Mikayle Bertine 4 th period 10/25/11

Edgar Allan Poe Born on : January 19, 1809 Died on: October 7, _allan_poe.htm

5 STORIES  "Ligeia"  “The Balloon Hoax”  "The Gold Bug"  "The Black Cat“  "Some Words With a Mummy" 5 POEMS "Annabel Lee" "The Raven" "A Valentine“ "A Dream Within A Dream" "The City in the Sea"

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston. By the time Poe was 2 years old, his parents died and he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan. Mr. Allan was a very rich man and Poe was able to get into good schools. For college, he went to the University of Virginia. A year later he dropped out of college and went into the U.S. Army. Two years went by and he entered West Point as a cadet in After that year, in 1831, Poe went to New York where he had some of his poetry published.

Poe then, in 1836, ended up marrying his cousin Virginia. He was 27 and she was 13. They were deeply in love and he didn’t care it was his cousin. In 1847, Virginia died of Tuberculosis. Poe was devastated. On October 3, 1849 he was found at Gunner’s Hall. He was then taken to the hospital. He was in and out of consciousness, but never able to explain what happened to him. Edgar Allan Poe then died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 in that hospital.

My theory is that he died of alcoholism. I think this because it says he was an alcoholic and even though he went to rehab to try to quit it didn’t work. I believed that it worked for a short while. But then when he was alone again, because his wife/cousin, Virginia, died of tuberculosis. When he moved, he had no money and nobody to go to, leading to him becoming, once again, an alcoholic.

My favorite story was “The Masque of the Red Death” because I liked learning about the rooms. There were seven rooms, and they were all a different color. There was, blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. They all have different meanings. Blue: Birth, Purple: Beginnings of growth, Green: Youth of life, Orange: Summer and autumn of life, White: Oldness, Violet: Darkness, and Black: Death. These tell you what happens in each room.

This story shows symbolism because of the rooms. Each room stands for a different thing, that is called symbolism. Also, this story shows suspense because you want to know what happens in each room. But it only goes one room at a time. So, therefore, it is making it suspenseful.

Edgar Allan Poe is like the “Father of modern day horror stories” because his life relates to all of his stories and poems. It’s like all of his horror stories are exactly like him. They came to life… These stories and poems are nothing like my life. Therefore, I can not relate to them. When reading his stories, I only found some of his stories enjoyable. This is because, I do not like gruesome stories. But then again, I liked some of them because they had to do with his life and it was interesting to get to know how his child hood was.

Works Cited Giordano, Robert. “Biography of Edgar Allan Poe.” Poestories.com- An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (27 June, 2005). (19 October, 2011).. Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory.” Shmoop.com. (11 November, 2008). Shmoop University, Inc. (19 October, 2011).. “The Masque of the Red Death.” Poe’s Short Stories. (2011). Sparknotes, LLC. (19 October, 2011).. Merriman, C.D. “Edgar Allan Poe ( ), American poet, critic, short story writer, and author of such macabre works as “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1840)”. (2006). Jalic, Inc. (19 October, 2001). The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. “The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe”. (15 October, 2011). (19 October, 2011).