How Did Edgar Allan's Life And Death Influence Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer whose short stories and poems are enjoyed by many. Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of one his father left and a year later his mother Elizabeth died of tuberculosis. He was unofficially adopted by, John Allan and his wife. In 1826, Poe attended the University of Virginia and was cut off by his adopted father as a result of his bad behavior. At this time, Poe was very poor and his only way to live was to enter writing contests. In 1829, his adopted mother also died of tuberculosis soon after her estranged husband, John Allan, remarried and moved to Baltimore. In 1835, Poe started as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger and was later fired because of his drunkenness.

At a young age his father left him and his mother. His mother became ill and died when Poe was two years old, this left Poe without any family. An unofficial adoption landed Poe in the home of John Allan. He was a part of a family now. As Poe was growing up he did not see John Allan as his adopted dad rather he felt that John was his father and he was John’s son. Edgar and John Allan were very close and when it was time to go to college John sent Poe to the University of Virginia. At this point in his life Poe began to rebel against his parents and fell to drunkenness. John was fed up with Poe’s behavior and cut him off because of his behavior. Poe was very poor at this time in his life without the money from his father he had to find a way to survive. He entered writing contests in hopes he would win and get the prize

He felt that she was stolen from him though death, he felt hopeless without the love of his life. In “Annabel Lee”, Poe wrote about the death of his wife Virginia. Virginia died of tuberculosis and she was killed rather quickly,“that the wind came out of the cloud, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee”(Annabel Lee). Poe compares the quickness of her death to a wind coming out of a cloud. Her sudden death caused so much grief in his life, a life already in pieces. A few months before his death Poe disappeared. During this time his drinking dramatically increased and on the morning of October 7th, he was found nearly dead and his life could not be saved. He is said to have died of consumption which was a common cause of death at the time