The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example

betrayal where after returning from college, he found his fiancé had been engaged to another person and at the same period he had an argument with his stepfather and left the family. His miserable life that was full of dark paths led and inspired his writings.

When Edgar’s father abandoned them at the tender age of three years and his mother passed on one year after that Edgar got separated from his siblings. In the poem, Edgar is not mentioned ever getting in contact or finding his relatives after that so it can be assumed that he never got into contact with his siblings ever again after the death of his mother. However, after going to college for one year and his argument with his stepfather, he went to live with his long time aunty who had a daughter. Poe fell in love with his cousin whom he married when she was at a tender age of only thirteen years.

Edgar lived a life of poverty, and even though his literature work was extemporary, and he had a very creative talent he paid very little for his writings. He lived in total poverty, and this led him to gamble to try and clear his debts. He tried very many times to improve his financial status, but there was no change and this, together with other factors led to him turning into alcoholism, depression and meeting his premature death. He was a good student in school, though he had a problem with gambling, and this led him to him being kicked out of college and wasting an opportunity to improve his financial status.

Edgar was never close with his

foster father, and their strained relationship led to him leaving their home (Kaufhold pg 3). John, his foster father, did not like Edgar since he thought Edgar was a shameless and ungrateful person for not showing gratitude for all the things they had done for him. They had taken him to the best schools since they were financially stable, but all Edgar could repay them back was his gambling problem that led to him being kicked out of college because of his accumulated debts that he was unable to pay. John refused to pay this debt, and this led to Edgar leaving their home. Their relationship was so strained that later on after Edgar had lost his foster parents, he tried writing a letter to his foster father asking for financial help but he did not reply to his letter nor help him out. John later remarried and before he died, he completely removed Edgar from his Will leaving him with nothing.

The fact that also Edgar’s father abandoned them leaving them in absolute poverty could have contributed to Edgar not developing a relationship with John and the misdeeds in his life. Edgar, on the other hand, was very close to his foster mother, and this relationship may have triggered him to stay at their home for the many years before his argument with his foster father that made him leave.

The cause of Edgar’s death was not known in detail only speculations were made of the causes leading to his dying. Some of the speculations were alcoholism since he had turned into an alcoholic mainly because of the misfortunes in his life the major one being

the loss of his wife who had passed on a few years after their wedding. Other speculations were that he had passed on due to depression because of misery and misfortunes in his life. He was a poor writer and despite that he was very talented and wrote stories that have up to date captured the imaginations of many writers’ in the world he was not paid well for his work.

One of the poems that he wrote known as Ravens is said he was only paid 14 dollars. Poverty led him to getting into depression and it is rumored that this may have led to him going into depression and thus causing his death later on. He died as he was travelling to Baltimore to raise money for his new magazine and some speculations about his death are that he might also have been robbed. It is also quite important to note that Edgar served in the military for a few years before being discharged which was his plan. He realized that the wage was too little, and he did not get a good enough platform to grow his career as a writer.

Edgars writing was inspired by his life and what had affected him. He wrote poems derived from true happenings of his life, and this captured the attention of many readers. This also made his work unique and in many instances lead to the beginning of many literal genres. He wrote about love which was inspired by the love story the death of his wife; he wrote about death and in many instances, he often wrote horror stories and poems that made people afraid

even in the dark. This was as a result of his dark and unhappy life and the events in his life that led to his death. The fact that he had lost his wife, his foster father did not like him and could not even help him when he was drowning in debts led him to write such stories and poems. He started writing while he was young and he wrote his short stories for magazines to publish them.

Many critics have argued that Edgar was the inventor of science fiction because of his numerous works on horror fiction, poems and stories; a field of entertainment that has long since then grown into a billion dollar industry. Sadly, he never reaped or got to enjoy this because he died way long before he witnessed this. Personal events and experiences make a person's character and thus forge the fabric of how he thinks and what he thinks about. In Edgar’s case, his life was filled with tragic deaths such as his mother, his young cousin and his wife (M. O'Loughlin and Emmett Fitzgerald pg192). Experiencing so many deaths eventually changes a person and as a writer the best way he would have shared what he felt his life was like was through his works such as poems and stories. The majority of his works were horror movies which were freighting and captivating too, many of them have seen turned into horror movies. His work was so influential in the horror industry that they created the Edgar awards to commemorate him which happens annually.

