Edgar Allan Poe: Life and Critical Exposure to His Work - Book Report/Review Example

Edgar Allan Poe: Life and Critical Exposure to his Work Life Bibliography of Edgar Allan Poe: Edgar Poe born on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849 was an author from America. He was a lyricist, editor and fictional reviewer and was part of the Movement of American Romance. Very famous and renowned for his secrecy and the horrid piece of writing; Poe was one of the original, initials practitioners of the American short story and is well thought-out the originator of the variety of detective fiction. He is supplementary accredited with his contribution to the promising science fiction genre. He was the foremost renowned writer who tried to earn solely through writing and thus resulted in a complicated life and career with respect to finance. (Eapoe, 2014) Boston, Massachusetts is native city of Edgar Allah Poe; he was a child when his mother died soon after the departure of his own father from his family. Although he did went to University of Virginia but he only took that for one semester as he did not have much money to pay for the fee. He began his publishing profession in 1827 with an unidentified and nameless collection of poems, “Tamerlane and Other Poems”, which was attributed merely to a “Bostonian” (William, 1991) (J Lasley, 1972). He later changed his area of interest and focused more towards prose (writing style) in which he contributed some years in which he worked for fictitious periodical and magazines, in which he created his own name in his individual fictional criticism style. He has to move about different cities with regard to his work like Philadelphia, city of New York and even Baltimore where he got married with his thirteen years old cousin in 1835. It was in January 1845 when he published his poem, “The Raven”, which was his immediate note for his victory. But right after two years of his first publication, his wife died due to pulmonary tuberculosis. He later planned and worked to publish his own journal named “The Penn” which was later renamed as “The Stylus” got published after his death. Poe died on 7th October 1849 when he was 40 years old in Baltimore. There are unknown causes of the death and the major suspects are alcohol abuse, drugs exploitation, cardiac issues, brain congestion, cholera, tuberculosis, rabies or a suicidal attempt (J Lasley, 1972) (Hubbell 1971). Poe has done a major contribution in the literary circle in not only United States but throughout the world. His major contribution has been in the domain of cryptography and cosmology. American nation has not forgot Poe as he and his literary contribution appears every now and then in the well-liked traditions in films, literature, music, televisions and social media. Also some of his residency places have been now preserved as museums as a tribute to his contributions. Early life Edgar Allan Poe was born on 19th January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the second baby of English actor Junior David Poe and actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. He had two other siblings, William Henry Leonard Poe, his elder brother and Rosalie Poe who is his younger sister.  It was in 1810, when his own father left their family due to disputes among parents and a year afterward his mother died due to pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that affects the lungs. He was then taken into the guardianship of a renowned businessman of Scotland, John Allan who used to trade in a diversity of merchandise like cloth, tombstones, tobacco, wheat and slaves.  Although this family has never adopted him officially, still these Allans provided a base of his foster family and also offered him the name of “Edgar Allan Poe” (William, 1941). Poe received his early education in Irvine, Scotland from grammar school for a short duration of period in 1815, after which he rejoined his family in 1816 in the city of London. In 1817, in London, he learned while staying at a boarding school in Chelsea. After that he was transferred to a school that was 6 km north to London. In 1820, he went back to Richmond, Virginia with the Allans family and served as the lieutenant of the youth honor guard in 1824 as Richmond has the time of festivity and jubilation of the trip of the Marquis de Lafayette to Richmond.  In March 1825, William Galt who was the uncle and strong business partner of John Allan died and left huge acres of property for Allan. The entire legacy was estimated to be worth 750,000 dollars. In June of the same year, Allan used his extensive wealth by procuring Moldavia, which is a two story home of his own ownership. After making initial contribution in the field of poetry, Poe deviated his field of expertise and shifted towards the domain of prose. He published his few short stories under the Philadelphia publication agency and later on he started to work on his drama, “Politian”. This proved to be his sole drama of his life. In October 1833 Poe has been awarded a prize for his short story “MS. Found in a Bottle”.  This also made him famous and brought him in the sight of a famous person John Kennedy, who possesses a strong name and several references that helped Poe later in not only publishing his stories but also helped him to Thomas White, who was the editor of the Magazine in Southern Literary society in Richmond. In 1835, Poe offered his expertise as assistant editor of the magazine but few weeks later he was fired from his job after he was caught intoxicated with alcohol by his immediate boss. He also published several book reviews, poems, critiques, and short stories in the paper. In 1839, Poe joined Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine as assistant editor. He also released frequent stories, articles and reviews, thus increasing his reputation as a strong critic at the Southern Literary Magazine. His collection of tales of the Arabesque and Grotesque was issued in two volumes of the same