Zac Griffith 4th Period 10-21-11 Edgar Allan Poe Zac Griffith 4th Period 10-21-11

Edgar Allan Poe Born: January 19, 1809 Died: October 7, 1849 http://www.poestories.com/

5 Short Stories and 5 Poems “The Tell-Tale Heart” “The Cask of Amontillado” “The Balloon Hoax” “The Black Cat” “The Gold Bug” 5 POEMS “The Raven” “Annabel Lee” “The City In The Sea” “The Haunted Palace” “The Bells”

Biography On January 19, 1809 Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1810, Edgar’s parents separate and Edgar’s mother, Elizabeth, gets custody of the children. One year later Edgar’s Mother dies and he is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Allan. In 1826 Edgar attends The University Of West Virginia. One year Later, Edgar drops out of school and Writes his first book “Tamerlane and other poems”. He also joins the United States Army. In May of 1836 Edgar marries his 13 year old cousin Virginia.

Biography Three years later Edgar writes “The Fall Of The House Of Usher”. He also publishes his first volume of short stories “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque”. In 1845 Edgar writes one of his most famous poems “The Raven”. On October 3, 1849 Edgar was Found Semi Conscious on a Street in Baltimore and was taken to the hospital. He Died four days later.

My Theory On Poe’s Death I think that Edgar Allan Poe died from diseases and other medical problems. I feel this way because most pictures I see of him he has sort of a twist in his face. This might have meant that he had a lesion on the brain. He also might have had heart disease too. In some of his letters to a woman named Maria Clemm he says that he is very ill. “I have been so ill-have had the cholera, or spasms quite bad, and can now hardly hold the pen”(Ostrom, Letters, p. 452). These diseases ultimately would have ended his life and I feel that they are the reason he died.

My Favorite Poe Story My favorite Poe story is The masque of the red death. Its about a castle full of people who are hiding from something named “the red death”. The castle that they are hiding in has seven rooms. Each Room is a different color. The first room is blue and its symbolizes birth. The second Room is Purple and its symbolizes the beginning of growth.

My Favorite Poe Story The third room is green and symbolizes youth. The fourth room is orange and it symbolizes middle age. The fifth room is white and it symbolizes aging. The sixth room is violet and it symbolizes the last few years of life. The last room is black and has scarlet windows and its symbolizes death. In the end “The Red Death” finds the castle and goes inside and starts walking through the rooms. When he reaches the last room everybody dies. The Red Death symbolizes death itself As you can see this story shows a lot of symbolism and I enjoyed reading it very much.

Conclusion Edgar Allan Poe is like the father of the modern day horror story because he opened up a new window of writing that inspired people to create more scary stories. I connected with some of Poe’s story because I went to Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream and went in the haunted house called “Nevermore”. Nevermore depicts scenes from some of his stories and gives you a visual of them. I really enjoyed his stories because of his wide variety of vocabulary and the uniqueness of his stories.

Works Cited