Edgar Allen Poe led a very sad and interesting life all the way to the end. He made little money for a living, and has experienced many sorrows.
When he was two years old, his mother had died, and she had already separated with his SECOND father. He was then adopted, getting separated by his brother and sisters. His adopted family was very rich, so he was able to get a very good education. However, his dad gave him little money, and soon he was in debt, causing him to drop out of school. Having his THIRD father shun him, he was forced to join the army for money at only 18.
His writing style has a very mysterious and spooky atmosphere to it, possibly inspired by his life. He wrote about things that weren't really popular at the time, and his stories had no actual explanation to things. No one would know what actually happened and why, as there was no possible explanation. Nowadays, it is, of course, very popular, since back then it was just "out of the norm." His writings weren't able to make much money for him, and it was hard to find any publishers that would accept his work.
One interesting fact is that in his final days, he died mysteriously. He had taken the wrong train to Baltimore, and was found at Gunner's Hall, unable to explain what happened to him. After his mysterious death, it gave birth to many myths and legends of what may have actually happened to him.
I agree with you saying that his works were just like his life, dreary and sad. It was probably unexpected that someone would write like him. Do you think his writing would be ifferent if he lived a good life?
ReplyDelete—Which brings the question: why is Poe's work so popular today, rather than the past? You'd think that catching someone's interest would involve doing or creating something out of the norm, but that didn't seem to be the case then.
ReplyDeleteI like it when you said that his works were possibly based off/inspired by his life. Never thought of that. Also didn't know that he actually didn't make a lot of money off of his writings, even though they were really good. Great post; learned some things!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I like the research you included, especially about his death, which was mysterious like his works. Why do you think some works are not successful at the time of their publication but are praised later?
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about Poe's many sorrows. Do you think those "sorrows" affected his "dark" and "Gothic" way of writing? What do YOU think happened to Poe? Overall, this was a great post!
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