Edgar Allan Poe Ben Epstein 6 th

Edgar Allan Poe Born on : January 19 th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts Died on: October 7 th, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland national/baltimore-evermore-edgar-allan-poe- relatives-choose-home-city-for-writer-s- remains

5 Short Stories and 5 Poems 5 STORIES “The Balloon Hoax” “Berenice” “The Black Cat” “The Angel of the Odd” “Hop-Frog” 5 POEMS “Alone” “The Bells” “Dream-Land” “The Raven” “The Sleeper”

Edgar Allan Poe Bio Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19 th, 1808 in Boston, Massachusetts. At a young age he was adopted by Frances and John Allan. He was taken back to their home in Richmond, Virginia where he would go to college in While he was in college his dad started to gamble. He couldn’t give Poe money so he dropped out. Poe couldn’t pay for himself either so in 1827 he enlisted in the army for two years. During that time he wrote the poem Dreams and it was in the Baltimore North American. In 1829 Poe again loses his second mom(foster mom) to illness. Poe’s career really started in 1835 when he became editor of the Southern Literacy Messenger. Without this job he may have never written as many great poems as he did. Then in 1836 Edgar married his cousin Virginia. She was thirteen and he was twenty-seven. They moved to New York city to start their life together. Nine years later one of his most famous poems The Raven is unveiled 1845.

Edgar Allan Poe Bio One year later Poe writes more stories like The Cask of Amontillado and Eureka. A very tragic event happens to Poe in 1847, his wife Virginia dies. Poe dies two years later on October 7 th, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. Edgar Allan Poe had a humongous impact on our world of literature and without Poe, where would we be?

Poe’s Death There have been a lot of theories on how Edgar Allan Poe died. I think the most reasonable explanation of how he died has to do with medical conditions and problems. I believe this because it says he was writing to Maria Clemm and he told her that he was having trouble writing. Another reason is that medical notes say that he had brain lesions. This can cause a human to act crazy. This could be why people thought he was drunk. Another thing it could have been is rabies because Charles Scarlett gave Poe some water and said he had trouble drinking it. Being scared of water is an effect of rabies.

Favorite Story One of my favorite stories written by Poe is The Masque of the Red Death. The story starts by explaining how the Red Death is spreading throughout a fictional country. Price Prospero is trying to avoid this “death” so he takes himself and a plethora of other people and to his castle and locks his gates so no one can get in or out. After a few months of being in the castle he decides to have a masquerade ball. All the people in the castle go to this event and have a great time. But when the clock rings in the Black Velvet room everybody stops what they are doing until the ringing stops and then they go back to dancing. The clock rings every hour. At midnight the clock rings and the guests notice a man dressed in a cloak and a mask.

Favorite story They think it is very rude for someone to come dressed like this. The man then begins walking through the rooms. Prospero follows him until he gets to the Black Velvet room where he dies. The other people at the ball go to the room also and unmask the thing only to find that no one is under it. Then everybody dies proving that the “Red Death” can’t be defeated or hid from. Poe used symbolism in this story a lot. For one he had seven rooms, each a different color and has a different meaning. The first room is blue representing birth. The second is purple which represents growing up. The third is green which represents youth. The fourth is orange and is the summer of life. The fifth is white which represents ageing. The sixth is violet which is for growing older and darkness. The last is Black-Velvet which represents death. Another use of symbolism is how the rooms go from west to east. The sun rises in the west which is the start of “life”. In the east the sun sets meaning “death”.

Conclusion (5+ sentences) Poe is like the father of the modern day horror story because he wrote about death in grotesque ways. He experienced so much death in his life that writing was the only way to express his thoughts and feelings. No I didn’t make any connections with his stories. Yes I enjoyed his stories very much. I liked them because he had great use of suspense and symbolism. Also because he bases them off his life experience.

Works Cited Schmoop Editorial Team. “The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism, Imagery and Allegory.” Schmoop, We Speak Student.” (11 November 2008). Schmoop University, Inc. (19 October 2011).. SparkNotes Editors. “ SparkNote on Poe’s Short Stories.” SparkNotes.com. (2002). SparkNotes LLC. (19 October 2011).. Giordano, Robert. “Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe.” “Poestories.com.” (27 June 2005). (19 October 2011).. Merriman, C.D. “Edgar Allan Poe.” “The Literature Network.” (2006). Jalic Inc. (19 October 2011).. “The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.” “Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.” (1 May 1997). LFC Hosting. (19 October 2011)..