Corruption In Edgar Allan Poe's Life

Edgar Allan Poe once said in one of his most notable poems, “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream”. In fact, Poe’s life was just as much of a puzzle and distinct as his works were. His thoughts and abstract ideas were much more advanced and extremely different than those of his own generation. At the time, humans refused to accept most things new due to the fear of venturing out of their comfort zones and familiarity. Unfortunately, this caused Poe to be deemed as an outcast in his society, and most of his poems to be looked at with great contempt by many during his lifetime. Therefore, most of Poe’s most notable poems were rejected and not published until after his passing. However, while Poe was barely recognized during

As a matter of fact, generally Poe’s contrastive way of perceiving things was an effect from his life and life experiences. Edgar Allan Poe’s life, ranging from childhood, to relationships, and lastly the importance of his family are all portrayed and reflected throughout his poetry. One facet of Edgar Allan Poe’s life exhibited in many of his poems is his childhood. One source states Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 19, 1809 into a family of notable traveling actors, and siblings, an older brother, and soon to be a younger sister. The source continues to write that, “By the time he was three, Poe, his older brother, and younger sister had lost their mother to consumption and their father through desertion. Following, the source voices that the children were split up, going to various families to live, and Poe ended up getting sent to the home of John Allan in Richmond, where he received a lot of affection from his foster mother, Frances (“Edgar Allan Poe”). Poe and his new foster mother Frances got along very well, and formed an intense bond (Bloom). However, his

During the early years of lis lifetime he watched his foster father have “extramarital affairs and father several children by different women”, and due to being “intensely loyal and protective of his foster mother...a deep rift between the two men” arose (Sova). After Edgar Allan Poe started his own family later in life by marrying Virginia, he was described to be a dedicated family man, whom only valued material things and money if it would make his family happy and support them (Grahm). In fact, Edgar Allan Poe’s boss Grahm, stated,” I shall never forget how solicitous of the happiness of his wife and mother-in-law he was,...his whole efforts seemed to be to procure the comfort and welfare of his home”(qtd in Grahm 227). While Grahm may have been on of the few who witnessed Poe’s affection towards his family, Poe later conveyed his love himself in his poetry stating “But my heart it is brighter / Than all of the many / Stars in the sky, / For it sparkles with Annie— / It glows with the light / Of the love of my Annie (“For Annie” lines 95-101). After, Virginia’s death from tuberculosis in 1847 Poe became severely depressed(Bloom). The burden of Virginia’s death took such a toll on Poe that he turned to alcohol to numb the pain, and drank enough of it to make him extremely ill (”Edgar Allan Poe”). Grahm states that when Virginia was sick, “I had