Edgar Allan Poe's Accomplishments

This essay is about Edgar Allan Poe and how is often disturbing stories and poems were a direct reflection of the chaotic and sad filled life. Poe had many people in his life die around him and this was the reason for his fascination and some say obsession with “death.” Of course, Poe is most famous for writing many stories and mysteries that centered on murder, suicide, and overall macabre themes. Many people throughout time have been astonished by his many writings calling them “stories written by a genuine mad man.” When you do an Internet search of his name you often find the word lunatic attached to his name. However, this disturbing stories and death-obsessed poems are nothing when compared to his actual life, and the various experiences throughout it. Poe has ten people in his life that were close to him, very important figures that either died or exited his life without an explanation. These “losses” left Poe unable to manage his emotions, ultimately destroying them altogether, which resulted in him writing so many mysteries.

Edgar Allan Poe was a famous American writer and poet, and wrote over 69 short stories and poems, though he was best known for being a literary critic. He is well known for being the father of detective stories, as he wrote many stories of mystery and horror. Edgar Allan Poe had many accomplishments. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first American writers to begin writing short stories. His work greatly affected the future of American literature and and the early ancestors of modern mystery and horror novels. Edgar Allan Poe never won any major awards in his lifetime, although he won many small newspaper contests for his work.

Edgar Allan Poe was a phenomenal short story author. He now is nationally renowned as a result of his works. He did not just come up with some of these stories on his own accord though, rather he lived some of these stories. Edgar Allan Poe’s literature was greatly influenced by his experiences in life. To shed some light on the facets of his life that are seen in his stories, some background information on Poe’s past will be brought to light.

Edgar Poe was born in 1809 to David and Elizabeth Poe. Two short years later Edgar’s mother died and his father had vanished. Upon the death of his mother, Poe became a foster child, where soon John and Frances Allan took him into their home and raised him. Gambling debts soon ended Poe’s financial support from the Allan’s so he dropped out of University where he had been attending for a year. Setting off to Boston Poe published the first of many collections of poems and decided to enlist in the army. Realizing he was worthless he abandoned the army instead, turning to a life of conflict and debt.

The great writer, Edgar Allan Poe, came into the world on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe was the son of two actors, but he never really knew his parents. His mom died when he was three and his father left before he had a chance to know him. He was separated from his siblings and went to live with John and Frances Allan. John was a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Poe got along great with Frances, but he and John had conflicting views.

Acknowledged as an inventor of the modern science fiction story, an innovator in the horror genre, and the “master of macabre,” Edgar Allan Poe is a household name. However, Poe’s life was not as wonderful as the impact he continues to leave on society; misconceptions about his character, his death shrouded in mystery, and a vengeful rival all sound as if they were born out of one of his chilling tales.

Edgar Allan Poe greatly influenced American authors in the 1800s when he showed them what could be done with poetry and short stories. Up until that point most literature focused on the romantic side of what could be, but no one had really touched on the darkness living inside each of us. Poe was the first author to write a detective fictional story and many authors followed in his footsteps thus creating a very popular genre even to this day. His stories went into detail about how murders were committed, these horror stories sent chills down the readers back as they wondered how he could come up with such gruesome details and not feel anything. When he died, he left us with a mystery that sounds like something he would’ve written about.

Edgar Allan Poe is an early American author, viewed as one of the greats. Poe’s work as a poet and short story writer are well known and still timeless tales even today, more than one hundred and fifty years later. Poe captivates his audience with his poems and short stories by telling tales of all kinds. Poe is said to have created detective fiction with his short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue (Fisher IV). Poe’s life was surrounded by mystery and death a lot of what is known about Poe is said to be false or romanticized by Poe himself (Fisher IV).

Edgar Allan Poe was a very accomplished poet. At age three Poe’s mother died, and his father not long after, since the Poe parents passed away all of the Poe children were separated. Poe was put with the Allan family, and that is where Poe got the middle name Allan. Sadly Poe did not get along with his adoptive parents. Poe was raised in England and had a good education in both England and America.

