Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe, an American writer, born January 19, 1809, has received conflicting criticism as a morbid explorer of the dark side as well as a rebel hero. David Herbert Lawrence says of Poe, "Poe had a pretty bitter doom. Doomed to seethe down his soul in a great continuous convulsion of disintegration, and doomed to register the process"ÃÂ (Bloom 21). Poe's life of doom, much of which was self-inflicted, is reflected in his short stories. Aspects of his personality are evident in his writing, although most readers read his works for enjoyment. His compulsive, self-destructive tendencies are addressed in "The Tell-Tale Heart"ÃÂ and "The Mask of the Red Death,"ÃÂ while he defends himself in the humorous story "Never Bet the Devil Your Head."ÃÂ All three stories, however, deal with death and reflect the tragedy in his life.
Doom struck early in Poe's life when his parents, both touring actors, died before his third birthday.
1848 Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe at 39, a yea...
English: Photo of Edgar Allan Poe's Monument/Grave...
English: Edgar Allan Poe.He was taken into the home of John Allan, a Richmond, VA merchant and was allowed to study for five years in England. In 1926 he entered the University of Virginia but stayed only a year since he ran up large gambling debts. He briefly attended West Point, where he earned a military rank and published a book of poems. When Poe arranged his dismissal from West Point, the Allan's disinherited him. His literary career Johnson 2 continued as he worked for and was fired from several magazines while publishing poems, short stories, and literary criticisms. He was rumored to use opium and alcohol.
He married his thirteen-year-old cousin and was left despondent when she died of a harrowing illness. He was found unconscious on a Baltimore street in 1849. In a brief obituary a Baltimore newspaper reported that...