Edgar Allan Poe - (1809-1849)

Baltimore

By C. Baines

I. Personal Biography

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most well known names in literature. He is a known short story writer, poet, critic, journalist, editor, essayist, and novelist. Baudelaire says of him (qtd. in Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism) that he is "regarded by literary historians as the architect of the modern short story." Poe also created many new writing genres such as the modern horror tale, science fiction story, and the detective story. Thousands have analyzed the works of Poe and these critics have concluded that he has a concise and concrete writing style.

Charles Baudelaire, a French critic, describes Poe's style best: "In the books of Edgar Poe the style is compact and concatenated; the prejudice or the inertia of the reader cannot penetrate the meshes of this network woven by logic. All his ideas, like obedient arrows, fly to the same target." 

Poe was born in 1809 in Richmond, Virginia, where he was raised by John Allan after Poe's parents died while he was very young. Poe attended the best schools in Virginia and began to find his love for writing. During his adolescence, Poe began to write beautiful poetry; ultimately, he used his scholastic talents to attend the University of Virginia. Unfortunately, he was unable to remain at the University because of inadequate financial support, so Poe decided to move to Boston and enlist in the Army. In Boston he published his first poetry collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems. His first collection went unnoticed, but a second collection of poetry, Al Araaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, published in 1829, gained more recognition. Finally, Poe's name spread around the literary world. Also in 1829, Poe was granted an honorable discharge from the Army, went to West Point, only to be dismissed from there. Poe traveled to New York and in 1831 published another collection titled, "Poems." After his stay in New York, he lived with his aunt, Mrs. Maria Clemm, where he met his true love, Virginia.

Poe began to publish more of his works in local newspapers to try and establish more of a prominent image in the literary community. It was a constant struggle for Poe, but eventually he began to catch the watchful eyes of critics. Poe's first published short stories appeared in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier. In Baltimore, Poe received a first place prize in the Saturday Visitor for his short story "Ms. Found in a Bottle." In 1836, Poe finally wed Virginia and decided to try a different aspect of writing. He assumed the post of the editor of The Southern Literary Messenger and became one of America's best literary critics. Although Poe's writing gained  more popularity, he was still poor, and therefore forced to move from place to place to work at numerous publications as an editor. These publications include Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia), and Broadway Journal (New York).

Poe published two collections of his short stories, which gained recognition for their unusual but profound power over the reader. These collections were Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque and Tales by Edgar A. Poe . In response to Tales by Edgar A. Poe, Margaret Fuller wrote in the New York Daily Tribune:

…The writings of Mr. Poe are a refreshment, for they are the fruit of the genuine observations and experience, combined with an invention which is not 'making up,' as children call their way of contriving stories, but a penetration into the causes of things which leads to original but credible results. His narrative proceeds with vigor, his colors are applied with discrimination, and where the effects are fantastic they are not unmeaningly so.

This essay was submitted by a student of Susan Davis, a teacher at St. Timothy's School in Stevenson, Maryland.