Olivia Parker 3 rd period 10/25/11

Born on : January 19, 1809 Died on: October 7, 1849 EDGAR ALLAN POE

5 STORIES The Balloon Hoax The Black Cat The Oblong Box The Tell Tale Heart The Gold-Bug 5 SHORT STORIES AND 5 POEMS 5 POEMS “Alone” “Annabel Lee” “The City in the Sea” “A Valentine” “The Sleeper”

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, His mothers name was Elizabeth and his fathers name was David. He had 2 other siblings, Rosalie and Henry, but in 1811 his mother passed away, Edgar was only 2 years old. The 3 children were split up, with Henry going to their grandparents, Rosalie being adopted by another family, Poe was then adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan. Edgar went to a school in England to study at age 6, and remained there for 5 years. Poe then proceeded to go to the University of Virginia in 1826, but developed a drinking problem and became in debt and dropped out of school less than a year later. Poe then had nothing, no money no particular job skills, and John Allan was no longer speaking with him. Poe went off to the army in 1827 when he was 18 years old. Poe did pretty well and earned the rank sergeant major. In 1829 Mrs. Allan passed away, and John made an attempt to be friendlier towards Edgar, he demonstrated this by signing his application to West Point. BIOGRAPHY

Then in 1831 Poe went off to New York to get some of his work published, but no one was interested in any of it. In 1835 Edgar finally got a job as editor of a newspaper because of his winning story, “Manuscript Found in a Bottle”. Things were going well for Poe, in 1836 he married his cousin Virginia. After this his job placements were very unsteady and drifted from different jobs. Then in 1847 tragedy struck and Virginia’s health began to fade and in 1847, 10 days after Poe’s birthday, she passed away. On October 3, Poe was found at Gunners Hall, beaten, drunk, and hardly alive. He was taken to a hospital and passed away on Sunday, October 7, POE’S BIOGRAPHY CONT..

I believe that the theory about him being in Baltimore and the voting day incident. I believe this because it seems to be the most credible. I think it makes sense because Poe was known to drink and if the poll was actually there that day it would be credible. Also it is recorded that Poe was found in someone else’s clothes, and the people responsible for the voting day mugging put different clothes on their victims so they were not recognized by the poll takers. Edgar also would have been an easy target because it is likely that he was already drinking, as he was an alcoholic. MY THEORY ON POE’S DEATH

“The Cask of the Amontillado” was about a man named Montresor who wanted revenge on a man named Fortunato. Montresor was planning on getting revenge during a large celebration which occurred in Paris, which explains why the drinking of alcohol was involved in the trap. His trap was to bring Fortunato down to his wine cellar and trap him there. For Fortunato had insulted him greatly. I found this story to be extremely suspenseful. I believed that Edgar created suspense throughout the story. He created suspense by telling the story in the past tense, he was almost telling you what happened, as he did it. THE CASK OF THE AMONTILLADO

The introduction where the problem and characters were introduced made it more suspenseful because you then knew he was going to take some kind of action but you weren't sure exactly how it would play out. The suspense increased every time they got closer they got to the wine cellar. Then Montresor just gets Fortunato to go into the crevice and chains him in and builds a wall over the only exit. Fortunato was left there, and was said to be never found. THE CASK OF THE AMONTILLADO

Poe was considered by many, to be the father of modern day horror stories. He could have gained this title from anything to the tone that was heard in his stories to the very details of every move each character made, told so precisely that it was as if you were really there. He started the craze on horror stories. The stories Poe wrote were so new and different from anyone else’s that eventually people would realize how true genius he was, and how this accomplished very little for him while he was living. I personally, loved Poe’s stories. I found them captivating and I always felt as if I was there watching his characters act out the story. My favorite piece by Poe is “Annabel Lee”. It is a poem about his wife whom died, as he compares her death with the winds taking her away. About how he wishes if he could only be with her, and waits happily for death, so he can be with her again. Although I did not connect personally to his stories with experiences in my life, I deeply enjoyed reading every poem, and every story available. CONCLUSION

Giordano, Robert. “Biography of Edgar Allan Poe.” Poestories.com-An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (27 June 2005.) (19 October 2011.). Merriman, C.D. “Edgar Allan Poe.” Edgar Allan Poe. (2006.) (19 October 2011.) Spark Note Editors. “Spark Note on Poe’s Short Stories.” SparkNotes.com. (2002) (19 October 2011) WORKS CITED