hemingway and other writers have given us memorable short stories; but none has produced so
great a number of famous and unforgettable examples, so many tales that continue, despite
changing standards to be read and reprinted again and again throughout the world (Targ VII).”
“Poe was the father of the modern short story, and the modern detective story (Targ VII).” “With
the possible exception of Guy de Maupassant, no other writer is so universally known and
esteemed for so large of a corpus of excellent tales as in Edgar Allan Poe (Targ VII).”
In 1831, Poe succeeded in publishing a new edition of his poems entitled, Poems. Poe
was now in great difficulty. He went to New York, but could find no job there. Eventually he
took refuge with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Baltimore. There he decided to seek employment and
make his living by writing. Failing to get attention with his poems, he decided to start writing short
stories. Poe competed in a contest for the best short story in 1831. The prize was offered by
Phil-Saturday Courier. Because he did not win the prize, Poe started on an ambitious project. He
decided to plan a series of tales told by members of a literary group. He found no publisher for
his stories, and entered the contest again in June of 1835. This time he sent one poem and six
stories (Asselineau 411). His story, “Ms. Found in a Bottle,” won , and he received one hundred
dollars for it (Targ IX). Through the influence of one of the judges, John P. Kennedy, Poe
became employed as an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, published in Richmond
(Asselineau 411). Under Poe’s editorship, the Messenger ‘s circulation rose from 500 to 3500.
While in Richmond, Poe married his cousin, Virginia, who was not quite fourteen years old. Poe
was fired from the Messenger in January of 1837.
Poe then went to New York, where he was unsuccessful. In the summer of 1838, he
moved to Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, he worked as the editor of both Burton’s
Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine (Asselineau 412). Even though he won a one
hundred dollar prize for “The Gold Bug” (Robinson VI), he moved to New York. Poe found a
job in New York as an assistant editor for the Evening Mirror. This was where “The Raven” first
appeared on January 29, 1845. “The poem immediately caught the imagination of the public and
was reprinted all over the country and even abroad in all kinds of newspapers and magazines, but
Poe pocketed only a few dollars for his poems (Asselineau 413).” The year of 1845 was a lucky
year for Poe. He published a collection of his Tales and an edition of his poems namedThe
Raven and Other Poems . He also became the editor of the weekly Broadway Journal. Poe
broke down when Virginia died in January of 1848 ( Asselineau 413). In 1849, Poe died in
Baltimore (Targ IX). “Instead of really living, he took refuge from the physical world in the private
world of his dreams-in other words-in the world of his tales (Asselineau 413).”
In the “Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses his imagination throughout the story (Rogers
43). A plague has devastated the entire country. It takes only half an hour tofor the course of the
disease to run. At first one feels sharp pains and dizziness. Then one starts bleeding at the pores.
The disease results in death. Prince Prospero has ordered one thousand lords and ladies to the
deep seclusion of one of his abbeys. The building was built by the Prince and is filled with his
exotic ornaments. It is sealed from the outside world by a huge wall with iron gates. Inside the
building are dancers, musicians, and everything they need in order to stay secluded until the plague
runs its course. After six months of seclusion, the Prince decides to hold a masked ball. The ball
is held in a suite with seven rooms. Each room is decorated in a single color. The last room is
decorated in red. Within this room stands a huge clock that strikes the hour with a heavy clang.
The rooms are very crowded for the ball. At the stroke of midnight, a guest is seen in a costume
of the red death itself and This frightens the other guests. The Prince is angered at what he
believes to be a practical joke. He orders the stranger seized and hanged from the battlements.
Prince Prospero follows the stranger into the red chamber. It is there that Prince Prospero falls
dead at the feet of the stranger. The others capture the unknown person in the costume. To their
horror they find there is no living form in the costume. One by one they die until no one else
remains. Death is king of all (Rogers 41).
“The horror abysmal darkness, and absolute helplessness befalling the victims are
described with vivid accuracy in tales such as ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ ‘The Cask of
Amontillado,’ and ‘The Premature Burial’ (Perry XI-XII).” In “The Fall of the House of Usher,”
the narrator visits his insane friend, Roderick Usher. Usher’s house is huge and gloomy (Rogers
20). His twin sister, Madeline, gets sick and dies. The narrator and Usher place her in a tomb in
the basement of Usher’s house. What they do not realize is that she is still barely alive. Usher
keeps on hearing sounds over the next couple of days. The seventh day after Madeline’s death, a
bad storm appears. The narrator and Usher open the door of the narrator’s room and Madeline
falls on Usher . They both die. The narrator then leaves the house. As he rides away, the house
collapses to the floor (Rogers 21).
