Edgar Allan Poe: The Gothic Master!

No Great Artist Goes Unpunished  Poe’s family history was troubled  David Poe drank heavily, and abandoned Elizabeth Arnold (Edgar’s mother) shortly after his son’s birth in 1809  Elizabeth died in Richmond, VA while Edgar was only three years old  The now-orphaned Edgar was cared for by John and Frances Allan  Poe uses their last name as his middle name

Father Issues  Frances was kind to Edgar, but John never accepted him as a son  John was extremely critical of Poe’s desire to become a writer  Edgar entered the University of Virginia at the age of seventeen  He studied well, but wanted more money than John was willing to give him

Deep in Debt and Running Away  Edgar turned to gambling as an alternate source of income, but the habit left him with large debts  John pulled Edgar out of school once he found out (rather than help his ward pay his lenders)  Edgar responded by running away, and ended up in Boston on his own – now an “orphan” by choice

Lost in Boston  Poe’s writing dreams took a hit after the publication of his first poetry collection, “Tamerlane,” in 1827  The work sold poorly  Edgar joined the military after failing to find other work  He did well enough for himself in the military (promoted to sergeant major)  However, Poe didn’t enjoy his new lifestyle, and decided to ask John Allan for help

A Dying Wish  Frances begged John to help Edgar on her deathbed, and her husband relented  With John’s assistance, Edgar entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in late 1829  It would be the last time Allan ever helped his foster son  Edgar probably went to the Academy in order to please John  However, John remarried in 1830 with a woman young enough to bear children (thus ensuring Poe would not be his heir), and Edgar left the Academy

Glimmers of Success within the Darkness  Poe was able to publish “El Aaraaf,” his second collection of poems, while waiting to enter West Point  This collection was more successful than “Tamerlane,” and earned Poe his first real praise as a poet  The book’s success helped provide a foundation for Poe to continue his work

A Very Strange Marriage  Poe moved to Baltimore, where his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm, took him in  He married Maria’s daughter, Virginia, in 1835 – despite the fact that Virginia was thirteen years old!  Not only was Virginia much younger than Poe – exactly half his age – but her health was poor, and she required a great deal of care

Writing to Survive  Poe worked as an editor at various magazines in order to support Virginia and Maria  He continued writing whenever he could, finishing a novel and a number of short stories and poems – including “The Fall of the House of Usher”

Darkness on a Page  Poe’s prose is often tense, simultaneously breathless, strangled, and claustrophobic - despite the presence of ornate descriptions and elaborate sentence constructions  Most of his narrators are terrified or distraught  Many of his characters suffer from illnesses of the body and mind, or carry terrible, haunting secrets – and characters often go insane or die!  Poe’s eerie settings, tragic stories, and obsession with loss, death, guilt, and grief often shocked and frightened his readers

Peering into the mind’s dark corners  However, Poe’s psychological thrillers weren’t meant to be exploitative  Instead, the author wanted to move beyond the sunny world of the optimists and the ordered world of the rationalists in order to explore a greater truth  He aimed to do this by pulling back the “curtain” that separates the ordinary from the supernatural, revealing the “truth” in the darkness that lies within the human mind

Drowning in a bottle  Poe’s writing flourished even as the writer suffered  The author produced a large number of original pieces despite a crippling drinking problem  Although a few sips of alcohol left him staggering, Poe drank constantly in order to escape a disturbing, tormented world

Never Enough  Despite the fact that he wrote fairly often, Poe’s work never left him with enough money to support Virginia or Maria comfortably  Even “The Raven,” arguably the author’s most famous work, didn’t provide him with the money he needed

The beginning of the End  Poe’s life fell apart when Virginia, his now- 25-year-old wife, died of tuberculosis in 1847  He grew more and more unstable, eventually developing a brain lesion that signaled his impending death  Desperate, Poe continued to seek romance, looking for someone to finally “adopt” him  It’s sad to realize that Poe spent his entire life searching so hard for stability – financial, familial, emotional – only to never find it

The ugly End  Poe disappeared in Virginia in 1849 while on his way to meet with a woman he hoped to marry  He was found in a tavern a week later, soaking wet and delirious  Poe died four days later, regaining consciousness just long enough to pray, “Lord help my poor soul.”

The Legacy of a tortured soul  Poe’s influence on other writers has been tremendous, and continues to this day  See Stephen King for a contemporary example  Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired to create Sherlock Holmes after reading Poe’s works  Fyodor Dostoevsky, a famous Russian writer, was driven to examine the criminal mind – producing such landmarks as “Crime and Punishment”  Poe is the forefather of the detective story, with short stories such as “The Purloined Letter” providing others with a narrative framework for their own stories

In summary…  Poe, our most famous explorer of death, produced a body of work that will extend his legacy for centuries after his unfortunate death  He has experienced far more success in death than in life…and, in a strange way, that almost seems appropriate.

What is the only professional sports team named after a poem?