His Life And Legacy

1. His Life And Legacy Sam Andres April 23rd, 2007 Mr. Mooney IDEA English II Acc. Period 3

2. “[He was] Considered a strange, melancholy loner who concentrated on his poetry” (Meyers 49). Yet his literary works are so inspiring that we are somehow able to look past his insanity and focus on his brilliance.

3. Boston, MA January 19th, 1809 Baltimore, VA October 7th, 1849 Family Elizabeth and David Poe William and Rosalie Francis and John Allan *Edgar AllanPoe* School Scotland & London 17- University of Virginia Did very well academically Gambling Debts 1827 Went back to Boston Published 1st book @ 18 Baltimore Married 13 yr. old cousin @ 26 His Life…

4. 1827- 18 yrs. He enlisted in the US Army as Edgar A. Perry Private Sergeant Major Discharged 1829 (Published 2nd book) 1830- 21 yrs. John Allan made it possible for him to enter into the United States Military Academy at West Point Got himself dismissed for disobedience and neglect of duty Duty Calls “Many of Poe’s weird stories reflect his own experience” (Meyers 11).

5. 70 poems Novels Political satires Philosophical colloquies Critical essays Over three hundred reviews on many types of literature Irving, Hawthorne, Dickens, Longfellow Perfection Mystery Horror Tale …and Legacy “With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion.” - Edgar Allan Poe Poe

6. 26 years old 1835-1836 Southern Literary Messenger Richmond, VA 1839-1840 Burton's Gentleman's Magazine Philadelphia 1841-1842 Graham's Magazine 1844-1845 The New York Evening Mirror 1845-1846 The Broadway Journal Alcohol Quarreling with employers over editorial decisions and salary Numerous job changes Periods of Drinking & Sobriety Amazingly very successful Dear Mr. Editor: I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.

7. Writing Under The Influence… • Despite his fluctuating insanity, Poe was always consistent in his writing and was a strong influence on many famous and successful authors. • T.S. Eliot • Wallace Stevens • Mark Twain • Ray Bradbury • Robert Louis Stevenson • Arthur Conan Doyle • Lemony Snicket “The true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.” – Edgar Allan Poe "To me his prose is unreadable—like Jane Austen’s“ (Comeau).

8. POEtry…and stuff… • Published over half of his poems by 1831 (Age 22) • Interest in cryptography • Wrote essays which proved useful in deciphering the German codes during WWI. • Ladies Man “I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.” - Poe

9. …self destructive compulsion that would recur throughout his life…(Meyers 50). Alcoholism at Infancy From the time he was one, “she freely administered to them gin and other…liquors…[opium dissolved in alcohol], ‘to make them strong and healthy’, or to put them to sleep when restless” (Meyers 5). Habit or Hereditary? • Father abandoned him when he was 1 • Mother died when he was 2 • These two events are thought to have had considerable emotional impact on the rest of his life.

10. “There is nothing more beautiful than the death of a beautiful woman.” – Edgar Allan Poe • Easier to drink than to work • “Poe explained that his desperate need for stimulants was a compensatory attempt to recover essential things that had been lost – love, wealth, social status and literary reputation” (Meyers 89).

11. “He was an adventurer into vaults and cellars and horrible underground passages of the human soul. He sounded the horror and the warning of his own doom...Doomed he was. He died wanting more love, and love killed him. A ghastly disease, love” (Lawrence 75).

12. Mother, stepmother, and Brother died of TB Attempted suicide in 1848 The cause of his death is undetermined. Attributed to: Alcohol Drugs Rabies Suicide Tuberculosis Heart disease Brain Congestion Voting? Seen in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York Found in distress 4 days before Outside of a tavern In a gutter Not wearing his own clothes Taken to a hospital, but was not coherent Death

13. “ ‘Biography is not merely a sketch of the poet’s life…It is a gradual development of his heart and mind, of his nature as a poet and a man, that endears him more to us, while it enable us more thoroughly to comprehend him’” (Meyers xii). - Edgar Allan Poe Ironic, isn’t it? Poe states that the legacy a man leaves behind is to be used to get a grasp of who he truly was throughout his lifetime. Yet this same man spent the majority of his life hiding behind his enigmatic writing, only to have this life be mysteriously ended a short 40 years after it began. Leaving us with the fact that Edgar Allan Poe is anything but thoroughly comprehended. Poe

14. Questions? ?

15. Comeau, Robert. “Reading Poe in salary: Mark Twain’s use of ‘The Raven’.” Southern Literary Journal. 1996. Issue 1, p26. Freeland, Natalka. “’One of an infinite series of mistakes': Mystery, Influence, and Edgar Allan Poe.” American Transcendental Quarterly. June 1996. Vol. 10, Issue 2, p123. Hoffman, Daniel. “The Artist of the Beautiful.” American Poetry Review. Nov 1995. Vol. 24 Issue 6, p11. Lawrence, D.H. Studies In Classic American Literature. USA: Thomas Seltzer Inc, 1923. Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. “Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, The”. 21 April 2006. <http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm>. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Raven and Other Favorite Poems. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1991. Works Cited Comeau, Robert. “Reading Poe in salary: Mark Twain’s use of ‘The Raven’.” Southern Literary Journal. 1996. Issue 1, p26. Freeland, Natalka. “’One of an infinite series of mistakes': Mystery, Influence, and Edgar Allan Poe.” American Transcendental Quarterly. June 1996. Vol. 10, Issue 2, p123. Hoffman, Daniel. “The Artist of the Beautiful.” American Poetry Review. Nov 1995. Vol. 24 Issue 6, p11. Lawrence, D.H. Studies In Classic American Literature. USA: Thomas Seltzer Inc, 1923. Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. “Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, The”. 21 April 2006. <http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm>. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Raven and Other Favorite Poems. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1991.