Edgar Allen Poe - Research Paper Example

?Edgar Allan Poe Introduction Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. It is believed that Poe was d after a character in Shakespeare’s King Lear, as this was the play that Poe’s parents were performing in around the time that Poe was born. Poe had an elder brother and a younger sister. As a young boy, Poe’s father had abandoned his family in 1810, and his mother died soon after that from pulmonary tuberculosis. Poe was orphaned until he was taken in by John Allan, a successful Scottish merchant, and his wife Frances, all of who lived in Richmond, Virginia. Poe had never been formally adopted by the couple, though he added on their last name of Allan to the rest of his own name, thus creating Edgar Allan Poe. Personal Life Though the first few years of Poe’s life had been unstable and full of devastation, it improved drastically while he lived with the Allans. “John Allen alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son (Meyers 9),” which proved to have played a large role as Poe grew into a successful student and an established writer. John Allan’s job allowed him to often take the family overseas, where Poe attended grammar school in Scotland; afterwards, he went back to London with the rest of the family, where he attended a boarding school for approximately a year. When Poe finished at the boarding school, he attended two additional schools in the outskirts of London. When Poe turned seventeen, he registered at the newly created college, University of Virginia, where he decided to study languages. It was during his time at the University that Poe lost touch with his foster father due to gambling debts. Poe tried to condone what he owed his foster father by claiming that his foster father did not give Poe enough money for classes, textbook, or a dormitory. However, Poe’s time at the University only lasted for a year, and Poe made his way to Boston where he worked an assortment of odd jobs, including a newspaper writer, to support himself. Unfortunately, Poe was unable to properly support himself, and in 1827 he enlisted in the United States Army. He lied about his age to enlist, claiming to be twenty-two despite the fact that he was only eighteen, and he began to use a fake name, which was Henri Le Rennet. Poe served for only two years when he decided to end his five-year enlistment early. He explained the situation to his commanding officer, revealing both his real name and his real age. His commanding officer said that the only way he would release Poe would be if Poe set things right with John Allan. The first few attempts were failures, but after the death of Poe’s foster mother, John Allan softened enough to help Poe discharge from the military. Poe was finally discharged in 1829 and sent to a military academy at West Point. In 1830, John Allan remarried, and his new wife was greatly against Poe and his ideas about the children that John Allan had when he had affairs, caused Poe to be disowned completely by his foster father. In February of 1831, Poe moved to New York, though shortly after he moved back home to Baltimore to be with his aunt, cousin, and brother, who sadly died from problems with alcoholism in August of that year. Publishing Career As aforementioned, Poe began his writing career as a writer for a newspaper. The job paid minimal and certainly not enough for Poe to make a living. His first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems had been published and released the same year that he joined the Army, though he gained little to no attention for the forty-page book of poems, of which only fifty copies were printed. His second volume of poems, Al Araaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems was released in 1829, though still did not receive any recognition for his work. His third volume of poems, Poems, was released while Poe was in New York. This book obtained a little more attention, but this was primarily due to the cadets from West Point who helped in the publishing process of the volume. After Poe’s brother had died, Poe became more driven to fully start his career as a successful writer. Though the economy of America was not the best, Poe was “the first well-known American to try to live by writing alone (Quinn 305).” Books and periodicals were a growing luxury in America during this time, but obtaining the money to publish and then collecting the money once the book sold were difficult feats that proved almost impossible for Poe. Instead of being pulled down by this, Poe simply went about borrowing money to get what he needed for his writing and for himself. Poe’s first writings consisted of only poems, but he felt intrigued by prose. Poe published a few short stories in a publication; at the same time, he began to write his only drama, Politian. He received an award of his short story, Found in a Bottle, which aided Poe in getting the help he needed to really do something with his writing career. Poe became assistant editor to a literary periodical, the same periodical that published a few more of his short stories. Unfortunately, his run as assistant editor was short-lived when he was found drunk by his boss. He was allowed to stay at the magazine, using it to publish what he could of his works, but he only remained there for another year or so. In 1838, Poe had a breakthrough when The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely accepted. Afterwards, for the next few years, Poe found himself as the assistant editor for numerous magazines and literary periodicals, all of which allowed