Edger Allen Poe
By: Katelyn Butler
Biography of Edgar Allan Poe
Edger Allan Poe is today known as one of the best American authors of various types of literature and a strong contributor to the American Romantic. Poe was born in January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, but was orphaned at a young age; he was later taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. Poe attended University of Virginia for one semester but had to drop out due to a lack of financial support; he then attended West point but was again unsuccessful and had to drop out. Poe
Edger Allan Poe’s career started with very humble beginnings, he started with anonymous collection of poems such as Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), which didn't earn him much money or credit. In the next couple of years Poe began to work on periodicals and literary journals, and became known for his own style of literary criticism. Due to his career, Poe was often moving from one big city to another. While Edger Allan Poe was in Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. About ten years after Poe got married he published one of his most famous works, "The Raven” and it became an instant success. But just like his mother, two years after the publication of The Raven, Virginia died leaving Poe yet again alone. The years after that Poe began to attempt to publish a journal and he also published some short stories along the way but on October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore, the cause of death being unknown.
Documentary on Edgar Allan Poe By Scottish BBC
Major Works of Edgar Allan Poe
Poetry Collections
Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)
Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829)
Lenore (1843)
The Raven and other Poems (1845)
Ulalume (1847)
Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848)
Annabel Lee (1849)
Fiction
Berenice (1835)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1939)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)
The Masque of the Red Death (1842)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)
The Black Cat (1843)
The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)
The Purloined Letter (1845)
The Cask of Amontillado (1846)
The Oval Portrait (1850)
Common Themes of Edgar Allan Poe
One of Poe's themes was Love and Hate, and in his writings such as "The Tell-Tale Heart" and “William Wilson.” he often intertwined the themes of love and hate.
Another one of Poe's themes was Self vs. Alter Ego, with this theme he was able to create dramatic and exciting stories such as in "The Black Cat".
Yet another reoccurring themes in Poe's writing was The Power of the Dead over the Living. Like his other theme of Self vs. Alter Ego, this theme creates an exciting and cliff hanging writing causing readers to not be able to put down his books.
Poe's exciting and dramatic witting was a important contributor to the American Romanticism era.