Edgar Allen Poe and Humor Essay

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.

expected John to pay of his debts. John would not pay of the debts and made

Edgar Allen Poe was one of the great writers of this world. He created several poems and short stories of a dark and dreary setting. His imagination was incredible. Edgar Allen Poe did not have a normal life. Bad luck and heart ach seemed to follow him until his death. His writing style was very different than other writers' style. His most famous

     Edgar Allan Poe, the first master of the short story, had written many short stories from mysteries to morbidity. Edgar was born on January 19,1809 in Boston, Massachussettes. Edgars Parents, David and Eliza, were both in the acting business. Poe also had a sister, who is rarely spoken of. When Edgar was young his father fleed from the family, leaving Edgar, his mother, and sister alone. At the age of two Edgar's mother died of tuberculosis. Edgar was then placed in a foster home with John and Fanny Allan.

Horror and humor, two words that start with ‘h’ that could either make you cry from laughing, or cry from terror. Poe uses both humor and horror in many different ways in order to create the setting. Humor is used in many different ways, such as a friend who only keeps track of one thing that you say, for instance, the friend who keeps shouting Amontillado! Everyone knows someone who, when feeling under the weather still insists that they are feeling peachy. Poe also uses that in his story to create a relatable, joke that mostly everyone can relate to. He also creates the setting of horror with vivid pictures of different things inside your head. But right as the story has a bit of thrill he turns back to humor again to lighten up the mood.

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.

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

If one were to say that Edgar Allan Poe is a good writer, he or she is making an understatement of his work. He is one of the most critically acclaimed writers of all time. His stories have put him in a category of notoriety that also includes, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, and Earnest Hemingway, just to name a few. Poe is most widely known for his unique obsessively dark, or gothic horror stories. To many, he is considered to be the “grandfather” of present- day horror. His writing shows that he is familiar with the thought process of a madman, leaving some to believe that he himself was in fact insane, but if he were, could he have the ability to describe such dark

"The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and where the other begins?" Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial (Bartlett, 642). To venture into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is to embark on a journey to a land filled with perversities of the mind, soul, and body. The joyless existence carved out by his writings is one of lost love, mental anguish, and the premature withering of his subjects. Poe wrote in a style that characterized the sufferings he endured throughout in his pitiful life. From the death of his parents while he was still a child, to the repeated frailty of his love life, to the neuroses of his later years, his life was a ceaseless continuum of

Edgar Allan Poe, arguably one of the best poets ever, has wrote many great and deep-meaning poems, such as “Annabel Lee,” and “Dream Within a Dream.” Both putting off a rather dark image and goth-like elements, a way of writing Poe loved best. Mostly known for “The Raven”, Poe’s Poems all have real deep and mysterious meanings that make people think a bit more to figure it out. The way he expressed terror, the suspense, the heightening of the atmosphere, his unique charm. But why is Poe such a dark poet? Why does most of his poems give off a sad and depressing vibe? How does he begin to even write such weird poems? To a degree, all writers are affected by past memories and

Edgar Allan Poe, the dark hearted author! When speaking of Poe, readers would most likely associate him as a dark and dreary author. His uses of vivid, shadowy imagery and themes of death and despair lurk within the minds of his audiences. Poe, however, subtly injects his works with humor that may not easily be spotted by the human eye. Why exactly would Poe inject humor into his horror stories, since they aren’t comedies?

When looking at a piece of literature through a psychological approach it is easy to apply Sigmund Freud’s theories of the id, ego, and superego, which focus on conscious and unconscious behavior. When analyzing many of Poe’s works, critics tend to look through a psychological lens. Specifically in Poe’s The Black Cat. Some critics believe that Poe’s alcoholism is reflected in the piece, but many, such as James W. Gargano “advised the tales readers to avoid the biographical pitfall of seeing Poe and the first-person narrator of The Black Cat as ‘identical literary twins’” (Piacentino 1). It is due to his childhood that Poe’s narrator in The Black Cat subconsciously places animals before humans, thus leading to him to murder his wife.

Edgar Allan Poe’s life works are a reflection of who he is may it be crazy, depressing, or frightening. His background is what makes him a unique writer, all the horror he writes about is real and he has faced. He takes the main idea from his own life and adds details to describe how he feels making his story realistically horrific because it is real. Many authors just take ideas out of their brain which is great but writing book and poems from your own life, things that really happen is taking it to the next level making it exciting and

Poe’s writing style was much like that of Hawthorne’s, but drew from the darker side of romance creations. This gothic mood believed in the dark truths of the human heart, which are the ends and motivations for many of his stories. Human corruption and violence ends in murder in “The Black Cat”. Gothic writings move more into the supernatural side, which lets observer of the see a living person in the picture at his first, sleepy glance.

Edgar Allen Poe is a fictional writer he wrote many weird and scary stories and poems, most of his poems mirrored bad things’ that happened in his childhood. In 1845, Poe wrote The Raven which is still one of his best known poems. It was first published in the New York paper. The Raven brought him fame in his lifetime but the fame didn’t bring him much joy. (D-1) Poe’s poems and stories usually had a symbolic meaning in them such as “The Raven” it stood for grief and sorrow that would never go away. He wasn’t just a poem and story writer he was also a critic. In 1838-1844 he edited Burtons Gentleman’s Magazines and in Grahams Magazine his criticism in these magazines and in the messenger was keen, direct, incisive and sometimes savage.(B-10) Some of Poes magazine stories were collected as tales of the grotesque and arabesque he also began writing the mystery tales that earned him