Edgar Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts; He was orphaned as a child
and raised by John Allan, a successful businessman of Richmond, Virginia. The
Allan Family took Poe to England and placed him in a private school. When he
returned to the United States in 1820, he continued to go to private schools. He
attended the University of Virginia for a year, but in 1827 his foster father
refused to pay for his debts because of Poe’s Drinking and gambling problems.

Poe, disliking his new Job greatly quit, and went to Boston. In Boston he wrote
his first book, he published Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), anonymously.

Shortly afterward Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army and served a two-year term. In
1829 his second volume of verse, Al Aaraaf, was published, and he effected a
reconciliation with Allan, who secured him an appointment to the U.S. Military
Academy. After only a few months at the academy Poe was dismissed for neglect of
duty, and his foster father disowned him permanently. Poe’s third book, Poems,
appeared in 1831, and he moved the following year. While in Baltimore he lived
with his aunt and her 11-year-old daughter, Virginia Clemm. The year following
his arrival to Baltimore his tale “A MS. Found in a Bottle” won a
contest. sponsored by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor. From 1835 to 1837 Poe was
an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. In 1836 he married his young
cousin. During the following decade Poe worked as an editor for various
periodicals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in New York City. In 1847
Virginia died and Poe became ill; his terrible addiction to liquor and his
suspected use of drugs, recorded by contemporaries, may have contributed to his
early death. Poe’s Work- In the course of his editorial work, Poe functioned
largely as a book reviewer and produced a significant body of criticism; his
essays were famous for their sarcasm, and wit. His Novels have lasted through
different time periods and still remain popular. Poe’s theories on the nature of
fiction and, in particular, his writings on the short story have had a lasting
influence on American and European writers. Poe was not only an author, but he
was a poet and he wrote many essays. I have read few of his books but I have
liked both of them. The Tell Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum Both were
great stories. One of Poe’s more famous poems is The Raven. Many of Poe’s
writings reflected his life. Men were often the “bad guys” in Poe
literature. Death played a major part in many of Poe’s writings, as well. Many
factors contributed to the way Poe wrote. Poe has had a very difficult life,
different from many of the others in his time period. Poe’s difficulties started
early, when his natural father abandoned him. He was then put with a foster
family. Poe’s foster father was very harsh and dictated his life at times. His
foster father later abandoned him. Poe tried to not be like most men. He tried
to be loving and caring, as he was raised this way. Yet, Poe was always trying
to not be like other men because he hated them so much. These actions might have
contributed to why Poe always made men look bad in his writings. Other men
laughed at Poe. In Poe’s writings, men were always doing something to another
object. These objects represented Poe at some point in his life. For example,
the cat in “Black Cat” was treated unfairly by the man in the story.

All the women in Poe’s life seemed to die. Many died of Tuberculosis. Those that
didn’t die of TB still seemed to die. These deaths played a major effect on
Poe’s writing style. Nearly every short story Poe wrote was about death.Poe
literature has more symbolism to it then it may appear at first. There are
frequent schemes that seem to run through out all of his writings. How you
interpret them is up to you. Generally you can see his obsession with death as
well as his hatred toward men.