Literature is one form of entertainment greatly adored by the majority of the people in the world. Most of the literature work is a product of writers’ inspiration. However, inspiration work does not come naturally; writers drill their ideas from somewhere. Most of the writers’ ideas do come from their past experiences and their own thoughts. An example of a literature writer is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s writings were influenced by his tragic life, the period he lived, and his unfit brain (Bagert, 77).
Allan Poe was born in Boston in the year 1809. He spent a few days with his father who later left him under the mercies of his mother. A few years later Allan’s mother also passed on leaving him with his two siblings at the age of three. The death of his mother had contributed greatly to the shaping of his lifestyle. After a few years, Poe was again separated from his two siblings and later adopted by John and Frances (Walker, 101).
While under the care of his foster father, Poe tried very much to ensure that his conduct was fit. His main aim of behaving well was to coax John into loving him. He advanced his education at the University of Virginia then joined the U.S Military in order to please his foster father, John. It was during his time in the army that his foster mother died, leaving him in the agony of losing another loved one (Schlegel, 85.
To fill the gap of the dead wife, Poe’s foster father married another wife with whom they gave birth into a son that contributed to John’s disregard of Poe’s cries. As a strike back to what he was undergoing, Poe willingly misbehaved at school his father loved. He involved himself in gambling acts that made him end up in huge debts that contributed to his leaving of school (Quinn, 79). At home, Poe was faced with another tragedy, his fiancé Elmira had pushed on with someone else. These hardship experiences reveal little about how Poe was diverted from normal life. Poe’s frustrations made him fight his foster father, an act that led to the creation of a great gap between them. He was later separated from his family.
His foster father also stopped supporting him. Poe felt abandoned, unworthy, and his anger cropped because of the unfriendly treatment from his guardians (Bandel and Ewers, 87). The unpromising living condition made Poe move to Baltimore, where he joined his father’s sister and cousin by the name Virginia. Poe had spent only one year with his aunt and cousin when he fell in love with his own cousin Virginia. At the age of eighteen, Poe decided to marry Virginia who was only thirteen years old. He began his publishing work in 1827 and advanced greatly in 1831. Despite Poe being a publisher, he also worked in different fields, for instance, he once worked as an editor in Richmond. Poe spent much of his part-time writing poetry and short stories (Streissgith, 81).
Poe’s wife also passed on after spending a few years with him. Her death greatly distressed Poe, making him remain at standstill for some years. After some years of writing poetry, Poe embarked on writing stories that referred to his tragic life. In his stories, Poe included the gossiping act of his friends and everything that took place in his lifetime. Most of his stories expressed pain that he had undergone throughout his life.
However, it cannot be concluded that only people influenced Poe’s writing, the time he lived also played a great role in his art of writing. Between 1809 and 1849, a time when Edgar Allan lived, the majority of the American readers developed the urge for tasting revenge. They had the anticipation of experiencing the outcome of a hitting story. During this time, revenge was something unprepared for by the readers. Therefore, in Poe’s writing of vengeful stories, he succeeded in offering the readers what they had wanted to be included in stories (Allan, 99).
Most of Poe’s stories were written in Dark Romanticism style. In all that he wrote, he seemed to be in the dark. His stories had gloomy settings, filled with themes of revenge and violence. In addition, Poe’s stories expressed confusion and mysteries. Also, Poe used mysterious characters in passing his message in the stories. From all styles Poe used in producing gloomy stories, he proves to have been greatly influenced by Gothic tradition. Gothic tradition expresses violent acts, gloomy settings, and an unfriendly atmosphere. Gothic tradition is also responsible for the rebirth of different forms of mysteries and suspense. This tradition also expounds in the production of threatening ghost stories. Gothic literature is known for its association with the dark side of life and all strange aspects of life. In his story “tale of sensation”, Poe uses characters that express their sensations while at death.
Edgar Poe had a great mental challenge. He involved himself greatly in the consumption of alcohol and drug abuse. Most of his stories had unanswered questions. He also mixed his piece of work leading to the confusion of his readers, for instance, in his writing of the stories he neglected some crucial words and fixed his words of choice-making his stories unclear (Levert, 97). While working with the magazine in 1837, Poe showed aggressiveness, this was as a result of heavy consumption of alcohol. The death of his love, Virginia must have contributed to Poe’s involvement in heavy consumption of alcohol and drug abuse. Although Poe continued to work after the death of Virginia, his health deteriorated day by day, he was observed to be suffering from poor health. The confusion in his last pieces of work in the magazine industries must have been due to brain congestion.
In conclusion, Poe’s life experience contributed immensely to his writing career. He used his challenging life experience in publishing many books that were so terrifying. In addition, the traditional practice during the time of Poe also played a great role in enhancing Poe’s expounds in his writing work. Among his stories, Poe expressed his anger, a character that was greatly practiced by the people of that time. Poe also seemed to know what his readers demanded, and this made him write more stories on issues of revenge (Bagert, 96). The mental status of Poe was also a factor that contributed to his unique production of stories. Most of his stories were mixed up, for instance, he neglected some important words and fixed others aimlessly resulting in total confusion of those who read his stories. The heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs contributed to the confusion of Poe in carrying out his roles. The drugs he consumed must have resulted in his brain retardation.
Works Cited
Bagert, Brod. Edgar Allen Poe. New York:Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1995. Print.
Bandel, Joe and Ewers, Hanns. Edgar Allan Poe. New York:Lulu.com, 2009. Print.
Edger, Poe. Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poem. New York:Bottletree Books LLC, 2008. Print.
Levert, Suzanne. Edgar Allan Poe. New York:Chelsea House, 1992. Print.
Quinn, Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. New York: JHU Press, 2011. Print.
Schlegel, Christian. Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven – an Analysis. New York:GRIN Verlag, 2007. Print.
Streissguth, Thomas. Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Publications, 2007. Print.
Walker, Ian. Edgar Allen Poe. New York: PublisherRoutledge, 1997. Print.