In the late 1830’s Poe wrote “The Mystery of Marie Roget”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Masque of the Red Death.”(Meltzer, 87) His career seemed to take off as he wrote his next work. A few years after writing his first three works; Poe writes “The Tell-Tale Heart”, which is unique as it is written from the murderer’s point of view. (Meltzer, 93) As he had four works under his belt, he began working. His first job was as a literary critic at the Southern Literary Messenger, where he was known to be vicious with his comments. (Biography) Even though he had a blooming literary career; he had his vices. Some time after beginning to work for the paper; he began to drink. (Meltzer, 61) Since he had a steady income; he decided to start a family. The woman he grew close to and decided to marry was his cousin, Virginia Clemm when she was 13. (Meltzer, 63) Even though he thought he had everything under control he was in for a rude awakening. Poe’s drinking soon became an addiction and took him over. (Meltzer, 67) While he was struggling through this addiction another hardship was on the horizon. Bad choices economically caused very little money to be given Poe for his works. (Meltzer, 69) Even though little money was acquired, Poe still wrote vigorously. He created the detective mystery in “The Murders of the Rue Morgue” and the horror story. (Meltzer, 83,

Edgar Allan Poe had a very rough childhood, with an abusive foster father. He had a very rough childhood and he is thought to have growed up to become a more depressed figure. He always dreamed of a better and joyful life. His poems and short stories have always been based off of his experiences in life. Since his life wasn’t that great and almost all of his loved ones around him tended to die of tuberculosis, he had struggled with the thoughts and fears of death. He is thought to have carried around the disease and killed everyone around him. This has not been proven, but with that thought in mind, it would be thought that he had struggled through his life. Poe’s dismal writing style is shown through his unique literary techniques.

Edgar Allan Poe made a lasting impression on literature. He was born on January nineteenth in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts (The Academy of American Poets 1). He died on October seventh in 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland (3). He is well known for pioneering the horror, detective and science fiction genres. Although he struggled throughout his life socially, many times his life experiences inspired his writings. His unfortunate and miserable life encounters, specifically his wife’s death, intensified his gruesome writings. These life experiences fueled his unique, incredibly detailed, horrifying, writing style. Poe had many famous works, but most of his pieces began to be famous after his death. His legacy is very influential in modern literature,

Although the themes that Allen Poe typically wrote about were dark, and horrifying, its what made them interesting because that were based on his life experiences, and events were behind all his work. His work consisted of murder, death, and paranoia its like he does it to mess with the readers mind, and the suspense he uses in his writings is also very important because it is what gets the audience hooked on reading. Edgar Allen Poe should be remembered as a writer who helped established the short-story form. He was the first writer to recognize that the short story was a different kind

Are today's authors really original with their work or using a base layer from some other author from a more "ancient" time? These "writers" are using works that have already been made by an older author. This author is Edgar Allan Poe. This author is best known for his impact on being the grandmaster of mysterious literary works, but also his sensitivity towards his writings. Poe positively affected American history and literature by impacting the writings of many modern day authors, bringing a new dark twisted element of interest into American literature, and using gloomy descriptive word techniques that changed the course of detective and horror pieces of writings for future generations.

Have you ever thought about a world without the dark, brooding mystery books, television shows, or movies. Edgar Allan Poe, “The Father of the Detective Story” left a mark on our society for his mysterious works. Edgar Allan Poe lived a life of depression, since his mother died and his father left him, before the age of three. With his tortured mind Poe created several stories that our still popular today. He lived a life of financial struggles since he was a boy living with his godfather John Allan. Poe, at the age of 27, fell in love with his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe who later died from tuberculous. Edgar Allan Poe, impacted our society with his stories like “The Raven”. After the death of his wife, Virginia, Poe went on a downward spiral till he died of unknown causes on October 7, 1849. To this day people are still trying to solve the mystery of his death.