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Edgar Allan Poe And American Romanticism

Decent Essays

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most famous writers of the period known as American Romanticism. Prior to his writing, Poe dealt with a world of hurt and troubles. These difficulties Edgar Allan Poe faced when he was very young contributed to the dark nature of his stories and poems. When looking at the events that happened in Edgar Allan Poe’s life one can understand why he wrote in the style he did. Edgar Allan Poe dealt with death quite frequently in his early life. Both of his biological parents died when he was only two years old, “Both parents were tubercular, and died in the same year, 1811, in Richmond”(American Authors). Tuberculosis was a very common way to die in the early eighteen hundreds. Even though Edgar Allan Poe’s life had already gotten off to a traumatic start, it would not be getting any easier. After his parents died, him and his three siblings were separated and he was adopted by John Allan’s family (American Authors). Poe’s life seemed to be going well until he started attending the University of Virginia. There he got into some bad habits with his peers. “(Poe) did a certain amount of drinking, gambling, and running-up of tradesmen's debts” (American Authors). His adopted father found out about these activities and disowned him. Poe had a really hard time dealing with this, so he ran away and enlisted in a private army in Boston (American Authors). Shortly after enlisting, Edgar’s mother died and things continued to spiral downwards.

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