Poe: The Maker of a Genre

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Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts on the 19th day of January, 1809. He is born to David and Elizabeth Poe, who are both travelling actors. Edgar’s father leaves the family shortly after his birth and his mother would die not long before his third birthday. Edgar Allan Poe is then sent to live with a foster family, this is where he would inherit the name Allan, although they did not formally adopt him. Poe’s foster parents, John and Frances Allan, support him through most of his adolescent years. Poe will start out writing at a young age and attends college only to be cut off from his foster family after Frances Allan dies from tuberculosis. Once out of college, Poe has a brief stint in the military where he continues to write and becomes a published author at the age of only eighteen with his first poem, Tamerlane. Edgar marries his cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1836 after he reunites with her and his Aunt Maria in Baltimore, Maryland. Poe’s marriage to Virginia proves to be short lived when she passes from tuberculosis in 1847. Poe does not live long after his wife’s death, he dies in Baltimore in 1849 at the age of forty. During Poe’s life, he publishes many short stories and poems, with some of his most notable ones being The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado. Poe would be well known posthumously due to his famous obituary written by Rufus Griswold. (Hutchisson) (Magistrale)
One of Edgar Allan Poe’s most infamous poems is The Raven. Poe is known for his Gothic style writing and this is reflected in the poem. The poem which is published in the year 1845, is one that launches Poe into celebrity status (Bloom). The tone throughout the poem is melancholy and captivates readers with well written ...

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...le, 1992. Print.
Wilmer, L. A. Letter to Mr. Tomlin (May 20, 1843). Passages from the Correspondence and Other Papers of Rufus W. Griswold, ed. W.M. Griswold, 1898: 143. Quoted as "On Edgar Allan Poe" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Edgar Allan Poe, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007.Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 May 2014
Hutchisson, James M. Poe. Jackson: U of Mississippi, 2005. Print.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "'The Raven'." Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 May 2014

Magistrale, Tony. Student Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001. Print.
Amper, Susan. "'The Tell-Tale Heart'." Bloom's How to Write about Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 May 2014

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