The Lost Lenore, By Edgar Allan Poe

A famous writer, a renowned poet, and a American hero, Edgar Allan Poe has helped shaped modern day literature. Taught in schools as being a tortured soul, Poe’s dark writing has shaped American English for the better. Edgar Allen Poe’s early demise came as a shock to many during the time. Poe left this world in a mystery, much like some of his most famous works. The way in which Poe died, is never as simple as it seems. The limited details of his demise has left a hole in American literature and history. Modern day textbooks such as Great American Stories detail his death in zero to none detail, “A week later, he was found near Baltimore tavern-delirious, his clothing torn and wet from a raging storm. He died four days later” (95). This

The life of Edgar Allan Poe is not a tale of ease. Poe’s life was full of personal and fiscal disaster. These disasters help to mold some of the most ominous and intellectually challenging poetry ever written. For the short duration of Poe’s life, he was seen as a literary critic rather than an author. To the modern generation his unbeknown status seems bafflingly inconceivable, considering his now acclaimed publications. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing was very much dictated by his life. The mournful tone of Edgar Allan Poe’s life created his literature; death and all his friends narrated Poe’s life. Edgar Allan Poe shows his life’s constant despair through his poetry and short story writings.

Lenore is thought of to be a representation of Poe’s deceased wife Virginia. He did not want to get over the loss of his wife. “Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit they bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take they form from off my door!” (The Raven). In the poem, To My Mother, Poe writes about his own mother taking care of Virginia in heaven and becoming her mother as well. The death and mourning of his wife did, in fact, come out in his writing. Poe is very lonely at this point in his life and misses his wife Virginia. “For ‘mid the earnest cares and woes That crowd around my earthly path, (Sad path, Alas, where grows Not even a lonely rose!)” (To One Departed). Death is a time in life that scares Poe and he thinks of it as being evil, because the two women he loved dearly died. He did not always think of death as being an evil thing. In Tamerlane, Poe knew that death was a part of life and he seemed content with the idea of dying. “Father, I firmly do believe – I know – for Death, who comes for me…. Else how, when in the holy grove” (Tamerlane).

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.

According to the author of The Critical Survey of Mystery & Detective Fiction, Revised Edition, Charles E. May, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. Poe's parents died when he was only two years old. He was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy tobacco exporter (1-5). In 1826, Poe attended the University of Virginia. After less than a year he could no longer attend due to debts Allan refused to pay. In 1827, he entered West Point after serving in the army. Once again Poe struggled to pay his tuition and purposely got himself discharged. In 1831, he moved to Baltimore where he lived with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia. Soon he began his professional career as an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in

Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. Poe, a son of an actor, never knew his parents very well because his father left early on, and his mother died early in his childhood. He went to live with the Allens, he made a bond that influenced him and his writing with Frances, the wife of John Allen. Poe went to the University of Virginia in 1826, but didn't receive enough funds from John Allen to continue, he then turned to gambling but only ended up in more debt.

Upon examining Edgar Allan Poe’s life, one is not surprised that he chooses to write such gloomy and sinister stories. Poe’s life is far from happy and nurturing. According

Poe's writing was able to captivate people, as stated above, but Poe was also able to reach a plethora of authors that lived in the South. “The life of

This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.

Hoping for a new life, Poe joined the army but carelessly mishandled the job and somehow managed getting dismissed. Thus, unemployed he remained, but nevertheless, continued writing and publishing short stories. Feeling overwhelmed, Poe decided to reconnect with his biological family, confiding in his aunt Maria and cousin Virginia whom he later married. Many deemed the relationship strange whereas others assumed Virginia was merely a source of comfort. Career wise, Poe was somewhat accredited until the publishing of the renowned poem, “The Raven” by which he received great recognition.

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, and led a very traumatic life. Both of his parents died of consumption when he was two years old, and then “Mr. John Allan, a very wealthy gentleman of Richmond, Virginia, took a fancy to me, and persuaded my grandfather, General Poe, to suffer him to adopt me” (Symons 3). Though he never legally adopted him, John Allan gave him the name “Edgar Allan Poe.” Poe and his adoptive father never had a healthy

Edgar Allen Poe’s life was a series of small victories followed by disappointments and failures. According to Wikipedia, Poe was born on January 19, 1809, orphaned by the age of two, and raised by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan. He was educated abroad until the age of 11 when his adopted family returned to Richmond, Virginia. By the age of 19 Poe had disowned his adopted family and joined the U.S. Army. He did well in the military and even received and appointment to West Point. However, after a short time there he deliberately got himself kicked out. He goes onto publish a number of works that were well received and continued to publish until his sudden and unexplained death in 1849. Throughout his life Poe entered into situations with the best intentions to succeed,

The enigma of Poe's survival clearly is explained by his universality … I published a review ¬essay that emphasized both Poe's hysterical badness and his inescapability… Letters poured in, many questioning my motives, and at least two radio programs accommodated outraged lovers of Poe, some of them quite passionate at denouncing me. Poe can write as badly as anyone in the language, but it makes little difference. Legions of many regions (not just the South) charge fiercely in his favor, with quasi-religious zeal. The cultural effect and influence of Poe transcend his aesthetic inadequacies. (Bloom 9-10).

You may speculate how Edgar Allen Poe was inspired to write his short stories, or how they related to his life. Well firstly, his father abandoned his family, then his mother died when he was very young. His foster father, John Allen, unpredictably fluctuated between lenience and extreme punishment. Poe married his cousin Virginia who was much younger than him, but also died at a young age. So, is it any wonder that Poe’s work focused on the ghoulish, bizarre and the outcast? Arguably not, the wonder is undeniably focused on the fact that he made such remarkable art from his anguish. Edgar Allen Poe elevated the American short story to a new level, before his death at the age of 40, writing works that totally modernised detective fiction, science fiction, and of course, the horror story.

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