"Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston Massachusetts to David and Elizabeth Arnold Poe" (1018). Both of his parents were actors. Poe was the second of three children. Before the third child was born, or soon after, Poe's father, who was an alcoholic, soon abandoned the family. Elizabeth, his mother, was a wonderful actress and leading lady so she supported the family until her death in December 1811. Once his mother died, each of the children were sent to live with different foster parents. Poe's foster father, John Allan, was a "prosperous merchant" (1018). John and his wife Frances never actually adopted Poe but raised him as their own son. In 1815, when the Allan's moved to England, Poe was sent to school in London. "Five years later the family returned to Richmond, where Poe continued his education until he entered the University of Virginia in February 1826" (1019). The next few years, Poe and John Allan would have conflicts about Poe's behavior and choices he was making. It would get so bad, that by the time Poe was eighteen years old, he would leave home. Edgar Allan Poe would move to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia. Poe would marry Virginia in 1835 secretly when she was thirteen years old. They would publicly marry a year later. Poe was not very successful as a writer at first with his first publication of Tamerlane and Other Poems. He first received accreditation with his publication of The Raven and Other Poems. It is noted that after the death of his wife, Virginia, Poe began to drink very heavily and a week after he had moved back to Baltimore, Poe had died himself.
Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are perhaps the most recognized writers of American Literature's Romanticism period. Edgar Allan Poe published numerous works but is perhaps most recognized for "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", and "Annabel Lee". Poe felt as though poems should possess six characteristics. Those characteristics being: 1) should not have a lesson; 2) be short; 3) be a rhythmic creation of beauty; 4) make the ideal beautiful and elevate the soul; 5) be melancholy in its beauty; 6) have as its most poetical subject the death of a beautiful young woman (Brock). These characteristics can be seen in "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee".
"The Raven" was the poem that jump started Edgar Allan Poe's career. "The Raven" is set in the narrator's chamber, or bedroom. He is sitting in his room thinking about his lost love, Lenore, when he suddenly hears a tapping on his chamber door. As he opens the door, there is no one to be seen and shuts the door. He hears the tapping again and thinks that someone is at his window. He flings the shutters open when in the Raven flies that perches above his bedroom door. He asks the Raven question after question, to which the Raven says "Nevermore". This drives the narrator mad. "The poem is carefully crafted, as Poe uses terminology to enhance both the gloomy and sad effects of the poem. The repetition of the term "nevermore" emphasizes the narrator's fear that he will never again see or hold his beloved Lenore" (Brock).
"Annabel Lee" is another poem that, like "The Raven" follows Poe's six characteristics. "Annabel Lee" focuses on the death of a beautiful, young woman and the undying love the narrator has for her. The narrator feels that their love was so great, that they sent a wind to kill her. However, the narrator feels that their love is so strong that it is eternal and though she has been killed, their love will live forever. At night, he rests by her side in her sepulchre, or tomb.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story that most everyone knows. The setting is in the house of an older man whom the narrator lives with. The older man has a blind eye and the narrator finds this disgusting. As the man sleeps, the narrator decides to go into the dark room as quietly as he can and does so for eight nights. On the eighth night, he opens the door and his finger slips on the lantern which makes the old man wake up. The narrator and old man stay in the same place for an hour not moving a muscle. Finally, the narrator opens the lantern slightly and the small ray of light focuses on the old man's "vulture eye" (1046). The old man starts groaning and his heart starts beating rapidly. The narrator is soon worried that neighbors will hear the noise and decides to turn the lamp completely open and jump to kill the old man. Once the deed is done, the narrator cuts the old man's body up and places the body under "three planks of flooring of the chamber" and puts the pieces under them. All the while narrating that he is not mad, or crazy. The next morning, police officers arrive at the house because a neighbor heard a scream come from the house. The narrator insists to them that it was just him, that the old man is out of the country and invites them inside. They all sit around where the old man's body is. It does not seem to phase the narrator at all until he starts to hear the heart beat from under the floor. He still does not think that he is crazy but that the police are playing games with him. He can finally no longer take the sound and screams out that he killed the old man and his remains are under the floors.
Edgar Allan Poe." Belasco, Susan and Linda Johnson. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature Volume One: Beginnings to 1865. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2008. 1018-1020.
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