Preview

Edgar Allan Poe

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2524 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Edgar Allan Poe
By: James Williams

In every story conceived from the mind of Edgar Allan Poe, a scent of his essence had been molded into each to leave the reader with a better understanding of Poe 's life. Poe displayed his greatest life 's achievements and his worst disappointments in a series of stories created throughout his whole life. It is the goal of this research paper to reveal symbolic facts about his life and define these hidden maxims in a way that is easy to understand and beneficial to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts ("Poe, Edgar Allan," Encyclopedia Britannica 540). Poe 's parents were David Poe, an actor based in Baltimore and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an actress born in England, also based in Baltimore (540). Upon birth, Poe had been cursed. Shortly after his birth, Poe 's father abandoned the family and left Poe and his mother to fend for themselves. Not long after that, the cruel hands of fate had worked their horrid magic once again by claiming his mother. In 1811, when Poe was two, his mother passed away, leaving him with his second depressing loss (540). After his father 's cowardly retreat and mother 's sudden death, Poe was left in the capable hand of his godfather, John Allan. John Allan was a wealthy merchant based in Richmond, Virginia with the means, knowledge and affluence to provide a good life for Poe ("Poe, Edgar Allan," Encyclopedia Britannica 540). In 1815, Poe and his new family moved to England to provide Poe a classical education (which was finished out in Richmond. Upon returning from England in 1826, Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia ("Poe, Edgar Allan," Encyclopedia Britannica 540). This was a magnificent feat for him, because Poe was only seventeen at the time while the normal age for attendance was nineteen (Quinn 130). For the first time, life had hit a high note and provided for him what seemed to be a path paved with gold. Upon entering college, Poe realized his path of gold



Bibliography: Work Cited Bloom, Harold. The Tales of Poe. New York, New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987: 121-145. Buranelli, Vincent. Edgar Allan Poe. Boston: Twayne, 1977: 12-53. "Edgar Allan Poe, The Dark Genius of the Short Story." Online Available Http://www.cais.com/webweave/poe/poebio.htm. Partridge, Toby. "Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe." Online Available Http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/ 8953/poe.html. "Poe, Edgar Allan." Encarta Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. "Poe,Edgar Allan," Encyclopedia Britannica. 1995 ed., Vol. 9: 540-542. Poe, Edgar Allan. "Fall of the House of Usher." Literature: The American Experience. Needham: Prentice Hall, 1996. 194-206. "Poe, Edgar Allan," World Book Encyclopedia. 1991 ed., Vol. 15: 591-592. Quinn, Patrick F. "Four Views of Edgar Poe." Jahrbuch Fur Amerikastudien. 1960 ed., Vol. 5: 128-146. Word Count: 2330

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe was one of the greatest writers and poets of antebellum America, was born a month before the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. This often mysterious man lived a short, hard life he was orphaned at the age of three, impoverished most of his life and died at the age of forty. Writing styles are often influenced by the author's life, his was no exception. The struggles in Edgar Allan Poe's life greatly influenced the writing style of this great American writer of many great works such as The Black Cat and Tell-Tale Heart.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Final Paper for Lit210

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Compare and Contrast: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner…

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    edgar allan poe

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Application for Travel Document USCIS Form I-131 Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services OMB No. 1615-0013 Expires 03/31/2016 Action Block Receipt To Be Completed by an Attorney/ Representative, if any. For USCIS Use Only Fill in box if G-28 is attached to represent the applicant.…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe was one of America’s most celebrated poet and story teller. His life started early with misfortune. Both of his parents were already dead, when Edgar was 3 years old. His father died of tuberculosis and his mother died of tuberculosis and pneumonia. He was adopted and attended school until he was 17 years old. He started the abuse of alcohol with 17 and he started gambling. As his adopting father figured out, he stopped all financial supports of his adopted son. Edgar had to leave the University and he enlisted in the U.S. military, and later obtained a military school. Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from the military school after one year attending. During…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Although not originally well received, Edgar Allan Poe, became one of the most influential literary writers in American history. As a child, he wrote numerous poems, many which were later published. As a young adult he focused much of his attention on short fiction. He was credited with creating the detective story and known for his psychological and often violent thrillers. He is also known for his macabre themes and for having a fascination with death. Literary students should recognize these characteristics associated with Poe 's writings were shaped by many tragedies in his life, such as abandonment of his father, untimely death 's of his mother, brother, wife, and other loved one 's, and the problems he faced with his adoptive father.…

