Research Paper: The Dark Life and Influences of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe once testified that The supposition that the book of the author is a thing apart from the authors self is, I think, ill-founded. As Poe states, for many, writing is used as a form of therapy and analysis, and can also serve as a form of expression of emotions. Being a Dark-Romantic horror writer, Edgar Allan Poe is no exception. Everyone who has read Poe knows that every one of his writings are dark, gothic, melancholic, mysterious, and a plethora of other macabre elements. Poes literary works are mainly influenced by his time and life in the sense that he experienced great hardship in his life, and that stories of the tragically-influenced macabre are exactly what Americans (and those of other countries) wanted to read in the 19th century. From beginning to end, Poes life was relentlessly difficult. Early on, Poes mother died of tuberculosis. In their biography of Poe, the European Graduate School asserts that Some see this loss, coupled with the loss of his mother, as contributing to the frequent theme in his work of a beautiful womans death. This tragedy is only exacerbated the hardship that the Poe family was enduring, as this occurred Within a year [Poes] fathers desertion of the family (Blasiak). Due to his and his siblings lack of parents, what remained of the Poe family was taken into The emotionally cold home provided for [them] by John Allan (Sova 11). Shortly after Poes entrance into the Allan family, his foster mother died, whose kind heart greatly contrasted that of the cold John Allan. Growing up, Poe tried to make his foster father proud of him (Blasiak). An example of the disunion between Poe and Allan is that when Poe enlisted in the military, he registered under the name Edgar Perry, rather than Edgar Allan (or, interestingly, Edgar Poe). In college, Poe accumulated a great amount of gambling debts, and once again according to the

European Graduate School (EGS), Tension over financial debts led to an estrangement from his foster family. Eventually, after further conflicts, John Allan disowned Poe. In fact, 1834- John Allan dies in Richmond. Left out of Allans will, Poe inherits nothing (Frye 270). Later in his life, Poe moved to Baltimore- a place that would lead to a huge impact on his writings. Here, he lived with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and his cousin, Virginia Clemm. In 1836, Poe and Virginia Clemm were married. Even after their marriage, Poe held his cousin/wife and aunt/mother-in-law in strange esteems. According to the University of North Carolina and Pembroke (UNCP), [Poe] maintained an unusual relationship with Virginia, whom he called Sissy, and her mother, whom he sometimes treated as his own mother. In 1847, Virginia contracted tuberculosis and died. When Virginia Poe died Poe collapsed (May). In fact, Clemms death is often seen as one of the biggest influences on Poes literary work, as stated by the EGS in their statement that Clemms tuberculosis (which led to her death in 1847) exacerbated his drinking. In addition to alcohol, such as absinthe, Poe was addicted to the use of opium. To make matters worse, Poe had life-long difficulties earning money. For example, He tried to establish his own literary magazine, which did not meet with success (May). Poe also worked with, and was helped by, A new and influential friend, writer, and lawyer John Pendleton, [but] Poe was mainly unsuccessful (May). Despite his initial struggles as a writer, Poe eventually achieved great success. This, however, was coupled with Poes estrangement from society, and thusly, his lack of friends. In Poes obituary, his former colleague Rufus Griswald wrote that Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it... He had few or no friends, and the regrets for his death will be suggested principally by the consideration that in him literary art lost one of its most brilliant, but erratic

stars. Unfortunately, despite Poes rising popularity as a writer, few of his peers, such as Walt Whitman and Herman Melville, had much respect for him or his place in the literary world. His lack of respect as a writer and person are likely due to the fact that many people saw him as, blatantly, an insane, melancholic drunk. This is supported by the fact that Poe Continually ruined his opportunities for success by embarrassing himself and antagonizing important figures (UNCP). When Poes mental state had reached its supposed worst, he suffered from bouts of depression, anxiety, and even psychosis, backed by UNCPs statement that Several incidents, including a suicide attempt, suggest that Poe suffered from some kind of mental illness... and that he was a manic depressive. A rather interesting anecdote concerning Poes mental state is that Poe would continually speak of the past. But it was not his true past. He told [his friend] that he had fought a duel over a woman in France One newspaper article interpreted this as brain fever (Ackroyd 152). Ackroyd also states that Poe was now physically, if not mentally, unstable. Some of the most prominent themes in Edgar Allan Poes Literature are those of death, darkness, sadness, and the macabre. These four (and other less common themes) can all be traced to Poes grief and experiences with death. Two rather ironic deaths that Poe dealt with were those of his real mother and his foster mother. Again, the most prominent death in Poes experience was that of Virginia Clemm. Her death is likely what caused him to drink and suffer from mental distress such as his depression. It was the death of Poes biological mother and Clemm that directly fuelled many of Poes short stories and poems. Another ironic pair of deaths that, while not extremely prominent, surely affected Poes writing and mental health were those of his biological brother and foster brother. Interestingly (though, rather obviously), John Allans death hardly affected Poe (save for Poes exclusion from Allans will) due to the detachment of