magazine which bought him little money and reviews of both positive and negative aspects. After a year, Poe left Burton magazine and joined Graham’s Magazine as assistant (Poe, 2014) Edgar Allah Poe died on 7th October 1849 when he was 40 years and the actual cause of death still remains an ambiguity. Some strong assumptions regarding the causes of the death has been Cardiac issues, memory loss, pulmonary tuberculosis, epilepsy, rabies, cholera, drug or alcohol abuse or a suicidal attempt. He is buried in city of Baltimore in Maryland. Although he died but the literary contributions he has made in his life will stay alive forever. (Richard, 1959) Criticism on “The Fall of the House of Usher” By Edgar Allan Poe “The Fall of the House of Usher” can be termed as a typical or perfect example of the Gothic literature pieces. The main features portrayed deliberately by Poe include a haunted living place, monotonous setting, unidentified health conditions and dual personality dwelling in the characters. Although these features direct the reader towards its Gothic sense but Poe’s work remain attractive for the absurdness of certain ideas, like the time and place of the story being unknown. Poe’s depiction of inclemency of weather and deserted lands, leave the reader stranded on the whereabouts of the setting. Poe gives the idea of being the sole human being in the haunted setting but the reasons for being there, and the reasons for being unaccompanied remain unknown. The narrator is portrayed like Roderick’s close friend but the details about Roderick and his life remain a mystery, even the fact that Roderick is a brother to his twin, Lady Madeline. Poe keeps the reader wandering about the firmness and tenacity of the narrator’s expressions and Roderick’s need to have a conversation with him. The Gothic plot is supported with unusual behaviors and realistic elements of life like normal conversation and response mechanisms to various unusual occurrences. However, the narrator’s reasons for visiting the house of Usher creates chaos in the mind of the reader and keep the reader preoccupied with the thoughts of possibilities setting the basic plot of the story. This silent confusion keeps blurring the line between the real and the fantasy. The story begins with the creation of the ever known and splendid elements of Gothic story settings with an old gigantic house with supernatural and paranormal movements surrounded by the dull and empty moat. Poe uses the literary devices not only to strike a sense of fear from the setting but also entraps the reader by involving him within that setting. The setting is horrifying due to the inability of any being to escape its horrifying setting. The castle is haunted and the weather outside is too violent for anyone who tries escaping the castle. The sense of being within the setting is created by Poe with such simple ideas like blowing out candles, darkness and screeching sound of moving doors to the unusual moaning and the portrayal of viewing corpse of the Lady Madeline. Edgar uses plenty of Gothic elements to set the pitch and tone of the story. Although Poe wrote it way back in time, these elements and features of setting can easily be found in most of the horror and thriller movies today. So, the origin of such absurd and unreal elements is dated approximately a hundred and fifty years back when America was living its early stages of life. The unreal and the haunted were not Poe’s only interests, but he was also touched by the ideas like the idea of double, schizophrenia etc. Poe uses such concepts in several of his words like William Wilson is an example and in “The Fall of the House of Usher” where he portrays Roderick and Lady Madeline as twins. The idea is not only used to show the relationship and its power but also to create an Extrasensory perception (ESP). The ESP is created keeping the love and strength of siblings as a foundation and portraying Roderick hearing the dead and graved Lady Madeline entrapped in the coffin and chains. Such elements for creating Extrasensory perception are no more fascinating or unexpected for people in modern Gothic literature but it once had a magnetic charm for readers to be amazed and alarmed by the idea of it. A sensation of claustrophobia has been created in the entire story like as if the narrator has been trapped mysteriously by the allure and attraction of Roderick’s and he also cannot flee from the house of Usher and later it crumples absolutely. It seems like the characters of the play doe not seems to be act and move freely in the house because of its organization and assumption so it presupposed to be a gruesome personality of its own. It demonstrates the role of a gothic mastermind that managed the fortune of all its residents. Also a mis-confusion has been created between the animate and the inanimate things by doubling-up the house of Usher physically with the hereditary ancestor ship of the family, which he also relate to as the house of Usher. Even the term “house” has been used both symbolically and descriptively. There is no continuing connection between the members of the house so all the relations have been passed on by the genetic inheritance of the people of the house. The morbid fear of being enclosed to the house also influences the relations among different characters. The author understands and recognizes late in the game that both Madeline and Roderick are twins, and this understanding took place when the two males arrange to burry Madeline. Also due to the fact that both twins are identical, this reality confined them and restricts their free movement within the house. There is also the difference in the perception of these both twins as Roderick possesses beauty in her intellect whereas Madeline focuses more on the physical appearance quite close to the originality at that time. Inspite of the disadvantage of lacking intellect, Madeline still has the upper hand in the story, which takes the shape of an almost supernatural type creation at some times of the story, as when the scene of her breaking out of her burial place. This neutralizes the nervous, weak and immobile stance of Roderick, her twin sister, also Madeline proved to be the central character to the claustrophobic and symmetrical judgment of the story. Madeline suppresses character of Roderick by avoiding him from considering him as fundamentally dissimilar from her. She completed this assault when at the end of the story she finishes him. Poe is observed to choose closed settings for his stories. Even in the story under consideration, the entire happenings are confined to the boundaries of the gigantic castle explained in the beginning of the story. In the beginning the narrator enters the castle with unknown desires and aims, however, in the end he exists it with the feelings of fright and fear surrounding him. The occurrences and other details of the story, however, remained within the house of Usher. The reality is that the essence of the story under discussion is based on the overall design and the environment it creates. The plot does not contain the best part of it. In this story the plot is set somewhere in the past that is not explained vividly in the story. The readers are told that the two characters Roderick Usher and the story narrator are already friends even before the start of the play. Of these two, it will be more specific to say that Usher is the one who thinks of the narrator to be his only friend. It can’t be said about the narrator how much compassionate he is about Usher’s friendship. Usher posts a self written essay to him, and begs him to meet him in his mansion. When the narrator reaches the Usher’s home, which had a glum look, and because of the evening the narrator finds it difficult to survive the depression and sadness which Poe expressed in words “sense of insufferable gloom”. By using this phrase, Poe is trying to form the first effect in the story. The time of evening is purposefully selected because the horror and ghost stories are not typically associated with the day time. Thus, the evening or night time is best suitable to create the effect of sadness, horror and misery. The look of the mansion, the particular landscape which is desolated, the walls and the rank sedges in the moat are the elements which set the tone of the mood of the story which will be constant throughout the story. The writer has used doubling in the entire story. The story represents Gothic element of the twin. The twins are shown in not human and in the forms of literature. The first look of the narrator on the house was through the reflection of it in the water of the pond. It looked bigger than the actual and also inverted upside down. This is an example of doubling, the writer has used. The similar but opposite representation of the house indirectly symbolizes the relationship of Roderick and Madeline. The writer has also used allusion to the literary works of the other writers. As for instance the poems like “The Haunted Place” and the “MadTrist” written by Launcelot Canning. Poe created these allusions himself and then creatively related it to the other poems. These two poems have similar story which eventually gives a prediction about what will happen next in “The Fall of House of Usher”. In the poem Mad Trist, the moment when Ethelred enters the residence of hermit, gives a double of the scene where Madeline escapes from the tomb. The poem Mad Trist secretly violates the boundaries of literature, the way Roderick’s passion for the poems take their narrations in his own area and gives them life (Wilbur, 1959). The poem going over the borders of literature creates a constant fear effect in the story. The readers are made familiar with the fact that Poe has an obsession with the word games, and codes. This story provides a magnified version of his passion about naming. For instance the name Usher not only specifies the House or the family, it also represents the going across the boundaries and entering the lives of Roderick and Madeline. Also the letter from Roderick which brings (ushers) the narrator into an unknown world from where he did not belong. It might be the cause of the fall of usher’s house that a stranger from the outside world is living in the house. Usher is afraid of the strangers except the narrator. The narrator discourages this fear of outsiders, allows the outsider to come and live in the house and consequently topples the house upside down. An identical type of going across the boundaries is represented in the poem Mad Trist and this story where Madeline comes across death to meet her brother. Poe has buried in the gravity of fiction of the romance of medieval ages and used his popular puns for which he was known for (Poetry foundation, 2014). References: i. Eapoe.org,. Edgar Allan Poe Society Of Baltimore - The Life And Writings Of Edgar Allan Poe. N. p., 2014. Web. 1 Jul. 2014. ii. John W. Robertson, Bibliography of the Writings of Edgar A. Poe and Commentary on the Bibliography of Edgar A. Poe (San Francisco: Russian Hill Private Press, Edwin & Robert Grabhorn, 1934). iii. William D. Hull, "A Canon of the Critical Works of Edgar Allan Poe with a Study of Edgar Allan Poe the Magazinist," dissertation, University of Virginia, 1941. iv. Hubbell, "Poe," in Eight American Authors: A Review of Research and Criticism, revised edition, edited by James Woodress (New York: Norton, 1971), pp. 3- 36. v. J. Lasley Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poes Reviews," Poe Studies, 5 (December 1972): 56-57. vi. Poe, Edgar. Edgar Allan Poe Home Page. Americanliterature.com. N. p., 2014. Web. 30 Jun. 2014. vii. Poetryfoundation.org,. Edgar Allan Poe : The Poetry Foundation. N. p., 2014. Web. 1 Jul. 2014. viii. Richard Wilbur, "The House of Poe," in Anniversary Lectures 1959 (Washington, D.C.: Reference Department of the Library of Congress, 1959), pp. 21-38. ix. Wilbur, "Introduction" and "Notes" to Poe, The Laurel Poetry Series (New York: Dell, 1959). Read More