Death and Betrayal in Poe's Life

Death and Betrayal in Poe's Life

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was born to traveling actors in Boston. He was hit hard with death at a young age as his mother and father both died within two days when Poe was only two years old. The wealthy John Allan and his wife became the legal guardians of young Edgar. When Edgar was fourteen, he met the first woman in his life, Jane Stith Stanard, the inspiration to his poem “To Helen”(1831). However, Mrs. Stanard passed away only a year after Poe first met her. In 1825 Poe became engaged with Elmira Royster. While he was away from her, he would write her many letters; however, Elmira’s parents intercepted the letters. Edgar wondered why she never replied, and when he went back to see her, he found out that she married someone else. This left Poe in a very depressed state. Poe’s relationship with the Allans was never secure, and this became evident when John Allan refused to pay Edgar’s debts at the University of Virginia. Edgar was then kicked out of school. In the next couple of years Poe has to fight through the death of his foster mother and his brother. Then in 1833 he moved in with his Aunt Maria Clemm. John Allan died a year later. He then married his cousin Virginia three years later. Virginia then died in 1842 (Anderson 9-64). Poe was introduced to death and betrayal throughout his young life leaving him in a very depressed state, and these traits are present throughout his short stories and poems.

Edgar Allan Poe’s life had a lot to do with his madness in his writings. This is present in Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”(1843). “On the night of the day on which this most cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed...

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...is writings.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

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Canby, Henry Seidel. “Edgar Allan Poe.” In Nineteenth Century Literature

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Gargano, James W. ““The Black Cat”: Perverseness Reconsidered.” In Twentieth

Century Interpretations of Poe’s Tales. Ed. William L. Howarth. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971.

Hoffman, Daniel. “The Marriage Group.” In Modern Critical Views, Edgar

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