Edgar Allan Poe: Gothic Writer Of The Romantic Literary Era

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts to David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Poe. Both of Poe’s parents were traveling actors, Elizabeth more successful, yet they were extremely poor. Poe’s birth put his family in even more of a financial bind, having an awful emotional effect on the parents. Dejectedly, David abandoned his family in 1811, leaving Elizabeth to care for three young children on her own. Poe had an older brother, William Henry, and younger sister, Rosalie, whom he was separated from after their mother died in 1812. As a result of becoming an orphan, Poe was taken in by wealthy theatergoers, John and Frances Allan. Because of his toxic relationship with John Allan, the deaths of those dear to him, and

his negative reaction to alcohol, Edgar Allan Poe was the greatest Gothic writer of the Romantic Literary Era.

Poe was the prodigious Gothic writer of the Romantic Literary Era because of his unhealthy relationship with John Allan. Despite Allan’s neglectfulness and emotional detachment from Poe, Allan ensured Poe received a liberal education, only as a promise to Poe’s grandfather. However, just because Allan cared about Poe’s education did not mean he cared about Poe as a person. Jeffrey Meyers, the author of Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, comments that “Allan, a poor disciplinarian, confused the child by alternately spoiling and scolding him” (Meyers 9). Poe was given a fine education and was materialistically fortunate, yet Allan constantly threatened to withdraw Poe from school. Allan never formally adopted Poe, nor did he feel for Poe the same way Frances did. Consequently, Allan hardly ever got along with Poe, mostly because of how envious he was of Poe’s education and writing skills. Allan preferred Poe got involved with the family business and Poe opposed. As Poe grew older and excelled in school, so did the tension between him and Allan. In 1826, Poe left to attend the University of Virginia with minimal funds, due to Allan’s stinginess. Poe contacted Allan for money on multiple occasions and

he declined each time. Therefore, Poe turned to gambling, getting himself into serious financial trouble. Moreover, Poe dropped out of college and joined the army in 1827, under the name Edgar A. Perry, to pay off debts he accrued from gambling. While in the military, Allan failed to tell Poe about Frances growing ill and passing away. Poe missed Frances’s funeral because of Allan, which brought on more tension between the two. Eventually, Allan remarried and severed ties with Poe, even excluding Poe from his will. Despite the two ever getting along, Arthur Hobson Quinn, author of Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, agrees on the importance of their “relationship in shaping Poe’s career…” (Quinn 51). The negative relationship that Poe had with Allan influenced wretched lifestyles made Poe the preeminent Gothic writer of the Romantic Literary Era.
Poe was the greatest gothic writer because he experienced many deaths of loved ones. At the age of two, Poe’s mother died of Tuberculosis, which sparked the beginning of his devastating life. Frances Allan, commonly known as Fanny, was one of many that helped bring aid to Elizabeth’s sickroom before her death. Fanny became interested in Poe and had Allan do whatever necessary to attain custody of Poe. After receiving Poe from his grandparents, Fanny did a phenomenal job at fulfilling the role of his mother, mostly due to her inability to have children. Kenneth Silverman, author of Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography Mourning and Never-Ending Remembrance, points out that “she too had been an orphan, raised by a guardian” (Silverman 14). Further explaining why she cared deeply for the boy, showing Poe an abundance of affection. Poe’s love for Fanny never died Despite him rarely writing her while serving in the military. Unluckily, Fanny passed away February 28, 1827, and Poe arrived to Moldavia the night after Fanny’s burial. Poe felt a vast amount of guilt and grieved slowly over her death. Many years later, Poe married his first cousin, Virginia. Poe loved her dearly and did everything in his power to provide for her and her mother, Maria Clemm. Unfortunately, Virginia fell victim to Tuberculosis and died on January 30, 1847. Taking a huge toll on Poe, “Virginia’s now certain death prompted thoughts of other close ones who had died” (Silverman 326). Losing the love of his life reminded Poe of all the other losses of loved ones he endured in the past years. As a result of revisiting such horrid memories, Poe wrote some of his most prestigious poems, such as “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”. Experiencing the deaths of those close to Poe, made him the outstanding Gothic writer of the Romantic Literary Era.
Lastly, Poe’s negative reaction to alcohol shaped him to be the renowned gothic writer of his time.

Alcohol played a major role in Poe’s life, mainly as a coping mechanism, which brought on an abundance of trouble for Poe. As a baby, Poe was exposed to “gin and other spirituous liquors”, described by Susan Archer Weiss, author of “The Sister of Edgar A. Poe”. Alcohol had always been a factor in Poe’s life, beginning at infancy, continuing throughout his childhood with dinner guests, and again at the age of seventeen. While attending the University of Virginia, Poe tried keeping up with wealthier classmates, indulging in their unhealthy fixations of drinking and gambling. Charles Baudelaire, a drinking comrade of Poe, revealed that “[Poe] did not drink like an ordinary toper, but like a savage, with an altogether American energy and fear of wasting a minute, as though he were accomplishing an act of murder, as though there was something inside him that he had to kill” (Meyers 25). In accordance to Poe’s debts worsening, he increased his consumption of alcohol, trying to get drunk as quickly as possible to forget about any of his problems. Furthermore, while living with Mrs. Clemm and Virginia, Poe came home intoxicated and almost jeopardized his marriage to Virginia. In the midst of living with his relatives, Poe had a somewhat difficult time finding work and to some employers, he had “the typical denial of a heavy drinker” (Silverman 132). These circumstances momentarily

stopped from drinking, in order to get a job and as a promise to Virginia. Yet a few months after the death of Virginia, Poe left Mrs. Clemm and began drinking massively. Poe was known to become ill-tempered, full of rage, yet extremely ill after consuming alcohol. Alas, on October 3, 1849, Poe was found passed out in a gutter in front of a tavern in Baltimore. Poe died in the hospital a few days later, on October 7, with alcohol as one of the causes of his death. Although alcohol had a bad influence on Poe’s life, it had an impeccable influence within his poems and stories. Hence, the involvement that Poe had with alcohol helped him become the superlative Gothic writer during the Romantic Literary Era.
Ultimately, Poe was the prime example of a quintessential Gothic writer because of his horrible relationship with Allan, the deaths of his dearest loved ones, and his adverse reaction to alcohol. Indeed, Poe was the creator mystery, horror, and even enhanced the Gothic style of writing. His imagination was remarkable, writing stories so vivid, as if he was once a perpetrator of such heinous crimes. Without enduring any of the struggles Poe faced throughout his life, he would not be the superior Gothic writer known to date. [[quote]]