E A Poe Madman Or Literary Genius Essay
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Madman or Literary Genius? Edgar Allan Poeıs life is almost as strange
as his writings. Poe is, perhaps, best known for his bizarre tales of
terror, death, decay and madness. "To a world fascinated by the bizarre
and the macabre, Poe has often seemed an embodiment of the satanic
characters of his own fiction, the archetype of the neurotic
genius."(McMicheal 727). He was equally as talented at poetry, detective
stories, and as a literary critic. Many controversies surrounded Poe in
death as well as in life. Some answer we may never know. Hereıs what we
do know.
Edgar Poe was born on January 19,1809 to Eliza and David Poe,Jr in
Boston. Edgar was the second son of Eliza and David, whose sole income
was obtained from acting. In the summer of 1809 the Poeıs moved from
Boston to New York. Although Eliza often got great reviews and was
offered some good parts, critics didnıt like David. Frustrated by this
David walked out on Eliza and their two sons leaving her alone and
desolate. In 1910 Eliza gave birth to a baby girl, named Rosalie.
Shortly after that Eliza became ill. On December 8, 1811 Elizabeth Poe
died leaving behind three young orphaned children.
Rosalie was taken in by a family named Mac Kenzie and the oldest son,
William, was taken in by Davidıs family. As Davidıs family had no
intention of taking Edgar in, Fanny Allan convinced her husband that
they should give Edgar a home. Fanny had helped in Elizaıs sickroom
before she died and so was familiar with Edgar. Although the Allanıs
didnıt adopt Edgar they did change his name to incorporate their last
name into it. They christened him Edgar Allan Poe on January 7, 1812.
This arrangement meant a big change for Edgar. John Allan was a wealthy
business owner. So with the death of his mother Edgar literally went
from rags to riches.
When Edgar was six and a half the Allanıs moved to England. Enrolled in
boarding school using the name Edgar Allan, he received his first formal
education here. The Allanıs lived in England for five years . When the
tobacco market took a nose dive, John Allanıs business took a nose-dive
also. With no business and no reason to stay in England the Allanıs left
for New York. They ultimately settled in Richmond, Virginia. Here
Edgar continued his schooling where his gift for languages and writing
was discovered. Upon moving to Richmond Edgar also started using the
name Edgar Poe instead of Edgar Allan. With the death of an Uncle the
Allanıs once again came into money.
In 1826, Edgar began classes at the University of Virginia. He continued
to excel in his studies of languages and worked on developing his
writing skills. It was also during this time that Edgar fell in love.
The girl, Elmira Royster, was fifteen and her father objected to their
relationship. So Poe experienced both love and heartbreak.
While away at school arguments with John Allan grew more frequent. Edgar
felt that Allan wasnıt giving him enough money to live on. Therefore in
order to survive he gambled to try and get more money. More frequently
then not this lead to him being out of more money instead. When Edgar
approached Allan for the money to cover his gambling debts, Allan
refused to pay them. Instead Poe was required to take a job at Allanıs
firm. With the relationship between the two men being so strained Edgar
left the home in March of 1827 to make his own way.
Edgar went to Boston and got a job working for a small newspaper. It was
here that Edgar had his first published work. "Tamerlane and Other
Poems" was published and said to be written by "A Bostonian". As "
Tamerlane" was coming out in print Poe was enlisting in a five year
stint in the Army. He enlisted under the name of Edgar Perry and by
overstating his age to 22.
Edgar did well in the Army and in 1828 he became "assistant to the
A.C.S. (Assistant Commissary of Substance)." By 1829 He was promoted to
Sergeant Major. Although he was doing well in the Army Edgar wanted to
leave it. He enlisted the help of a friend -- Lieutenant Howard-- to
reach this objective. Howard agreed to help Edgar but only if Edgar
would reconcile with John Allan. Edgar wrote several letters explaining
the situation to John Allan and trying to reconcile. Allan, however, did
not reply to Edgar requests. Edgar wrote once again explaining that he
wanted to enter West Point to advance his career as a soldier. Whether
or not he received an answer is not known as a more important event took
precedent.
