Edgar Allan Poe Poetry Essay

For some individuals, poetry is a form of freedom and expression. It is one of the many creative ways to release feelings of anger and happiness from the human mind. The intensity of every rhythm and word, and style of each poem allows readers to uncover deeper significance to the context. The rich variety achieved by mixing a combination of human imagination and reality to tell a story with deeper meaning is remarkable. This concept of combining poems and human imagination together was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe. Living an impoverished life, Poe penned stories of horror and mystery into collections of poems and short stories. He expressed his thoughts on paper with great thrill and excitement. Known for his wild imagination that included suspenseful, dark tales, he posed as a literary figure and inspired many across the world.

Although Poe's writings changed the world of literature, his personal life was a struggle. Born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, Poe was the son of traveling actors. He had an older brother and a younger sister, making him the middle child of the family. At the age of three, Poe's biological mother died and his father abandoned the family. Despite this misfortune, up-scale tobacco merchants John and Frances Allan raised Poe in Richmond, Virginia while his other siblings left to live with other families. From here, his love for writing blossomed and thrived. His foster father, John Allan, trained Poe to be a successful tobacco merchant, but Poe showed no interest in the tobacco business. In fact, Poe wrote some of his early poems on the back of papers that were used to keep track of numbers for tobacco shipments. Failing to continue his father's tobacco business, Poe decided to pursue hi...

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...at happened and how he died, there is no argument that Poe left an exquisite literary legacy behind. Poe's legacy of meaningful literary works was so extremely honored that “..an anonymous visitor has brought three red roses and a bottle of cognac to Poe's grave at Westminster Church in Baltimore on the anniversary of the writer's birthday every year since 1949” (neuroticpoets.com). The effort required to do this every year is evidence that Poe is respected and valued. To this day, his influence inspires many across the world, pushing individuals to express human imagination on paper. It was a great tragedy to see an admirable writer perish in a crude way but from the valuable work he left behind has expanded the world of literature and we have used it to our advantage. As Poe use to say, “With me, poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion” (quotationspage.com).