Edgar Allan Poe

1. Edgar Allan Poe America’s first professional writer.

2. Edgar Allan Poe • Born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 19, 1809. • His mother, brother and sister, and he were abandoned by his father, David Poe Jr., when Edgar was an infant. • Mother, Eliza Arnold Poe, an actress, died of tuberculosis when he was 3 years old.

3. Edgar Allan Poe • Each of the Poe children were taken in by different families. • Edgar was taken in as a foster child by the family of John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. • Mrs. Allan probably pushed her husband to take Edgar in, but there was never much love between the two of them – Edgar was never adopted.

4. Edgar Allan Poe • 1815-20 The Allan family traveled to England. Edgar attended a number of well respected schools while there – this made him well educated as a child. • 1820-25 He continued his education in Richmond, VA. • Feb. 1826 He enrolled at the University of Virginia to study languages. • Poe accumulated large gambling debts at UVA, and his sweetheart, Sarah Royster, married a classmate, Alexander Shelton.

5. Edgar Allan Poe • John Allan refused to pay Edgar’s gambling debts, despite being quite wealthy. • Edgar was angry with John for this, and for having a number of affairs while Mrs. Allan lay dying of tuberculosis. • He was especially angry that John Allan did not support or acknowledge several children who were born as a result of these affairs. • The two of them became estranged, and did not speak much after that.

6. Edgar Allan Poe • In order to escape his gambling debts, Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army under the name “Edgar A. Perry.” • 1827 He published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems at his own expense. It did not sell well, and received very little critical attention. • After rising to the rank of Sergeant Major, he left the Army to enter West Point. • In the interim between leaving the Army and entering West Point (April, 1829 to June, 1830) he moved in with his aunt Maria Clemm, and her daughter Virginia, His brother Henry, and his invalid Grandmother. • All evidence indicates that this was a very positive and supportive environment for him.

7. Edgar Allen Poe • October, 1830 John Allan remarried, and he and Poe had a falling out. The Allan family disowned Poe. • After spending a year at West Point, he began intentionally neglecting his duties to force a “court martial” and get himself dismissed. He was kicked out in Feb. 1831. • He first went to New York, where he published his 3rd book of poetry, entitled Poems. It also received little attention. • He then returned to Baltimore, to “Muddy” Clemm’s home, where he felt supported and welcome.

8. Edgar Allan Poe • In August, 1831, his brother Henry died of tuberculosis. • After not getting much positive feedback on his poetry, Poe shifted his focus to writing prose – particularly short stories, for which he is best known today. • 1833 He published “MS Found in a Bottle” in a Baltimore paper, which got him some critical exposure – people liked this story. • July, 1835 He got a job working as an assistant editor at the Southern Literary Messenger, a magazine based in Richmond. • He was fired a few weeks later for being repeatedly drunk on the job.

9. Edgar Allan Poe • Poe returned to Baltimore and secretly married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who was 13 at the time. • He was by all accounts very much in love, and a devoted husband. • After promising to clean up his act, the Messenger agreed to take him back. • He, Virginia and Muddie moved back to Richmond where they held a second, public wedding ceremony for he and Virginia.

10. Edgar Allan Poe • Poe was successful in his second effort at the Southern Literary Messenger, helping to grow its circulation from 700 to 3500 subscriptions. • From 1836 to 1841, Poe worked at three different, well-respected magazines, establishing a good reputation as a tough critic and talented writer. • During this time period, he also wrote dozens of essays and short stories, and a few more poems. • This period concluded with his efforts to start his own literary magazine, which never materialized.

11. Edgar Allan Poe • January, 1842 Virginia was stricken with tuberculosis. • Poe was devastated, and began drinking heavily again due to the stress of her illness. • Poe had bought the magazine Broadway Journal, and it went bankrupt in 1846. • Virginia died in 1847, in Bronx, New York where Poe had bought a cottage on the edge of Fordham University.

12. Edgar Allan Poe • After Virginia’s death, Poe became increasingly unstable, and continued to drink heavily. • He courted well-known poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who would eventually rebuff him, largely due to his drinking and the interference of Whitman’s mother. • He also pursued his college sweetheart, Sarah Royster, and Annie Richmond, a married woman from Providence, RI, during this time. • He clearly was looking for a feminine influence in his life.

13. Edgar Allan Poe • On October 3, 1849, Poe was found delirious in the street. • He was wearing clothing that was not his own, and was never coherent enough to tell anyone what had happened to him. • He eventually died on October 7th of undetermined causes. • Modern scientists think he likely died of rabies, although others have suggested advanced alcoholism, political kidnapping, or suicide.

14. Poe’s philosophy • People are basically evil and must struggle to be good. • Conscience controls the individual and aids in this struggle. • When people separate themselves from society, bad things happen. • Poe doesn’t usually use morals or lessons, but often uses symbolism, which adds to the overall effect of the piece. • Poe believed that literature should induce a “hypnogogic” state in a reader, allowing him/her to gain a glimpse of divine truth.

15. Poe’s philosophy • The purpose of poetry and literature is the aesthetic – it’s primary purpose is to be beautiful, not necessarily to teach a lesson. • The effect of poetry and literature is to create a mood which elevates the soul, creating a spiritual experience. • Humans are only capable of experiencing this for short periods of time (45 minutes or so). • Longer, epic works are simply a series of these shorter aesthetic experiences strung together, moving the reader in and out of spiritual elevation.