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How Is Poe's Life Reflected In The Masque Of The Red Death

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Edgar Allan Poe incorporated his own life into his stories and poems by including his emotions and difficulties with the death of his loved one's, alcoholism, and the afterlife. The death of Poe’s loved ones affected him greatly, and this is shown in many of his poems/stories. In his short story, The Masque of the Red Death, he states, “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall… And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” This is saying that the Red Death, which we can infer symbolizes tuberculosis, is killing everybody, and leaving darkness everywhere. This connects to …show more content…

In the story, the Red Death is everywhere, and sneaks about like a thief. In Poe’s life, it seems like tuberculosis is surrounding and haunting him, and it appears when he least expects, killing the people he holds dearest. This is very similar to what happens in the story, which proves that Edgar Allan Poe includes the feelings of his own life in his writings. His difficulties with alcoholism is also incorporated into his text. A piece of evidence from his short story The Black Cat says, “But my disease grew upon me-for what disease is like alcohol!-And at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish-even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.”. This shows that the man in this story was an alcoholic, and it lead to him doing dreadful things in his life. Unfortunately, Poe also had a problem with alcohol, and many believe it caused him to ruin his life. He had a habit of becoming drunk, which lead to him being booed when he performed on stage. Once, he even showed up to an important interview for a government job

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