Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849
Poe was orphaned as a toddler, but was taken in by a wealthy family. Although never formally adopted, his new mother loved him very much, but when she died, Poe was left with a stern disciplinarian of a foster father.
Poe dropped out of school because of gambling debts. He was disinherited by Allan after quarreling about his inheritance. He joined the military and was court martialed (on purpose). His childhood sweetheart married another man, so he married his 13-year-old cousin, who died young. He pretty much lived his adult life in poverty moving from one writing/editing job to the next.
How do you think these events led to Poe's preoccupation with horror and its related themes?
What events from your own life led you to your chosen career?
First of all, Poe had all the preparation need to be a writer, he was also a journalist, editor and literary critic. But were deferents events in his life that took him to write about horror. His life was tragic: He had to go to an orphanage after his mother died and his father abandoned the family, when he was two years old. He married her thirteen years old cousin who died from Tuberculosis two years later, this event specifically is believed motivated him to write about terror He was struck by poverty, alcoholism. He gambled out of control. He is known for being one of the first writers in america that tried to make a live out only from writing. Obviously, he did not succeed. I read that he was planning his own journal that never saw the light because of his premature death.......I wonder if his life had changed if the journal could have been produced? Making a better life from the profits of this journal, guessing that it would have been a success, could have changed his life for better?
ReplyDeletePersonally i believe that his life made him be the writer he was, because he was surronded by death and sad things, that alot of other people dont have to go through his mind was expanded to the dark side of life by his feelings. he lost alot of loved ones and lovers and close people to him and that changed him it probally had a really big effect on his thoughts, his feelings,and his perception on life and the world itself. he probbaly never thought that his tragedies could help him be succesful and in the end thats what it really all comes down to the bad things in his life helped him become the person he was before he died and not that death is a good thing especially when theres people you love involved but it helped him. he became differnt from other writes and he relaly stood out.
ReplyDeletePoe was surrounded by continuous death and misfortune. Everyday, is seems like, he woke up to debt, poverty, failures, and the empty places in his life where death had taken is loved ones. All of this coupled with his failure as a writer, most likely made him desperate, which probably compelled him to use his experiences as a constant theme in his stories. And after the first story and/or poem he realized he definitely had a had a knack for horror, fear, and the depressing and simply rolled with it.
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