Edgar Allen Poe: His Life And His Work Essay, Research Paper
In human nature there exists a morbid desire to explore the darker realms of life. As sensitive beings we make every effort to deny our curiosity in the things that frighten us, and will calmly reassure our children that there aren?t any creatures under their beds each night, but deep down we secretly thrive on that cool rush of fear. Despite our efforts to maintain a balance of respectable emotions, we are a society of people who slow down to look at traffic accidents and find excitement in the macabre. We turn off the lights when watching scary movies, and when it?s time to go to bed, we secretly make sure the closet doors are shut. Fear keeps our hearts pumping and endorphins rushing, for it is an emotion that reminds us of our mortality. How ironic it is to experience more life in our fascination with death.
Edgar Allen Poe was a master of his craft, gifted with the talent of introducing each reader to his or her own subconscious fears. As the first writer to initiate horror, death and mystery into literature and poetry, he is blessed- or perhaps cursed- with an imagination that set higher standards in the field of writing. However morbid or dark it may be, Poe?s writing continues to have an impact on the world of prose. A look into Poe?s childhood might shed some light on where his fascination with death stems from.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to drifting actor parents. Denying his parental responsibilities, his father abandoned his wife and three children, leaving her to support the family as best she could. She traveled through various cities acting in stage engagements as she could get them, but the struggle eventually took a toll on her health. Towards the end of 1811 while in Richmond, Virginia, she became ill and died. Her children were promptly farmed into homes, Edgar being placed into the residence of a well-off, yet unsupportive merchant named John Allan. Allan was emotionally detached from Poe, refusing to even legally adopt the boy. This move would begin a chain of events, eventually triggering a drinking problem that would induce the majority of Poe?s psychological troubles later in life. He was raised in an affluent home, but lacked the emotional support needed to build fortitude and confidence in himself.
In Poe?s youth he didn?t pursue a life toward writing, probably due to his assumption that he would eventually inherit his foster father?s estate. He would attend the finest boarding schools in training to be a proper gentleman, but when it came time to go to the University of Virginia in 1826, his foster father gave him a meager allowance that would barely sustain him. John Allan had always been a harsh disciplinarian, and sometimes even cruel to the orphaned boy, but this was the first time he denied Poe the means to survive outside of his home. Adding insult to injury, he also forbids Poe study of what his heart so desired: poetry. Going against Allan?s orders was not an option; what little money he was given to live off of would have been taken away. In an effort to make his money stretch out while in college, Poe turned to gambling, but like so many other gamblers he lost all of his money while developing a terrible compulsion. In short, his first term in college was not a success. When the semester was over Allan removed him from the University and forced him into a military academy.
Before Poe was forced to leave the University of Virginia, he unfortunately discovered the curious effects of alcohol. ?One glass of wine went to his head; very little more than that made him drunk. Alcohol was a dangerous stimulant for him- one that was eventually to bring about his ruin? (Van Doren Stern xviii). Beginning in college and continuing through the rest of his life, Poe would struggle with a drinking problem that earned him a broad reputation for being a senseless drunk. Though he frequently tried to quit drinking, it was never long before he would fall off the wagon and drink once again. Considering all that is currently known about the sustained effects of alcohol on the brain, it is possible that he never reached his full capabilities as a writer. One also has to wonder if his subject matters in writing (i.e., death, horror and fantasy) would have been the same if his youth hadn?t been so traumatic or his drinking so serious.
Poe?s main focuses in writing are horror, fantasy, and murder, with the theme of death visited in most of his works. His many writings reflect an imagination that most of his readers will only experience when dreaming at night. Poe takes the subject matter death a step further than the simple act and explores the processes and avenues of death. Nearly all of his works consisted of variations of this single theme. ?Berenice,? ?Morella,? and Ligeia? all deal with the deaths of beautiful women, the subject which Poe called ?the most poetical topic in the world? (Van Doren Stern 191). ?The Fall of the House of Usher? is another tale focusing on death, and is probably his best known. Other stories that ponder the realms of death include ?The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,? ?The Assignation,? ?The Masque of the Red Death,? and ?The Premature Burial.? The inventory of Poe?s death-inspired works could go on for days. Regardless of the story, though, Poe had a powerfully descriptive voice that made the reader identify with what he was trying to portray. One website characterizes his work as having ?? the power of such a narrative voice, many a tale is indelible. Poe’s imaginative sociology in “The Man of the Crowd” will tell you more about loneliness in the crowd than David Riesman did. The psychological analysis in “William Wilson” is an excellent and frightening exploration of split personality two generations before Freud? (Edgar Allan Poe- The Life of a Poet).
In his ever-popular poem ?The Raven?, Poe takes his readers through the heart of misery with an overcastting shadow of terror. The narrator is a man home alone at night lamenting the loss of his love Lenore. As he reads and nods in and out of sleep, a rapping at his door wakes him, eventually leading him to the infamous Raven. While he at first seeks to understand this black and mysterious bird, momentarily forgetting about the death of Lenore, he is suddenly struck with the idea that this bird is sent from either Heaven or Hell. Does it send word of Lenore? Can it tell him where her soul now resides? As it perches on the bosom of Pallas, goddess of wisdom, only one word will escape its beak: ?Nevermore?. Instead of bringing peace to his broken heart, it only seems to breed more anguish. Reflecting the narrator?s soul the bird will fly ?nevermore?, becoming a permanent resident of his home, alongside anguish and torment. Poe?s apt description of the pain and terror that this man is experiencing demonstrates his love of words and their power to control the human heart.
Poe seems to delight in using all the language that he can possibly fit into one sentence. Perhaps a look at comparative sentences would help to illustrate this. In Poe?s ?The Fall of the House of Usher,? the narrator states, ?He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin- to the severe and long continued illness- in-deed to the evidently approaching dissolution- of a tenderly beloved sister- his sole companion for long years- his last and only relative on earth? (Van Doren Stern 252). It took Poe all of 59 words to say that his friend was upset because his sister was dying. It is very descriptive and eventually gets his point across, but it can also be difficult for the modern reader to digest. In contrast, Stephen King (a contemporary horror writer) is known for his ?less is more? approach to writing. In this excerpt taken from his story ?Needful Things,? King creates a description that draws his reader into the tale: ?When Nettie saw Polly?s white, puffy face and haggard eyes, her own fears, which had gnawed at her like sharp weasel?s teeth as she walked over, were forgotten? (233). The opening picture of these two women is vividly created. Though some refer to his style as ?shock value writing?, it is easier to digest for most readers in our day and age. He is careful not to shock the reader back out of the story with stilted language. The reader becomes one with the story, whether they approve of the tale or not. However, all things being equal, King?s writing would not have been well received in the nineteenth century when Poe was writing. The context of their work reflects their own period in time.
Poe lived an extraordinary life, though he never fully attained the fame and success that he sought until after his untimely death in 1849. Whatever opinion readers have of his work, his genius and influence in the world of writing cannot be denied. We may never know if any of his life tribulations affected his ideas or style, or if he was simply destined to write what he did. What we do know is that as readers we will never be the same. The things that have secretly scared us since childhood are forever entrenched in the stories by Edgar Allen Poe, and the subject of fear will never grow cold.
WORKS CITEDCharters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin?s, 1999.
Edgar Allan Poe- The Life of a Poet. National Park Service. 4 Apr. 2001. King, Stephen. Needful Things. New York: Viking Penguin, 1991.
Van Doren Stern, Philip. The Portable Poe. New York: Penguin Books, 1957.
Trotter, Jeffrey. Epinions. 5 Aug. 2000.