The Influences In Edgar Allan Poe's Life

After birth in 1809, Edgar suffered from a poor childhood, upon the loss of Elizabeth at age two, and an elusive father. Parentless, primary years were spent with a foster family, the Allans, in England, while Edgar attended boarding school. After returning to Richmond, he attended the University of Virginia for one year, and after oppressive gambling debts, Poe's foster father, John, withdrew support of Poe. After leaving for Boston, he published the first set of poems and joined the military for two years, then returned back to Baltimore with Aunt Maria. From this point on, Poe became an editor, and his dream of owning his own journal is born. He then moved to New York, after marrying Virginia Clemm, and forming his own family of Edgar, Virginia, and Aunt Maria. After briefly living his dream of owning his own journal, Poe's life took a dramatic turn, when Virginia succumbs to the vicious effects of tuberculosis.
Poe's greatest influence comes from his murder mystery stories, where some claim he invented them. His impact is seen today in the literature of American fiction and science fiction, previously believed to be fake, with Poe's peers. Poe was so precise in his creations of literature that he wrote an essay, explaining the steps he took to achieve the level of excellence that he strived for in every piece that he writes. Poe's goal in writing the poem "The Raven" was to make it as short and commendably well written as possible, and in doing this, he predicted the tendency of symbolist and modern poetry. Poe was also famous for his embellishments in his tales of terror; self proclaimed arabesques rather than his grotesques, the funny and sarcastic oddities of Gothic literature like "The Pit and the Pendulum". Poe lives on through his writing, and will truly remain an eccentric icon of American