Was Edgar Allen Poe a man both blessed and cursed? According to various biographies written on Poe, some argue that he was the first to develop the popular genre known as “Gothic” literature. Poe bore a natural ability to write horrifying stories and poems that appealed to many people of his time, as well as film makers today. However, many of Poe’s misfortunes and tragedies in his personal life influenced his many dark writings, perhaps foreshadowing his own demise. In fact, his writings, such as “Annabel Lee,” “The Raven,” and “Masque of the Red Death” are evidence that his unfortunate past had a significant impact on his sinister style of writing. The focus of this film, which takes place in the 19th century in Baltimore Maryland, is to reveal the mystery surrounding the last days of Edgar Allen Poe. The producer, James Teigue, presented his interpretation of his mysterious …show more content…
This documentary describes a young man orphaned at the early age of three due to his mother’s early death to tuberculosis, as well as the abandonment from his father. A tobacco merchant, John Allen, and his wife, Frances Valentine Allen, raised Poe until adulthood when again he would be subjected to further turmoil. The string of unfortunate events plagued and haunted Poe, from the death of his foster mother and only wife, gambling debts, disownment by his foster father, constant job insecurities, alienation, addictions, to failed romances slowly took its toll on Poe. This documentary suggested that Poe’s chronic misfortunes inspired his literary works as a way for him to deal with his order and chaos, imaginably, from going mad. Many of his literary works mentioned in this documentary are relevant, as well as a vivid reflection of his private hell, that followed him all the way up to his mysterious death, from which there are many