Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greatest authors in American Literature. His literary gift is confusing and difficult to understand. Edgar Allan Poe often uses fear and death to create haunting and dismal tones for his stories. He had a very somber and harsh life, filled with tragedies and depressing events. Poe grew up without his biological parents. His mother died when he was two years old of Tuberculosis, and his father walked out on him just before his mother’s heartbreaking death. He married the love of his life, which he loved very much and also tragically lost her to Tuberculosis. Shortly after her death, he relied heavily on alcohol. These tragic, uneventful phenomenon’s, explain why his short stories and poems are so dark and disturbing.