Edgar Allan Poe: How Does An Author's Life Impact Their Writing?

Edgar Allen Poe was bone in Boston on January 19 1809 to David and Elizabeth Poe. He lost his parents at the age of two years and had to be adopted by John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan. John Allan was a very wealthy man but he only gave Edgar a third of his school requirements and this alienated him from Edgar. When Allan’s wife dies Edgar also decides to move out because he could not put up with John Allan. Edgar loved poetry from a tender age. He even wrote verses to girls that he developed feelings for. He could have had his first poetry book published by the age of 14 years but there was no support both from his teachers and his adoptive parents. In the course of his life Edgar became an alcoholic and mentally disturbed and this enhanced his writing skills. He created his characters trough imagination to show mystery and adventure.

Edgar Allen Poe was a very troubled man throughout his life, but all these events affected his writing deeply and uniquely. Poe lost the people near and dear to his heart which of course made him very depressed. Poe was battling alcoholism during the middle years of his life, a hard battle for him to fight in his situation of poverty.

Edgar Allan Poe is a prominent writer who wrote many peculiar and uncanny short stories and poems. One of the stories Poe wrote, “The Tell Tale Heart,” published in 1843, is about a narrator who is paranoid about an old man’s eye, so he decides to eradicate it. Another story by Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado,” published in 1846, is about a narrator who seeks revenge on his friend because, in the past, he was insulted by him. Both stories contain narrators, which are mentally unstable, but the narrator’s traits, their motives for the murder, and how their guilt is exhibited differ.

“The Cat, I remember, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. “ Is a quote from Edgar Allen Poe’s story, The Black Cat. All of the stories/ poems he has written relate to his life in a lot of ways. Examples of such could be love, alcohol, and madness.

Another one of the most famous authors, Edgar Allan Poe, like Richard Connell his background has greatly impacted his writing. January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts Edgar Allan Poe was born to parents with careers with acting, and who unfortunately died when he was three years old. Being raised by John and Frances Allan he was their foster child, at the time they lived in Richmond, Virginia. John was a tobacco exported and Poe was sent to the best boarding schools and then went to the University of Virginia. He academically advanced, but soon was encouraged to leave after one year due to debt. This was because his foster father John, didn’t pay Poe’s debts of gambling (“Edgar Allan Poe”). Poe fell into a great deal of debt and sorrow from

Throughout all of his works, Edgar Allan Poe followed a common theme of love, death, and insanity. His stories and poems were different from anything else published during that time period. The horrors and suspense described in his story led many people to believe Poe must be somewhat insane. However, when taking a look into his mostly tragic life, it is no wonder Poe never wrote happy stories. Depression and grief was almost all Poe was accustomed to, especially after losing the love of his life, his wife Virginia. The intense heartache Poe felt for that loss is evident in several of his works, but in his poem “The Raven”, the reality of that heartache becomes even more powerful.

The symbolic representations of the heart and the raven reveal the hidden theme about the changes and actions people can commit due to guilt or grief. His comparison within his stories expresses events or objects such as the raven or the “Vulture eye” affecting the characters. The emphasis created by parallel episodes creates suspense and drama in his stories and vividly describe the character’s emotions. Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “The Raven” are vastly different in content and messages, but after thorough analysis, it is clear he uses certain literary devices to enrich his stories and improve his fan’s

Edgar Allan Poe is an influential writer known for his eerie stories. One of Poe’s most recognized works, “The Tell Tale Heart,” published in 1843, is about a mentally ill narrator who despises an old man’s eye, so he decides to murder him. Another one of Poe’s works, “The Cask of Amontillado,” published in 1846, is about the unstable narrator, Montresor, who decides to seek revenge by murdering the man who has wronged him. Even though the two narrators are mentally unstable, the narrator's actions, the way they reveal their motives and how their conscience acts upon them greatly differ.

Edgar Allan Poe had written several short stories such as “William Wilson,” “The Fall of the House and Usher,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and couple poems such as “The Raven.” There is always something different about Poe’s writing. Most of the classical murders make a person ask “who did the murder?” but his writing “The Cask of Amontillado” makes us ask the question “why did the murder occur?” (Baraban). Every word he writes in his work has a purpose to it (Baraban) and he often does not depend on dialogue (Benton). His writings are full of literary devices such as ironies, foreshadowing, and setting and they are shown in one of his famous tales “The cask of Amontillado.”

There were many ways in which Poe’s personal life impacted his writing. In fact, these reasons are the explanation for why Poe’s writing style is mysterious and dark and depressing. His writing style is because there was the death of his mother and foster mother, his love for his beloved wife Virginia, also his anxiety and paranoia for the outcome of death.

Edgar Allen Poe was a writer who sculpted every detail to create his desired “theme”. His short stories are mostly representing the murder of a character. The murderer, who is the narrator, explains the plan for the murder. The narrator destroys the humans around him through his destructive mind. The reason for the murder is revenge and hatred. In “Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe utilized “unreliable narrators,” he even created similarities between murder and victim to establish the theme of self- destruction. In “Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor destroys himself with repression. In “The tell-tale heart” the narrator battles with his subconscious mind. In “Hop Frog” the narrator sacrifices his humanity. All of the

Edgar Allan Poe’s writing had certainly been impacted by his life. Poe was born to his mother, Eliza Poe, in 1809. However, his alcoholic father, David Poe Jr., had left him. His mother later died of Tuberculosis when he was still young. Although he had joined the Allan Family, this absence of his parents brought him to be lonely. His foster father, John Allan, raised Poe as if he was his own, but Poe and his

Edgar Allan Poe’s life played a major factor in his writing. Edgar Allan Poe was born in1809. Poe’s father, much like him later in life, was an alcoholic and substance abuser. His father abandoned his family when his sister was born, and was never seen again. Poe’s mother died shortly thereafter of tuberculosis. Poe was then sent to live with John and Frances Allan, where he would live out the rest of his childhood,

In many of his stories, it seemed as though Poe craved to see the pain of sorrow in others. The unstable mind motivates the body to act out in such a violent manner in order to satisfy its desires. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the protagonist, Montressor, “[hearkens] in vain for a reply” of agony from his enemy. Poe wanted to hear the suffering of his adversaries; he needed to hear them feel the pain he felt. His desire to force this punishment onto others, questions his sanity and reason. Frances Winwar, Author of the The Haunted Place, suggests that the discovery of a female body found on the Hudson “roused the sleuth Edgar Allan Poe in his alter ego.” (Winwar 226). The darkness that Poe encountered and experienced was the reason he developed the insane characters in his stories.

Edgar Allan Poe revolutionized the literary world of the nineteenth century. Poe is a well-known author from the early 1800’s, who was part of the dark romanticism movement. While later in life he was a brilliant writer, Edgar Allan Poe faced many problems in his early life. Although Poe experienced death within his family at a young age, the hardships he encountered are thought to have influenced his dark writing style. These death inspired elements within Poe’s writing were ahead of their time. However, Edgar Allan Poe’s excellent use of descriptive imagery and suspense is what makes his writing unique. These stylistic devices are evident in Poe’s famous short stories, including “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.