Edgar Allan Poe
Anthony Chong
Mrs. Gronlund
AP English IV
21 February 2012
The Influence of Women in Edgar Allen Poe’s Works
Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the most inspiring writers of the nineteenth century, creating a new extension to American literature. He is famously known for writing “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Raven.” His writings are often times considered dark and bleak due to past experiences. The experiences Poe includes in his writings are results of the women he met in his lifetime. Within the span of Poe’s forty-year lifetime, he encountered many women creating close relationships and bonds with them as they all cared or nurtured him in some way. The women in his life were all beautiful, though many of them had their lives cut short due to unknown illnesses (Weekes 149).“The image of the dead or dying women, young and beautiful and good, fills his fictions” (Ackroyd 14). The relationships Poe had with women illustrates the themes of the beauty of premature death and illnesses in women. One of the women includes Eliza Poe, Edgar’s mother, who died at the age of twenty-four of tuberculosis when Poe was only three years old. The women in Poe’s writings also extend to his mother’s friend, Jane Stanard; his foster mother, Frances Allan; and his thirteen year old wife, Virginia Clemm. The women in Poe’s life, who died at young ages, all had a lasting effect on Edgar Allan Poe and played a significant part in his literary works.
The first woman in Poe’s life to play a role in his works was his mother Eliza Poe. Eliza Poe was born in London, England and migrated to America when she was nine years old. Eliza made a career as an actress, singer, and dancer. Eliza Poe started her career at the age of nine at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. She was a very talented actress as she was able to have 201 different roles before she died. (Ackroyd 9). Her successes in her career and talent is referenced throughout Poe’s writing.
The appreciation he
Mrs. Gronlund
AP English IV
21 February 2012
The Influence of Women in Edgar Allen Poe’s Works
Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the most inspiring writers of the nineteenth century, creating a new extension to American literature. He is famously known for writing “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Raven.” His writings are often times considered dark and bleak due to past experiences. The experiences Poe includes in his writings are results of the women he met in his lifetime. Within the span of Poe’s forty-year lifetime, he encountered many women creating close relationships and bonds with them as they all cared or nurtured him in some way. The women in his life were all beautiful, though many of them had their lives cut short due to unknown illnesses (Weekes 149).“The image of the dead or dying women, young and beautiful and good, fills his fictions” (Ackroyd 14). The relationships Poe had with women illustrates the themes of the beauty of premature death and illnesses in women. One of the women includes Eliza Poe, Edgar’s mother, who died at the age of twenty-four of tuberculosis when Poe was only three years old. The women in Poe’s writings also extend to his mother’s friend, Jane Stanard; his foster mother, Frances Allan; and his thirteen year old wife, Virginia Clemm. The women in Poe’s life, who died at young ages, all had a lasting effect on Edgar Allan Poe and played a significant part in his literary works.
The first woman in Poe’s life to play a role in his works was his mother Eliza Poe. Eliza Poe was born in London, England and migrated to America when she was nine years old. Eliza made a career as an actress, singer, and dancer. Eliza Poe started her career at the age of nine at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. She was a very talented actress as she was able to have 201 different roles before she died. (Ackroyd 9). Her successes in her career and talent is referenced throughout Poe’s writing.
The appreciation he
Cited: Vol. 2 of American Literature. 3 vols. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, 1963. Talese/Doubleday, 2008. Bonaparte, Marie. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe. 1882. New York: Humanities, 1971. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. UP, 2002.