Jake Kimmelman
Bennett
American Literature CP
22 February 2017
Edgar Allan Poe Have you ever wondered the reasons behind why some horror stories are so sinister? Have you ever read a horror story and told yourself that it would not happen in real life? Have your ever thought that you had a rough life growing up? Poe did not live to see his name really get the big praise it does now for his horror. Most of Poe’s life was filled with death of loved one’s and sadness which made him turn to writing poems and short stories. Edgar Allan Poe’s rough early life, relationships with women, and exposure to man’s evil human nature inspire the plots of his short story fiction. Edgar Allan Poe had a very unusual and depressing early life and
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Throughout Poe’s whole life he had the most unlucky relationships with women. These bad relationships were no doubt a big inspiration for his short stories. Most of his famous horror stories have to do with a woman being killed or dying. From the start of his life till the end tragedy had mostly always to do with women. Starting with his mom dying when he was three and him never even really knowing her (“Edgar Allan Poe Biography”1). Too the first true love a mother of a friend from school dying a year after he fell in love with her. Too his cousin and wife for eleven year’s Virginia also dying from tuberculosis. One of the things that really kicked his writing into action though was when he returned home from a trip to find his fiancee engaged to another man. When he saw this he fled to Boston and started to write distributing his first book Tamerlane at 18 years old. All of these tragedies with women have a role in Poe’s writing about women in his short stories. Because there were so many deaths with women it is hard to tell which ones are portrayed in his short stories but we know that they had a for sure impact. One of the first stories he wrote having to do with girls was “Berenice” a story about a man who rips out his dead lover 's teeth but then comes to realize she is still alive(Lepore 1). Another story of tragedy striking a girl is in “The Fall of the House of Usher
The 19th century American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, had been plagued by grief from an early age. He was an amazing poet and author who just happened to have a darker story. Many who have studied this prestigious man feel that his works, though magnificent, were extremely dark. Some believe it was nothing more then a fancy for him to spin such gruesome tales. Others feel his work was manipulated by the misfortune of his past. These people have actually found evidence that agrees with this statement. The works of Edgar Allan Poe were inspired by the history and life style of the author. The evidence is evident, when people look back and examine the author, his life, and his writings closely.
As a child, Poe would watch his mother perform on stage every night. He would be sitting front row watching the beautiful actress commit suicide every night due to her role as Juliet from Shakespeare's famous play. After the curtains closed, Poe’s mother would take young Edgar and go on with her evening (Edgar Allan Poe). Now, as an impressionable young child, Poe would see his mother die on stage and then see her “come back to life”. This led to Poe’s fascination with death. In “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, and “The Cask of Amontillado”, death is the main component. In “The Raven”, Poe talks about a man who was going mad while trying to forget his love who had just died. The fact that this woman is dead contributes to Poe’s theme of death. Now, this is not the only piece of literature that has to do with a man’s love dying, in the poem “Annabel Lee” Poe
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.
It is a well known fact that Edgar Allan Poe‘s stories are famous for producing horror or terror in his readers beyond description. However, it is one of this essay’s attempts to precisely describe these two characteristics present in The pit and the pendulum and The black cat. Horror may be defined as “the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or otherwise experienced. It is the feeling one gets after coming to an awful realization or experiencing a deeply unpleasant occurrence.” On the contrary terror is described as “the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience” These two concepts are thought to be crucial when analyzing Poe’s writings. It is going to be
Men 's relation with women always plays an important role in men 's lives. Life of Edgar Allan Poe was not exclusion. Moreover, it influenced on his works too. For example, the famous poem “The Raven” has an image of a woman Lenore. It is difficult to say who was a prototype of the lost woman for Poe. First woman whom he lost in his life was mother, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins. It is better to say – which he never really knew. Later Edgar Allan Poe had a deep need to have close relations with women who could play the role of mother to him. They were Frances Allan, Mrs. Stanard, the mother of his friend Richard, who became a “substitute-mother” to him; Mrs. Maria Clemm, his aunt who became his mother-in-law; her daughter, Virginia, who became his “wife-mother”; Mrs. Shew, his physician-nurse; Mrs. Whitman, the poetess he tried unsuccessfully to marry; Mrs. “Annie” Richmond, the married woman he deeply loved but could not have for a wife; or Elmira Royster Shelton, former childhood sweetheart (Benton, 1-2).