Poe to publish many of his short stories and some articles and reviews. Through this, he was able to establish himself as a sharp critic. By 1839, Poe was seeing a two-volume set of short stories being published, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. He made very little money from it, but glorified in it still being recognized. It was in 1842 when life took another turn for the worst for Poe. His wife, Virginia, was showing the first signs of tuberculosis, the same disease that had taken Poe’s mother from him. It was because of this that Poe started drinking heavily, which may or may not have influenced many of his works after this point. He also began looking for another writing or editorial job at more magazine and periodicals. Fortunately, though, another silver lining appeared for Poe when, in 1845, his poem “The Raven” was published and received the best reviews of anything Poe had written previously, despite the fact that he was only paid a few dollars for the piece. After his final attempts at working for a writing periodical, Poe moved him and his wife to New York. Virginia died there on January 30, 1847, an event that was widely believed to have influenced a lot of Poe’s future work. Influence of His Works Poe’s simple need to write is what influenced him to write his early works, and these stories and poems were light and happy. However, it was assumed that the constant death and abandonment in his life is what caused him to write the majority of his pieces, which showed quite clearly through the macabre style that Poe grew accustomed to. As more people began to die, Poe’s poems became darker and more unsettling. Interestingly enough, these were the pieces that gained the most attention and the best reviews. After Poe’s mother had died, Poe developed a phobia of cemeteries, believing that ghosts would come out of their graves and go after him (Symons 27). The change in his writing was not that noticeable, but Poe began to incorporate the concepts of life and death into his poems. “The Raven,” which was the greatest turning point for Poe’s writing, was written out of reflection for the death of Poe’s brother. The poem reveals the loneliness that Poe felt after his brother had died, as Poe and his brother had not been close. The protagonist in “The Raven” spends the length of the poem trying to find out who is in his home, which is the raven, though hoping that it is the woman that he once loved. The poem’s protagonist drove himself insane with the hope that Lenore had come for him; Poe had driven himself insane in a similar way, trying to come to terms with his brother completely abandoning him. When John Allan died in 1834, Poe’s short stories began reflecting the darkness of his poems. The death of his foster father had been unexpected and jarring, and these elements began to show up in Poe’s short stories. Poe used his short stories to reveal how he understood that the world was cruel and abusive and, just like abuse, life could turn easily on someone. Nothing in life was ever stagnant and the change would always be unwelcome. Virginia’s death was the final straw for Poe, though not for his writing. While he watched his wife slowly surrender to death, Poe wrote “The Conqueror Worm,” which very graphically detailed the decaying and consumption of a dying human body by worms and maggots. This poem can be seen as a direct connection with the failing health of Virginia (Poe & Fisher 223). The worms in the poem did to the decaying body what the disease did to Virginia’s body. The poem “Annabel Lee” was written after Virginia’s death and with Virginia in mind. Like many poems before it, this poem focused solely on the death of a loved one. It displayed the love that Poe felt for Virginia and the love that was returned to him; it was also revealed Poe’s state of mind after his beloved had died. Death Edgar Allan Poe died October 7, 1849. There is still quite a bit of speculation surrounding his death due to the fact that he had not been close to anyone during the months prior to him dying. He was found on the morning of October 3, wandering the streets of Baltimore in a delirious state. He was also not wearing clothes that belonged to him (Hennessy 164). He was taken to a hospital where he stayed for four days until his death; unfortunately, during his few days in the hospital, he never revealed to anybody how he ended up the way he had. No medical records belonging to Poe exist anymore, so his cause of death is even more uncertain. Newspapers during his time noted that he most likely died from problems involved with alcohol, though the history of his health left room for possibilities of heart disease, various sexually transmitted diseases, and even rabies. Conclusion Like many authors during the 1800s, Poe’s works did not become popular until after his death. This was mainly due to the curiosity that Poe had presented in regard to his life, and many people hoped they could understand the late man through his various writings. Despite the many tragedies and deaths faced in his life, Poe’s works have allowed him to live on. Works Cited Hennessy, Una. Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849; A Critical Biography. New York: Haskell House, 1971. Print. Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan, and Benjamin Franklin Fisher. The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004. Print. Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1941. Print. Symons, Julian. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe. London: House Of Stratus, 2001. Print. Read More