His death made him more intriguing considering that no one knew what caused it, rumors

and speculation multiplied all over the country with people suggesting quite many causes. They were such as rabies, suicide, robbery, alcoholism, heart disease, cholera and many others (Peeples pg155). During his time, his work was not well received, however, due to these unclear circumstances more scholars and readers were drawn to his work. His poems were such as Raven, Annabel Lee, The Bells, Lenore, Eldorado, Tamerlane, The city in the sea, Eureka: A Prose poem, Spirit of the dead, Ulalume, The Conqueror Worm, The valley of unrest, Al Aaraaf, and many others. His books were The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, The works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and quite a number of others. He has vast literature either online or in hard copies.

One of his most appreciated works is the book Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque. This edition is a combination of short stories such as “The Fall of the House of Usher”,”Ligeia” and “William Wilson. These were the most thrilling and jolting stories in his catalogue. Some of his poems or books are a direct narration of his tragic life, for example, in “The Raven” Edgar talks about his love and his loss. He narrates about his sorrows and tragedy over his wife’s death.

Poe was a serious critic of other writers which made him very unpopular with his peers; He was so harsh that some of his peers loathed him hence the reason why his reputation was smeared after his death through a biography of his life write one of his victims. However, literature was not his only passion; he had briefly ventured into

other fields such as cryptography, physics and cosmology. He would sometimes offer challenges for people to send him ciphers for him to decipher, another hobby he took quite seriously was cosmology. In one of his first poems called “Eureka: A Prose Poem,” he talked about the Big Bang theory decades before it had to be developed. This showed that Poe, though a college dropout, he was quite a brilliant person. However, his theory had many loopholes and when he was confronted about it is the hardheaded person he was, he argued that he was never arguing from the science point of view but rather as an artist. The paradox was although he clearly expressed that this theory was purely art he still insisted on its legitimacy.

After his wife died in 1847, he became depressed and started drinking too much until his health started failing. Apart from his brief relationship he had not experienced any happiness or a sense of accomplishments, his works were not popular at the time, and he was not making much from it. This drowned him further into grief, and his health suffered greatly, what killed him is not clearly documented, but the location of his death is Washington College Hospital in Baltimore. The immediate diagnosis was congestion of the brain, but as time goes on the rumors grow and more theories arise, even now with modern technology analysis to establish what caused his death has not yet been made.

Many of the harsh and negative rumors circulating about Edgar were formulated by his arch enemy Rufus Griswold, who was a fellow writer. His intention was to revenge for the times Poe had

criticized his work and sometimes graded it as mediocre. Through his numerous works, it can be established that Edgar used his works to cope with his experiences especially the negative ones. Although he wrote many horror poems and stories he was also viewed as a hopeless romantic, this was clearly seen in his love stories. In the short periods or durations, he has in a relationship or in love he would turn to writing love stories. Thus, it is quite evident that he based them or was inspired by his relationships at the time.

In conclusion through the life and the work of Edgar Poe, we are able to experience a life of an artist. It is significant to note that the lives of the artist are not as interesting, amazing and full of fun as people put them up to be. An artist has to strive hard to articulate clearly his emotions, beliefs and experiences for people to identify with him or her.

Through Poe story, we also learn that artists most of the time is eccentric and opinionated. Perhaps through his life story, we can try and change one of the most common shortcomings of human beings, this is appreciating people only die. May it be musicians, poets, scholars, scientists, philanthropist, loved ones or anyone who has made a positive contribution to the world. Human beings are quick to criticize and rarely appreciate each other: It is only when a person has died when we take the time to analyze his input and appreciate him! In appreciating people when still alive sometimes it can save lives, for instance, in the case of Mr. Poe.

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