n the world of Edgar Allan Poe, the women in his life have treated him significantly better than the men. To Edgar, men were figures of abandonment and cruelty, but women were angelic figures of kindness and grace, and this greatly affected his life and his writings. In Poe’s own words, “Women have been angels of mercy while men have sat at the edges and mocked,” and there are several examples of this throughout his life, whether it be the kindness of his aunt, his adoptive mother, or his wife. First and foremost, the primary example is when the Biography of Edgar Allan Poe text suggests that he had his aunt, Maria Clemm, move in with him, and that she was a great role model and mother figure to him. (2) This shows that Edgar was inspired
Edgar Allan Poe is the most morbid of all American authors. Poe made his impact in Gothic fiction, especially for the tales of the macabre of which he is so renowned for. “How can so strange & so fine a genius & so sad a life, be exprest [sic] & comprest in on line — would it not be best to say of Poe in a reverential spirit simply Requiescat in Pace [?]” — (Alfred Lord Tennyson’s reply to the Poe Memorial committee, February 18, 1876). Poe’s own life story sheds light on the darkness of his writings.
Poe often used depressed tones and imagery to create a dark kind of feeling to his work. The death of Edgar Allen Poe’s young wife put a bitter resentment in the writer. He felt like he was cursed and that the heavens stole his joy and claimed that the angel envied their happiness. Poe was accused of rumors and scandals his whole life, afflicted with depression, pinned down by phobias and horrific fantasies, and his writing reflects the madness in every lover’s heart. (Harris 60) In many of Edgar Allen Poe’s writings, he used gothic elements to express his pain and revealed the darker side of human nature.
Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the greatest American writers of all time. His writing is dark and sinister. He wrote of death, murder, psychosis, and obsession. One could only imagine what would bring a person to write such morbid stories. Perhaps, it may be attributed to Poe’s childhood, a past that was sad and far from average. Both of his parents died when he was only three years of age (Shelley). The death of his parents caused a separation from his siblings and he moved to live with his relatives (Shelley). In later years, Poe endured poverty and the loss of his wife-to-be to another man (Clark). Possibly, without those troubling experiences, Poe couldn’t have imagined such eerie and enthralling tales. Some of his most
Each event in one's life whether important, meaningless, joyful or sickening has an impact on that person's character. Harrowing & tragic events occur often as it was for Edgar Allen Poe which left a vast impact on his character. This author's stories focus on his wretched life and obstacles placed in the forms of stories. His unfortunate events turned into eerie, emblematic tales such as “The Raven”, “The Black Cat”, “The cask of amontillado” & more which all have twisted plot lines such as horror, sadness, revenge etc.
First of all, Edgar Allan Poe had a rough childhood. His mom, Eliza, was an actress and she died when he was only three years old. His father, David, was also an actor but he left them before his mom died. So, Edgar Allan Poe was left without his parents at the age of three years old. After his mother’s death he was adopted by John and Frances Allan and separated from his siblings. They raised him and when he was old enough sent him to the university of Virginia. After a year he was forced to leave because he had a drinking problem and had gambling debts that his adopted father wouldn’t pay. Ever since then he and his adopted father grew further and further apart. After that he joined the army and got the title of sergeant major. He then married and his wife died in 1847 leaving Edgar Allan Poe heart broken. Poe’s rough past played a major part in influencing his writing. His life was very depressing and you can see it in the way he writes and the darkness in his works. The dark events in his life come out in him creepy style of writing. (Benka)
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and important writers of the nineteenth century. He was the first writer to try to make a living only writing. One of Poe’s most popular short stories, “The Black Cat”, is considered horror fiction or gothic fiction which Poe is known for in his books and short stories because it was a popular genre during his days. In Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, Poe uses a horror fiction genre, a mentally deranged and evil narrator/character, and symbolism of death to make a thrilling story with tons of suspense, drama, and gruesome detail.
As a master of short stories of horror, Edgar Allan Poe is knowledgeable, learned and imaginative. He could skillfully manipulate the words in his literary works to create everything people can think of. The masterful use of the symbols, objects intensify the readers’ nerve as the typical elements of horror in Poe’s short stories, and therefore it is also a feature which makes Poe 's stories different from other writers.
Poe, based on his life experience, kills all females in his writing. So understandable to become insane by losing loved ones and Poe was “traumatized by the deaths of the women who had loved him: Eliza Poe, Jane Stanard, Frances Allen, and [Virginia Clemm],” comments Meyers in “The Sources of Poe’s Youthful Despair” (Meyers 25). The topic about life after the death covers a lot of short stories, for example, “Eleanora” and “Ligeia.” In both stories Poe describes the death of loved ones, pain, sorrow, and sanity of the main heroes. In “Eleanora” the protagonist tries to continue his life, forgets his first love, and connection between the hero and the spirit of Eleanora disappear as fast as he forgets her. Whereas in “Ligeia,” the hero
Edgar Allan Poe was a fictional writer that astonished readers with his many mysterious poems and his tales of horror such as “The Raven”, “Annabelle Lee”, and “The Fall of the house of Usher”.