Edgar Allan Poe Influences

It is evident that Poe had a problem with alcohol. Poe’s closest friends and local newspapers attributed his death to alcohol poisoning.

He would often quote Cervantes or Shakespeare and add that he was envious of their literary genius. At the tender age of fifteen, someone offered to publish a book of his works. Allan would not allow it though, as he was afraid of Poe's ego swelling. Poe strived to excel in everything he did, swimming, long jump, running, and writing. This will to succeed showed up in his work later in life when he wrote constantly to keep up with the demand for his stories. Poe eventually broke away from Allan as a result of an argument between Allan and his second wife with Poe taking the wife's side. He did briefly reconnect with Allan to get his recommendation for West Point. Poe eventually purposely failed our of West Point by missing classes and lost touch with his father all together.(18) These tumultuous times had great highs and lows which greatly affected Poe's later writings.

Family members, classmates, depression and disasters influenced Poe to use alcohol. The possibilities of Poe been an alcoholic increased

Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, is a critic, mystery and short story writer, but most importantly a poet. Edgar’s troubled life greatly influenced his works. As a young boy, Edgar loved to compose poems for his loved ones. But as he grew older, Edgar started to experience pains and tragedies in life, causing him to abuse on opium and alcohol. These were scenes behind the years of Edgar’s dark writings.

This is why it cannot be alcoholism. “The writer is so sensitive to alcohol that a glass of wine would make him violently ill for days.” (New York Times pg.188). Therefore, he could not have died of alcoholism if drinking alcohol makes him that sick. Mr. Jerome, curator of the Edger Allen Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, said Poe may have had problems with alcohol when he was younger but by the time he died at forty he almost always avoided

Poe’s troubled childhood contributed to many difficult relationships with others. He did not get along with his foster father John Allan, as their strong personalities conflicted often, leading to general distrust between the two. Allan described Poe as lazy, ungrateful, “miserable, sulky, & ill-tempered” (Allan, John. Received by Henry Poe, 1 Nov. 1824.). Allan could not provide enough money to support Edgar at university, so Poe resorted to gambling, and ended up in debt. This enraged his foster father, and he refused to help Poe financially. Later on, Poe’s foster mother, Frances Allan, died, separating a connection between the two men. Poe’s gambling and drinking that led to his deliberate expulsion from West Point also angered his father. Later, Poe became engaged in more family issues and eventually his foster father disowned him. However, the breaking point of their relationship occured when Poe wrote to Sergeant Samuel Graves, stating that “Mr. A[llan] is not very often sober” (Poe, Edgar Allan. Received by Sergeant Samuel Graves, Richmond, 3 May 1830, Richmond.). Allan learned of this and sent an undocumented letter to Poe, who replied accusing his father of abuse:  “I wrote to you for some more money, and for books — You replied in terms of the utmost abuse — if I had been the vilest wretch on earth you could not have been more abusive than you were” (Poe, Edgar Allan. Received by John Allan, West Point Military Academy, 3 Jan. 1831, West Point Military Academy).

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” Edgar Allan Poe is among many authors as one of the most influential writers of all time. Edgar Allan Poe had a unique writing style that no one else did. He impacted many people and still impacts many to this day. He was one to build on the idea of horror and expand the concept of it. Many of Poe’s works are still available today, and his poems are still some of the most famous around. Not only is Poe’s work some of the best anyone has ever seen, and the message he leaves with people is new to others. His tragic early life was the main cause of his affection for horror.

I believe that Edgar Allan Poe’s life was a very horrendous one and that his poems did reflect that. Poe’s mom died of tuberculosis as well as his wife Virginia. His dad left him on his own then a few days later passed away. EAP was born on January 19, 1809 in the Boston area of Massachusetts. Both of Poe’s parents died before he was the age of three. Poe’s parents were named David and Elizabeth Poe, and after their death Poe was raised as a foster child by John and Frances Allan. Though his foster dad was a tobacco exporter he still sent Poe to the some of the prime boarding school. Later Poe did attend the University of Virginia.

It’s proven in the book, Poe’s Final Days, that Poe had been drinking consistently for days leading up to his death. This is known

“Mr. Poe could not possibly send forth a book without some marks of his genius, and mixed up with the dross we find much sterling ore.” — (From a review of Poe’s Tales, September 6, 1845.) In 1845, Poe, 27, and Virginia, 13, married, and were happy for a time. In 1842, Virginia ruptured a blood vessel; the first sign of the ill health that plagued her short life. Poe turned to alcohol to cope with her illness and the stress of his dying wife. Two years later, Virginia died of tuberculosis, and Poe’s own death would follow shortly two years after that.

Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on American literature was nothing short of great; not only was he the creator of the detective story and the horror thriller, but he also influenced many great writers, among those William Faulkner and Fyodor Dostoevsky. While Poe is best known for his horror thrillers, being the creator of that particular genre, he has also fashioned two other literary genres, like the detective and the science fiction genre. Throughout his life, Poe read, reviewed, and critiqued many books for various magazines and papers. Poe did not hesitate to attack what he deemed inferior. “Is purely too imbecile to merit an extended critique,” he once wrote of a novel. Because of his readiness to attack what he believed to be unworthy,

This essay will serve to dispel this myth and look at the writing of Edgar Allan Poe with a different perspective. Poe did not partake of alcohol on a daily basis as an alcoholic would, and he went long periods of time in abstinence from the substance. His drinking would increase during highly intense periods in his life as a response to those situations. It was more of a coping mechanism than anything else. To hear Poe’s own explanation, he claimed to drink in order to deal with “torturing memories … insupportable loneliness … a dread of some strange impending doom” (Buranelli, p. 33).

The tale of his scholastic tenure is one of repeated expulsions, gambling debts, and, eventualy, drinking. This is not to say that Poe was a poor student. The exact opposite is the case. Poe was almost always near the top of his class no matter what institution he was currently enrolled in. His problem was that he either became bored or allowed debts from both drinking and gambling to pile up until he was forced to pay or leave. He repeatedly made attempts to coerce his foster father into honoring his debts with no success. The end result was that Poe never got settled into one specific institution, with but one exception, the military.

Have you ever wondered why the stories of Edgar Allan Poe are so complex, dark, and emotional? The stories of Edgar Allan Poe reflect in his life and his past. Poe definitely did not have an easy life; for example, being separated from his family at an early age, dropping out of school, and being kicked out of a military academy. Poe lost control of his life and needed help from his guardian John Allan. According to Robert Giordano, “Although Edgar had done well in Latin and French, he started to drink heavily and quickly became in debt. He had to quit school less than a year later” (Giordano). Poe probably would have finished school and had a much easier future if he didn’t get into drinking and get messed up into the wrong things.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet and critic. Poe is famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery. During his lifetime he had multiple relatives that died from Tuberculosis. “Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that are spread through the air from person to person. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal” (CDC 1). During his childhood, his biological father left his mother and the year after that his mother died from TB. When he was orphaned he got “adopted” by John and Frances Allan in Virginia. Thanks to John he attended the University of Virginia where he had his first meetings with drinking and gambling. Poe was “forced to withdraw from the University of Virginia after only one year because of gambling debts” (Railton 1); Afterwards, because he was unable to support himself, he joined the United States Army, however the “court-martialed and dismissed from West Point for dereliction of duty”