Poe

In all the stories we read from Edgar Allan Poe, they are all sad and depressing. So what is behind this gloom with these different readings? Who really is Edgar Allan Poe?

Edgar Allah Poe had a depressing life. It was a lot for one to go through. First his mom died when he was young from tuberculosis. Also his wife died from this disease as well and his lost his brother. He soon developed a gambling problem and ran into money problems. He was taken in by another family the, Poes, and the father, John, tried to help Poe go back on the right path. But instead they soon parted and Poe went back into a flump.

For most of his stories it is some sense of death occurring. And it is with someone who is close to the character. This is all that Poe knows since all these people that meant something to him and close are dying from the same diseases. So of course all he would write about his death. Because of these deaths it has shaped his perception on life, he questions what really happens after you die. (The Raven). He constantly asks questions about were has his wife gone, to heaven or not. This can be applied directly to his life asking were has his loved ones gone.

Also everyone has this since of madness and going craziness in the characters of the stories. Which Poe was also going crazy himself. Everyone knew him to have this quality. Also he had drinking problems which does alter your mind perception. In "The Raven" the man was ultimately talking to a bird, which is something that can not occur. Getting to the point of arguing with the bird. In "Ligeia" the character was smoking his life away, getting high, having these wild visions not knowing what was occurring. Then he locks his new wife in a bridal chamber which is basically a tomb. That is cray. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" it was this sense of vampire things going on. The man, Roderick, was going crazy being the only left in his family driving himself to death.

This was just how Poe felt on the inside in my opinion, which gave his stories this distinctness. Following this pattern of death and craziness, you knew it was a Poe story.