    • 2692 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe Isolation

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809-October 7, 1849), lived to be 40 years old. During his 40 years of living he had to go through many deaths of his loved ones. In addition, being abandoned by his father and foster father. Poe lost his mother, wife, and foster mother all to tuberculosis. He was devastated, lost and didn’t know what to do. Leading him to attempting suicide after his wife died. Instead of killing himself, he took his agony out in his writings. Edgar Allan Poe wrote approximately sixty-nine stories and poems. It has been seen that Mr. Poe has made a collection of similarities in his stories connecting to what he has gone through in life. As some of his most famous stories “Annabel Lee”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe Dbq

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe endured awful life experiences that caused him to write horror stories and poems. Poe’s dad abandoned him and his mother when Poe was young. His mother died a year later, which put Poe into the hands of two foster parents. Sadly, his foster mom also died (Doc. A & B). Edgar Allan Poe lived in poverty all of his life (Doc. A & B). He made bad decisions, like spending the last of his savings on a piano for his wife, and he drank heavily after her death (Doc. A & B). He never let anything good happen to himself. The evidence supports that Poe had an awful life that inspired him to write about fear due to the lack of guidance in his lifetime.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    C&C Edgar Allen Poe

    • 514 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe wrote two different short stories about simple murders in his lifetime. One was titled “The Cask of Amontillado” while another was named “The Tell-Tale Heart”. These two stories share very distinct similarities such as similar plot lines and literary styling. However, even with the similar plots in the two stories, they do both express two contrasting themes that are prevalent throughout the stories.…

    • 514 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe rise to become an influential writer can be connected to his sad childhood. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. When Edgar Allan Poe was the age of three both his parents died, causing him, his brother, and his sister to become orphans. Until John Allan and Frances Allan adopted only Edgar out of the three siblings. It must be sad for Edgar Allan Poe, because he does not truly know his real parents or his siblings. Edgar Allan Poe attended the University of Virginia and exceled in his classes, but his foster dad only gave him a third of the money needed. This caused Poe to resort to…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe Poetry

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many poems, although very unique, share important features that help us as the audience better understand what people go through in their lifetime. There are instances where the reader can feel what the poet is feeling and that is what makes a great poet differ from an ordinary poet. As in anything, poetry is subjective to each individual and one person might look at a piece of poetry one way or experience it another way. In the poem, “Alone”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the speaker of the poem who is Poe, shows his true self to the reader and is not ashamed to hide anything. He is interpreting his life and wants the reader to understand him. This is similar to the poem in Spanish, “El Poeta” by Pablo Neruda. Another important poem is the French poem,…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poe had an unhappy childhood during which he had senses of inferiority, introversion, and precocity. During school time, he felt more and more insecure and estrange from his schoolmates for his lowly origin and more and more antagonistic to Mr. Allan. He married a thirteen-year-old child wife Virginia who was fatally ill and died in her 23. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, we can easily find the influence of his morbid love affection. All his life he craved love and tenderness, but was doomed to lose in turn all the women he loved. When he reached a sheltered childhood and adolescence he encountered nothing but failures and denials. Edgar Allan Poe was a victim of self-induced misfortune and ill health and his fables of horror and death epitomize his imaginative creativity about death, suffering and melancholies of life.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. According to the first paragraph, what characteristics of the "Red Death" make it such a horrible disease?…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “There are two bodies — the rudimental and the complete; corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we call "death," is but the painful metamorphosis.” Edgar Allan Poe was a poet who grew up with theater in his blood and who became known for his style of literature. First I will inform you of his birth along with his parents, then I will tell you about his childhood and education, after that I will follow up on his mysterious death.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe Alone

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The frequent shift of a dark, somber tone to a defeated, accepting tone in Edgar Allen Poe’s “Alone” asserts the overall meaning that one’s acceptance of their own personality, different or similar to people around them, ultimately results in their seclusion. At the start of the poem, the narrator declares his childhood isolation through an ominous tone as he affirms his dark feeling of loneliness when he compares himself to the children around him. He is an outcast, an outlier; “all [he] lov’d—[he] lov’d alone”(8). The repetition of “I” and “alone” and the stress of the letter “l” affirm his overall despair and frustration towards his different views of the world. No matter how hard he tries to perceive the world around him in the same manner as the other children; he cannot as he repeats phrases such as “could not” and “ have not,” which amplifies his solemn…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Dark- Gothic genre of literature is very interesting. Two of the most famous authors were Edgar Allan Poe and O’Connor. They were both very similar, but at the same time very different in their styles of writing.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics