Edgar Allan Poe Biography Essay, Research Paper

Edgar Allan Poe Many authors have made great contributions to the world of

literature. Mark Twain introduced Americans to life on the

Mississippi. Thomas Hardy wrote on his pessimistic views of the

Victorian Age. Another author that influenced literature is Edgar

Allan Poe. Poe is known as the father of the American short story and

father of the detective story. To understand the literary

contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, one must look at his early life, his

literary life, and a summary of two of his famous works. “Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston” (Inglis 505) “on

January 19, 1809” (Asselineau 409). He was born to a southern family

that were in a traveling company of actors (Inglis 505). His father,

David Poe, was from a Baltimore family. He was an actor by profession

and a heavy drinker. Soon after Edgar Allan Poe was born, he left his

family. Poe’s mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, was a widow at the age of

eighteen. Two years after his birth, she died of tuberculosis

(Asselineau 409). When his mother died, Poe was adopted by John Allan

(Perry XI) at the urging of Mr. Allan’s wife. In 1815, John Allan

moved his family to England. While there, Poe was sent to private

schools (Asselineau 410). In the spring of 1826, Poe entered the University of

Virginia. There he studied Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin. He

had an excellent scholastic record. He got into difficulties almost

at once. Mr. Allan did not provide him with the money to pay for his

fees and other necessities. Poe was confused and homesick. He

learned to play cards and started drinking. Soon he was in debt in

excess of two thousand dollars. Poe discovered that he could not

depend upon Allan for financial support. His foster father refused to

pay his debts, and Poe had to withdraw from the University (Asselineau

410). In May of 1827, Poe enlisted in the army as a common soldier.

He did this under the name of Edgar A. Perry. He was stationed on

Sullivan’s Island in Charleston Harbor for over a year. Poe adapted

very well to military discipline and quickly rose to the rank of

regimental sergeant major. After a while, he got tired of the same

daily routine involved in military life. Poe wrote regularly to Mr.

Allan. He met with Mr. Allan after the death of Mrs. Allan in

February of 1829. With Allan’s support, he received his discharge and

enlisted in West Point on July 1, l830 (Asselineau 410). While at

West Point, Mr. Allan, who had remarried, continued in not providing

Poe with enough money. Poe decided to have himself kicked out of

school. Cutting classes and disregarding orders were his solutions.

He was court-martialed for neglect of duties in January, 1831, and

left West Point the following month (Asselineau 411).

“Poe was great in three different fields , and in each one he

made a reputation that would give any man a high place in literary

history. Poe wrote great short stories, famous not only in his

own country, but all over the world (Robinson V).” “Hawthorne,

Irving, Balzac, Bierce, Crane, Hemingway and other writers have given

us memorable short stories; but none has produced so great a number of

famous and unforgettable examples, so many tales that continue,

despite changing standards to be read and reprinted again and again

throughout the world (Targ VII).” “Poe was the father of the modern

short story, and the modern detective story (Targ VII).” “With

the possible exception of Guy de Maupassant, no other writer is so

universally known and esteemed for so large of a corpus of excellent

tales as in Edgar Allan Poe (Targ VII).”

In 1831, Poe succeeded in publishing a new edition of his

poems entitled, Poems. Poe was now in great difficulty. He went to

New York, but could find no job there. Eventually he took refuge with

his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Baltimore. There he decided to seek

employment and make his living by writing. Failing to get attention

with his poems, he decided to start writing short stories. Poe

competed in a contest for the best short story in 1831. The prize was

offered by Phil-Saturday Courier. Because he did not win the prize,

Poe started on an ambitious project. He decided to plan a series of

tales told by members of a literary group. He found no publisher for

his stories, and entered the contest again in June of 1835. This time

he sent one poem and six stories (Asselineau 411). His story, “Ms.

Found in a Bottle,” won , and he received one hundred dollars for it

(Targ IX). Through the influence of one of the judges, John P.

Kennedy, Poe became employed as an editor of the Southern Literary

Messenger, published in Richmond (Asselineau 411). Under Poe’s

editorship, the Messenger ’s circulation rose from 500 to 3500.

While in Richmond, Poe married his cousin, Virginia, who was not quite

fourteen years old. Poe was fired from the Messenger in January of

1837. Poe then went to New York, where he was unsuccessful. In the

summer of 1838, he moved to Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, he

worked as the editor of both Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and

Graham’s Magazine (Asselineau 412). Even though he won a one

hundred dollar prize for “The Gold Bug” (Robinson VI), he moved to New

York. Poe found a job in New York as an assistant editor for the

Evening Mirror. This was where “The Raven” first appeared on January

29, 1845. “The poem immediately caught the imagination of the public

and was reprinted all over the country and even abroad in all kinds of

newspapers and magazines, but Poe pocketed only a few dollars for his

poems (Asselineau 413).” The year of 1845 was a lucky year for Poe.

He published a collection of his Tales and an edition of his poems

named The Raven and Other Poems . He also became the editor of the

weekly Broadway Journal. Poe broke down when Virginia died in January

of 1848 ( Asselineau 413). In 1849, Poe died in Baltimore (Targ IX).

“Instead of really living, he took refuge from the physical world in

the private world of his dreams-in other words-in the world of his

tales (Asselineau 413).”

In the “Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses his imagination

throughout the story (Rogers 43). A plague has devastated the entire

country. It takes only half an hour tofor the course of the disease

to run. At first one feels sharp pains and dizziness. Then one

starts bleeding at the pores. The disease results in death. Prince

Prospero has ordered one thousand lords and ladies to the deep

seclusion of one of his abbeys. The building was built by the Prince

and is filled with his exotic ornaments. It is sealed from the

outside world by a huge wall with iron gates. Inside the building are

dancers, musicians, and everything they need in order to stay secluded

until the plague runs its course. After six months of seclusion, the

Prince decides to hold a masked ball. The ball is held in a suite

with seven rooms. Each room is decorated in a single color. The last

room is decorated in red. Within this room stands a huge clock that

strikes the hour with a heavy clang. The rooms are very crowded for

the ball. At the stroke of midnight, a guest is seen in a costume

of the red death itself and This frightens the other guests. The

Prince is angered at what he believes to be a practical joke. He

orders the stranger seized and hanged from the battlements. Prince

Prospero follows the stranger into the red chamber. It is there that

Prince Prospero falls dead at the feet of the stranger. The others

capture the unknown person in the costume. To their horror they find

there is no living form in the costume. One by one they die until no

one else remains. Death is king of all (Rogers 41).

“The horror abysmal darkness, and absolute helplessness

befalling the victims are described with vivid accuracy in tales such

as ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ and

‘The Premature Burial’ (Perry XI-XII).” In “The Fall of the House of

Usher,” the narrator visits his insane friend, Roderick Usher.

Usher’s house is huge and gloomy (Rogers 20). His twin sister,

Madeline, gets sick and dies. The narrator and Usher place her in a

tomb in the basement of Usher’s house. What they do not realize is

that she is still barely alive. Usher keeps on hearing sounds over

the next couple of days. The seventh day after Madeline’s death, a

bad storm appears. The narrator and Usher open the door of the

narrator’s room and Madeline falls on Usher . They both die. The

narrator then leaves the house. As he rides away, the house collapses

to the floor (Rogers 21).