The writing life of edgar allan poe - Research Paper Example

While Poe was studying at the University of Virginia (1826-1827), he wrote some tales but little is known of these works. At age 18, he published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems. In 1829, Poe’s second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems was published in Baltimore. In 1831, Poe’s Poems was published in New York. In 1833, he won $50 for his work “MS Found in a Bottle”. It was also during this time that he started his career as a staff member of various magazines. Poe became editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond in 1835.

It was in this magazine that he wrote several critical book reviews which gave him a reputation of being a fearless critic (Poe Museum, par.9). In 1837, Poe left Southern Literary but he became editor of other magazines namely, the Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was in Graham’s Magazine that Poe wrote “Murders in the Rue Morgues” which is considered the first modern detective story. In 1843, Poe won a $100 prize from the Dollar Newspaper of Philadelphia for his tale of pirate treasure in “The Gold Bug”.

This award earned national attention for Poe. The next ten years saw Poe building a name as a poet, short story writer and an editor. It was during these times when he published some of his well-acclaimed works such as “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his most famous poem, “The Raven” (The Academy of American Poets, par.3). Poe died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore. The tragedies that have befallen Poe have a great impact on his style of writing and the topics that he wrote about.

His being an orphan at an early age, the death of his siblings and foster parents, poverty, a broken love affair, problems with gambling, and alleged drug use and alcoholism, all contributed to the literary genius that he was. Most of his works reflected the darkness that enveloped his life. Poe’s is considered as part of the dark romanticism genre. He often used symbolisms in his work. In “The Raven”, he used the raven as a symbol of death, something which is bizarre. Poe’s writing is observed as always having a fascination with death.

This may be attributed to several of his experiences involving the untimely loss of loved ones. The theme that surrounds his works was mostly of darkness and lost loves. Poe’s interest in psychology played an important part in his work’s visual imagery and emotions. He explored topics such as self-destruction, madness and imagination. There was however, a romantic side in his works, especially in his poetry. In his poem “Eulalie”, Poe’s inspiration was his wife, Virginia Clemm with whom he had a joyous married life.

Poe also wrote humorous short stories such as “The Devil in the Belfry”, “The Duc de l'Omelette”, “Bon-Bon” and “Never Bet the Devil Your Head”. These stories depict the devil as an ironic figure of fun (Liukkonen, par. 13) Poe is acknowledged as the originator of both horror and detective fiction. He is also credited as the “architect” of modern short story. Poe is known as the forerunner of the “art for art’s sake” movement because of his focus on the effect of the style and structure on the literary work (The Academy of American Poets, par. 4). To this day, Poe’s reputation is that of a writer of mystery and terror tales and