2. INTRODUCTION- LIFE AND WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE Edgar Allan Poe represent the first great literary generation of United States of America, this was the Romantic period in American literature. The Romantic outlook in case of novels was expressed in the form of romance but romances were not love stories. The protagonists of the American romance were generally haunted, alienated individuals. The isolated and alienated characters in the tales written by Poe were unknown and mysterious individuals who were pitted against dark fates that were a result of their deepest unconscious self. His plots unriddle the hidden actions and intentions of the troubled spirit. Edgar Allan Poe was a southerner and he had a dark metaphysical outlook that was sprinkled with elements of humour, parody, realism and horror. He was the one to invent the detective fiction and also gave a new definition to the short story genre in literature. Poe, like all other romantics believed that one of the major aspects of beauty lay in strangeness. His characters were gloomy and they remained aloof from the society. In fact Poe himself was a loner and had less to do with the society. Poe was never accepted in his society as he was the son of travelling actors, Mr. And Mrs. Poe. The polite society of the 19th century America was very much against the professional actors and hence they did not have much respect in the society. Poe was born in Massachusetts but he was at a very early age abandoned