Edgar Allan Poe
Ben Epstein
6th
10-25-11
http://www.examiner.com/literature-innational/baltimore-evermore-edgar-allan-poerelatives-choose-home-city-for-writer-sremains
Edgar Allan Poe
Born on : January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts
Died on: October 7th, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland
5 Short Stories and 5 Poems
5 POEMS
5 STORIES
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“The Balloon Hoax”
“Berenice”
“The Black Cat”
“The Angel of the Odd”
“Hop-Frog”
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“Alone”
“The Bells”
“Dream-Land”
“The Raven”
“The Sleeper”
Edgar Allan Poe Bio
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1808 in Boston,
Massachusetts. At a young age he was adopted by Frances and John
Allan. He was taken back to their home in Richmond, Virginia where he
would go to college in 1820. While he was in college his dad started to
gamble. He couldn’t give Poe money so he dropped out. Poe couldn’t pay
for himself either so in 1827 he enlisted in the army for two years. During
that time he wrote the poem Dreams and it was in the Baltimore North
American. In 1829 Poe again loses his second mom(foster mom) to
illness.
Poe’s career really started in 1835 when he became editor of the
Southern Literacy Messenger. Without this job he may have never written
as many great poems as he did. Then in 1836 Edgar married his cousin
Virginia. She was thirteen and he was twenty-seven. They moved to New
York city to start their life together. Nine years later one of his most
famous poems The Raven is unveiled 1845.
Edgar Allan Poe Bio
One year later Poe writes more stories like The Cask of
Amontillado and Eureka. A very tragic event happens to Poe in
1847, his wife Virginia dies. Poe dies two years later on October
7th, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. Edgar Allan Poe had a
humongous impact on our world of literature and without Poe,
where would we be?
Poe’s Death
There have been a lot of theories on how Edgar Allan Poe
died. I think the most reasonable explanation of how he died has
to do with medical conditions and problems. I believe this
because it says he was writing to Maria Clemm and he told her
that he was having trouble writing. Another reason is that
medical notes say that he had brain lesions. This can cause a
human to act crazy. This could be why people thought he was
drunk. Another thing it could have been is rabies because
Charles Scarlett gave Poe some water and said he had trouble
drinking it. Being scared of water is an effect of rabies.
Favorite Story
One of my favorite stories written by Poe is The Masque
of the Red Death. The story starts by explaining how the Red
Death is spreading throughout a fictional country. Price Prospero
is trying to avoid this “death” so he takes himself and a plethora
of other people and to his castle and locks his gates so no one
can get in or out. After a few months of being in the castle he
decides to have a masquerade ball. All the people in the castle
go to this event and have a great time. But when the clock rings
in the Black Velvet room everybody stops what they are doing
until the ringing stops and then they go back to dancing. The
clock rings every hour. At midnight the clock rings and the guests
notice a man dressed in a cloak and a mask.
Favorite story
They think it is very rude for someone to come dressed like this. The
man then begins walking through the rooms. Prospero follows him
until he gets to the Black Velvet room where he dies. The other people
at the ball go to the room also and unmask the thing only to find that
no one is under it. Then everybody dies proving that the “Red Death”
can’t be defeated or hid from.
Poe used symbolism in this story a lot. For one he had seven
rooms, each a different color and has a different meaning. The first
room is blue representing birth. The second is purple which represents
growing up. The third is green which represents youth. The fourth is
orange and is the summer of life. The fifth is white which represents
ageing. The sixth is violet which is for growing older and darkness. The
last is Black-Velvet which represents death. Another use of symbolism
is how the rooms go from west to east. The sun rises in the west which
is the start of “life”. In the east the sun sets meaning “death”.
Conclusion (5+ sentences)
Poe is like the father of the modern day horror story
because he wrote about death in grotesque ways. He
experienced so much death in his life that writing was the only
way to express his thoughts and feelings.
No I didn’t make any connections with his stories.
Yes I enjoyed his stories very much. I liked them because
he had great use of suspense and symbolism. Also because he
bases them off his life experience.
Works Cited
Schmoop Editorial Team. “The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism, Imagery and Allegory.” Schmoop, We
Speak Student.” (11 November 2008). Schmoop University, Inc. (19 October 2011).
<http://www.shmoop.com/masque-of-red-death/symbolism-imagery.html>.
SparkNotes Editors. “ SparkNote on Poe’s Short Stories .” SparkNotes.com. (2002). SparkNotes LLC. (19
October 2011).
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/citing.html>.
Giordano, Robert. “Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe.” “Poestories.com.” (27 June 2005). (19 October 2011).
<http://poestories.com/stories.php>.
Merriman, C.D. “Edgar Allan Poe.” “The Literature Network.” (2006). Jalic Inc. (19 October 2011).
<http://www.online-literature.com/poe/>.
“The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.” “Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.” (1 May 1997). LFC
Hosting. (19 October 2011).
<http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm>.