the two because of Allans presumed resentment towards Poe. Although, it cannot be assumed that the death of Poes foster father was completely unnoticed by Poe, as it was likely quite reminiscent for him of his fathers abandonment of the family. During the time that Edgar Allan Poe lived, 1809-1849, readers had an appetite for revenge Poe gave readers exactly what they wanted (Blasiak). During the 1800s, the DarkRomantic and Gothic-horror movements were emerging. Dark-Romanticism was based around the darker side of humanity and the human psyche and emotions, such as sadness, evil, anger, revenge, and death. Needless to say, for Poe, writing based on these topics was no chore. Doing so enabled him to channel and cope with his emotions and struggled. Likely, if Poe had not written using the above-mentioned subjects, his mental state wouldve worsened. Krysta Blasiak sums up rather easily that Edgar had continued on with his writings based on his tragic life. Something that also likely fuelled Poes writing is the criticism and occasional help and praise that he received from his peers. The criticism and lack of respect from other famous writers of the time gave Poe a desire to become as successful as he became to almost spite writers such as Whitman and Melville, with a sort of in-your-face attitude. Though, any help he mayve received, such as that from John Pendleton, certainly did not go unnoticed by the appreciative Poe. Poe can even be seen as being greatly influenced by Lord Byron. While Poe certainly appealed to the themes and moods that readers devoured at the time, the messages of his works were quite different from those of the mid-1800s. For example, the common topics of slavery, nationalism, and religion were almost always (if not completely) ignored by Poe in every one of his works. Indeed, a close look at Poes work reveals almost no extended attention to contemporary or even universal social issues, such as community, democracy, slavery, and national identity (UNCP). Surprisingly however, this contrast to their modern literature was

quite well-liked by Americans, French, and British. A final, less-known literary achievement of Edgar Allan Poes is his success as a literary critic. Poe has been, though not widely known to his general audience, refuted to be one of the greatest critics and analyzers of literature in modern times. On the subject of Poes literary criticism, UNCP states that Poe argued in The Poetic Principal that truth is not the subject of literature and condemned what he called the heresy of the Didactic. Nearly all of Edgar Allan Poes poems and short stories are blatantly autobiographical in their senses of relating their dark themes and characters to Poes life. In fact, much of Poes popularity came either directly or indirectly from his peculiar life. Two poems, Annabel Lee and The Bells are based directly on his experience and fascination with death. Also, as the EGS puts it, Poes story The Masque of the Red Death is often also thought to be a reference not only to the Black Death, but also of the contemporary pandemic of tuberculosis. Phrenology, the functions and depths of the brain, and psychosomatic ideals are explored in such works as The Imp of the Perverse, William Wilson, and Ulalume. Relating to the notion of the human mind and endeavors of the entity are tales such as Ligeia, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Relating specifically to Poes life, Dawn Sova states in her introductory biography of Poe that the aforementioned William Wilson incorporates autobiographical elements from Poes unhappy experiences in private school and his drinking and gambling in college. Finally, to quote Roger Asselineau: If Roderick Usher, Egaeus, Metzengerstein, and even Dupin are all alike, if Ligeia, Morella, and Eleonora look like sisters, it is because, whether he consciously wanted to or not, he always takes the story of his own life as a starting point, a rather empty story

on the whole since he had mostly lived in his dreams, imprisoned by his neuroses and obsessed by the image of his dead mother. In sum, Edgar Allan Poes literature is mainly influenced by the distress he experienced in his life, and in the sense that the themes and moods he utilized were greatly enjoyed by readers in the 19th century. Poe wrote mainly based on the tragedy in his life, such as the deaths of his wife/cousin Virginia Clemm and his mother. Poes drunkenness, psychosis, and depression were also contributing factors in his works of the macabre. Poe had few friends, and a great lack of support, as seen with his foster fathers harsh home and attitude, and even in Poes obituary, wherein it was revealed that few people respected him as a person. The direct and underlying purposes of Poes writings were a sort of therapy, analysis, exploration of subjects he found interesting (such as human psychology), spite, and, simply, to somehow earn money. Although many who become aware of Poes hardship are shocked or saddened by it, it is in some strange sense something of a cursed blessing that he was inspired to write as he did. For if he never was driven to write as he did, greats such as H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and even some musicians never wouldve written their masterpieces, and the horror genre as readers know it might not exist.