Edgar Allan Poe: He Who Needed A Punching Bag

Jacob Wargotz
Mrs. Newell
Honors English 11
4/15/2014
Edgar Allan Poe: He Who Needed a Punching Bag The writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, was not as creepy as his stories portray him to be. He was just full of teenage angst and anger, even in his older years. It would be likely that if he were alive today, he would have weekly sessions with a psychologist, but he did not live in this era. However his stories did act as an emotional outlet in which many of his stories can be attributed to some emotionally taxing part of his life. A subject that he often wrote about was murderous intent fueled with affection. He tended to write about two conflicting personalities within a person. The eeriest of his stories were usually about insanity out of
He was born on January 18, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. His parents, David and Elizabeth Poe, were actors. Aside from Edgar, David and Elizabeth had two other children, William Henry Leonard Poe and Rosalie Poe (“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allan Poe?”). Unfortunately for the Poe siblings their mother died when Edgar was two and his father followed soon after. Subsequently, the orphaned Poes were separated. Their grandparents took in William, his sister was adopted, and a rich merchant from Richmond, by the name of John Allan, adopted Edgar. Allan raised young Poe with the intentions of having him carry on his tobacco company. At the direction of his foster father, Poe was sent to England, where he learned math, Latin, French, and history for five years (“Biography of Edgar Allan Poe”). However, despite his extensive studies to become a businessman, Poe aspired to be a writer and was always writing. At the age of seventeen he left home and went to study at University of Virginia in 1826 (“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allan
While John Allan had large wealth, he gave less than what Poe needed to attend University of Virginia. Poe began gambling in order to pay for college. Through this he accumulated a large sum of debt (“Biography of Edgar Allan Poe”). Later on, upon returning to Richmond, the young impoverished writer discovered that his fiancée, Elmira Royster, had become engaged to another man. With his series of unfortunate events, Poe and Allan’s relationship faltered and Poe left his home to pursue writing and adventure. His thirst for adventure led him to join the Army and apply to West Point in 1827. In 1830 the rebellious writer enrolled in West, but after Allan refused to send money, Poe was dismissed from the academy Point (“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allan Poe?”). By 1831 Poe was living in New York City where he submitted his stories to magazines, but they were rejected. In 1834 John Allan died without a mentioning of Poe in his will. Fortunately for Poe, he was able to become the editor of a newspaper, called the Southern Literary Messenger, after winning a writing contest. He was able to make the paper more successful, but left in 1836 due to a low salary. In 1838 Poe moved to Philadelphia where his first short story book, Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque, was published in 1839. Unfortunately, Poe received only the copyright for his book, a few copies of his book, and no money. From 1840 to 1845 Poe