EDGAR ALLAN POE Lauren Wade Pd. 4 10/26/11

EDGAR ALLAN POE eapoe.org Born on : Died on : January October 7, 1849

5 SHORT STORIES AND 5 POEMS 5 STORIES  The Angel of the Odd  The Balloon Hoax  Berenice  The Black Cat  The Cask of Amontillado Alone Annabel Lee The Bells The City in the Sea The Conqueror Worm 5 POEMS

BIOGRAPHY Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19 th, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. His mother died in 1811 his parents were divorced. His brother Henry went to live with their grandparents he went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Allan. He went to the university of Virginia when he was seventeen. He didn’t have any money and was a heavy drinker so he had to quit school less than a year after he started. He joined the army in 1827 and became a sergeant major. In 1829 his second mother Mrs. Allan died. In an attempt to be nice to Edgar, John Allan signed application for West Point.

BIOGRAPHY CONTINUED While he waited to get into West Point he lived with his grandmother and Aunt Mrs. Clemm. Virginia and Henry also lived there. He got in West Point in 1830 as a cadet. He wasn’t there long because he ran out of money, he purposefully broke rules to be kicked out. In 1835 he got a job as an editor. In 1836 he married his cousin Virginia, she was thirteen years old and he was twenty-six. He quit his job as an editor in early 1836 claiming that he didn’t get paid enough. He frequently was without a job. He died on Sunday, October 7 th, 1849, at the age of 40.

MY THEORY ON POE’S DEATH Many people disagree about how Edgar Allan Poe died. Some people believe he had medical issues or just died of old age. He has a drinking problem for most of his adult life. I believed that eventually killed him. Alcohol is terrible for your liver so I think that is something that had a major part in his death, if he drank heavily that night it could have easily killed him.

MY FAVORITE STORY I think my favorite story is The Masque of the Red Death. The book is about a king who “blocked off” his kingdom from the outside world. He was trying to avoid the red death a deadly disease during that time. He was having a fabulous party and an unwanted visitor showed up. He was skeleton like and splattered with blood (the disease made you cough up blood). They went through each of the seven room that represent a different phase of life.

MY FAVORITE STORY The king was the only one to pursue the “guest”. He was the first person to drop dead. Each and every one at the party died one at a time. The symbolism adds interest to the story, they are not just rooms they have a special meaning.

CONCLUSION I believe Edgar Allan Poe is definitely the father of the modern day horror story. He pushed boundaries of all things weird farther that any other writer. I can connect to his stories because for most of his life he was alone and sometimes I feel that way too. I enjoyed his stories. He was a very brilliant and creative man and his writing shows that.

WORKS CITED Giordano, Robert. “Biography of Edgar Allan Poe.” PoeStories.com- An Explanation of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (27 June 2005). (19 October 2011).. “The Mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe.” The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. (15 October 2011). (19 October 2011).. Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism Imagery and Allegory.” shmoop.com. (11 November 2008). Shmoop University, Inc. (19 October 2011).. Spark Note Editors. “SparkNote on Poe’s Short Stories.” SparkNotes.com (2011). (19 October 2011). C.D. Merriman for Jaic Inc. “Edgar Allan Poe.” The Literature Network. (2006). (19 October 2011)..