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The Role Of A Beautiful Woman In Edgar Allan Poe's Personal Life

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Edgar Allan Poe uses the death of a beautiful woman, mourned by her male counter part, as a motif in his writing. It has been suggested that Poe’s personal life may have played a role in his desire to write of this subject. With this theme in place, he uses character detail, to bring his beautiful female characters to life, and death in each story. In the following you will see that Poe himself states that he prefers the topic of a dying woman, and how his personal life may have influenced his writing. Poe’s uses great detail when describing his leading ladies. In the stories of Ligeia and Berenice, although the format is quit different, Poe’s description helps his reader form a vivid image of each of these women. You will also see that the stories are named after their principle female character, and in some way or another both of these women return from the grave to haunt their male counter part. The Philosophy of Composition Poe states in his writing, The Philosophy of Composition, (Garrison, 1831) “The death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world – and equally …show more content…

After his mother’s death, Poe was cared for by his foster parents Frances and John Allan. Poe was very fond of his foster mother Frances, however, his foster father would not agree to adopt him. This left him feeling as though he was not really a part of their family. Poe left his foster family and went to live with his aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. Maria and Virginia provided Poe with the sense of family he was desperately looking for. At the age of 27 Poe married his cousin Virginia who was 13. After only a short time of marriage Virginia became ill and eventually died. After Virginias death Poe pursued many women. He eventually became engaged to Elmira Shelton, his 5th attempt to remarry, just before his death. (NYTW,

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