Edgar Allan Poe - (1809-1849)
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Read another essay on Edgar Allan Poe written by New
York students Andrew Michaelson and Ellis Rosen or
Virginia student Wes Martin. I. Biography
Edgar Allan Poe, son of actress Eliza Poe and actor David Poe Jr., born 19th of January 1809, was mostly known for his poems and short tales and his literary criticism. He has been given credit for
inventing the detective story and his psychological thrillers have been influences for many writers worldwide. Poe and his brother and sister were orphaned before Poe's third birthday and Poe was
taken in to the home of John and Fanny Allan in Richmond, Virginia. The Allans lived in England for five years (1815-1820), where Poe also attended school. In 1826 he entered the
University of Virginia. Although a good student, he was forced to gambling since John Allan did not provide well enough. Allan refused to pay Poe's debts and Poe had to leave the University after only one year.
In 1827, Poe published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems anonymously under the signature "A Bostonian". The poems were heavily influenced by Byron and showed of a
youthful attitude. Later in 1827, Poe enlisted in the Army under the name Edgar A Perry where his quarrels with John Allan continued. Poe did well in the army but in 1829 he left and decided to apply for a cadetship at West Point.
Before he was able to enter West Point, Poe published a book entitled: Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. This time the book was published, not anonymously, but
under the name Edgar A. Poe, where the middle initial acknowledged John Allan's name. Before Poe left West Point he received financial aid from his fellow cadets to publish a third
edition of the book. Poe called it a second edition though and it was titled Poems by Edgar A. Poe in which his famous poems "To Helen" (another version was published in 1848) and "Israfel"
appeared. These show of the musical effect that has come to characterize Edgar's poems. Later, Poe moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and his first cousin
Virginia. In 1832, he won a $50 prize for his story "MS. Found in a Bottle" in the Baltimore Saturday Visitor. In 1835, Poe brought his aunt and cousin to Richmond where he worked
with Thomas Willis White at the Southern Literary Messenger. He also married his thirteen- year- old cousin Virginia. Most of Poe's work with the Messenger was of a critical nature but he also published some
literary work such as "Berenice". His work with the writing and the editorial departments of the Messenger increased the circulation of the magazine. However, his drinking habits
forced White to eventually let him go. Poe moved around to New York and Philadelphia, trying to establish a name in literary journalism but without any major success. His theories on musical poems and short prose
narratives which were to aim at "a certain unique or single effect" can be for example be seen in "Ligeia" (1838) and "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) which would
eventually become one of his most famous stories. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) is sometimes considered the first detective story. Examples of his use of a rhythmic and flowing language are the poems
"The Raven" (1845) and "The Bells" (1849). The raven was a symbol of "Mournful and never ending remembrance" which is not only a good description for "The Raven"
but could be applied to almost all of his work. In January 1847, Virginia died and Poe took this very hard but he kept on writing until the day he died in Baltimore October 7, 1849. II. Philadelphia
In the spring of 1838, Poe left New York for Philadelphia and settled at 202 Mulberry Street but then later moved to a small house on 16th Street. Poe educated Virginia in their house
in Philadelphia. He taught languages and algebra; such subjects that he had been good at in school. He also provided a piano and a harp for Sissy, to satisfy her taste for music.
After two and a half years of free-lancing, Poe found a steady income in William Evans Burton. Billy Burton had a magazine, started in 1837, and named Burton's Gentleman's
Magazine. Neither Burton nor the magazine suited Poe very well but since he was in need of a job, he accepted Burton's offer. Poe and Burton did not get along very well but
reached some kind of agreement and Edgar became the assistant editor for the magazine. While living in Philadelphia Poe published 31 tales and stories, among them: "Ligeia",
"The Fall of The House of Usher", "William Wilson", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Black Cat" and
"The Mystery of Marie Roget". It is admirable that he managed to publish so many popular tales while running from job to job, taking care of Virginia, insulting people, abusing alcohol, and so on. Poe's
greatest literary work written in Philadelphia was "The Raven" which to this day still remains one of Poe's most notorious and memorized poems. III. Best Known Literary Works
MS. Found in a Bottle is mainly about a man who, together with an "old Swede", survives when their ship gets destroyed. They end up on a phantom-ship where he walks around
and nobody notices him and as the vessel plunges into a whirlpool the narration breaks off - "the ship is quivering - O God! and - going down!". The tale is as many other tales by Poe
filled with effectual contradictions - the dead are living, the young are old, the strange is unstrange, the near is far and so on. The Fall of the House of Usher
is considered one of his most famous contributions. "Usher" was a classic horror story with conventional Gothic features such as stealthy
servants, sounds of heavy iron doors, and collapsing buildings. The greatness in the tale is not in its novelty on the subject but how Poe treated it. The language he uses is
technically advanced and sets the mood in a very efficient way. The Ushers are named after Noble Luke Usher and Harriet L'Estrange Usher, who had performed with Eliza and David Poe. The Black Cat
is about a deranged man who has an infatuation with his cat: Pluto. The alcoholic narrator kills the cat several times but it keeps coming back. At one time, he
accidentally cleaves through his wife's head and bricks her corpse up in a wall, but the cat's howling reveals the hiding-place to the police. A typical Poe ending to a Poe story, (similar to "The Tell-Tale Heart"
ending). IV. Sources Klopfer, Donald. The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. New York: Random House Inc, 1992. (11 May. 2000) Webb, Redford. Poe. Virginia: Cantaline, 1983. This essay was submitted by a student of Cheryl Petersohn, a teacher at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania.
Wilson, Jonathan. Short Stories by Poe. New York: Rock Castle, 1989.