Fanny Allan , who had been sick the majority of Poeıs life was ailing
rapidly. Although she asked to see Edgar, he was unable to arrive before
she died. Her death lead the way for a reconciliation between Edgar And
John. In addition to reconciling Allan offered his help in securing
Poeıs entrance into West Point. Although Poe left the army in 1829, a
waiting list prevented him from entering West Point until one year
later.
During this time Edgar again pursued his writing. Once again money
problem besieged him. Repeated request for money from Allan brought
argument and dissent between the two men. During this time Poe had one
of his poems published in American Monthly. It was then published again
by The Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette. John Neal, editor, "described
Edgarıs efforts as "though nonsense, rather exquisite nonsense" and he
thought good of Edgarıs future as a poet."(poedecoder)
By November, Edgar was having a volume of poems published. The book
called "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems" was published under the
name Edgar A. Poe. The main poem "Al Aaraaf" was unfinished and hard to
understand. "A Baltimore reviewer wrote: "all our brain-cudgelling could
not compel us to understand it." This book, however, unlike Tamerlane,
brought Edgar some small public attention, it was reviewed in at least
four different publications and some of the criticism was good, and the
work was even described as "highly creditable to the
Country.""(poedecoder)
Finally in the spring of 1830 Poe was admitted to West Point. Here he
excelled in classes in French and Math, placing 17th in math and 3rd in
French. In addition to his academic studies, Poe became the sort of
class clown. He amused the other cadets be writing poems about their
instructors. One such poem was written about Joseph Locke, whose duty it
was to report cadetıs violation of regulations:
John Locke was a notable name
Joe Locke is a greater; in short
The former was well known to fame,
But the latterıs well known "to report"
(poedecoder)
Allan remarried and once again the two were at odds. Edgar felt that
Allan didnıt provide well enough for him and that he drove Edgar into
debt. Although Edgar began writing to Allan to ask his permission to
leave West Point, Allan didnıt answer his letters. Finally, Edgar
decided to get thrown out of West Point. To do this Edgar began
violation the regulations --In 1831 he had 66 offences and a court
martial was convened. He was found guilty and dismissed. He stayed long
enough to get money from the other cadets to print a new edition of
poems.
This edition, published as "Poems By Edgar A. Poe...Second Edition" was
dedicated to the cadets. He revised "Tamerlane", and "Al Aaraaf" and
added new poems such as "To Helen". "Edgarıs new poems showed his
preference on mixing past and present, dream and reality and myth and
science."(poedecoder)
It was around this time that Edgar got back in touch with his
fatherıs(David Poe) relatives. This also led to him spending time with
his brother, William Henry Leonard Poe, better known as Henry. Edgar
sometimes tried to turn to Henry when he needed help. Unfortunately
Henry drank and was often unable to offer any assistance. In a strange
twist of fate Henry also wrote. Both Henry and Edgar named characters in
their story after each other. Strangely enough they both published a
poem that was almost identical.
Henry:
The happiest day- the happiest hour
My searıd and blighted heart has known,
The brightest glance of pride and power
I feel has flown--
Edgar:
The happiest day -- the happiest hour
My searıd and blighted heart hath known,
The highest hope of pride and power,
I feel hath flown
In addition to this poem, there was a poem published in Edgarıs 1827
edition that both men seem to claim part of. Unfortunately Henry meet
his fate on August 1, 1831. It was said the cause of his death was his
fondness for drinking. This is ironic because eighteen years later
doctorıs would say the same of Edgar.
Edgar would fall in love with Mary Starr, a seventeen year old. Maryıs
brother disapproved of Edgar because Edgar couldnıt support a wife. It
has been suggested that losing Mary because of money was part of the
reason Edgar switched from writing poetry to try his hand at fiction. On
August 13,1831 the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post published a story,
The Dream, believed to have been written by Poe. "Whether Edgar wrote
the story or not is uncertain, it was published with the signature "P"
but the circumstances around the story and the character of the story Eating Out Vs Eating at Home essay Eating Disorders: Their DarkSide essay ebola essay
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