Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. Edgar Poe became an orphan still at a young age following the death of his mother in 1811, shortly after his father had dumped the family. When his mother passed away, Edgar was taken by John and Frances Allan as his guardians, though they did not adopt him formally. Edgar joined the University of Virginia in 1826, but dropped out after one semester due to a lack of school fees. He has undergone a lot in his journey of establishing himself as a prominent writer. Bogousslavsky and Boller (2005) “Edgar Allan Poe was by all accounts one of the most talented of American storytellers, with many of his tales based on characters with episodic unconsciousness, confusion, and paranoia” (p. 57).
In 1827, Edgar went back to Boston, where he published a pamphlet of youthful Byronic poems. The difficulties Edgar was experiencing in life forced him to join army and he registered his name as Edgar A. Perry, however, at the death of Poe’s mother, John Allan acquired his release from army and assisted him to get an appointment to join U.S. Millitary Academy at west Point. In 1829, before he joined the academy, Edgar published a new volume at Baltimore.
According to Bloom (2006), “A large cultural phenomenon that influenced Poe was the temperance movement, which produced a body of literature and lectures filled with the kinds of horrifying images that fascinated him” (p. 30). Edgar managed to get an expulsion from the academy, thus he was excused from all drills and classes for a week. He went to New York City and organized a collection of poems, with various masterpieces, some showing the control that John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge had. According to Whalen (1999) Edgar began their writing career with the perception that great majority of readers were acquainted with the circumstances attending the publication of the newly published book, thus it was important to be content with a very brief statement of those circumstances, by way of introduction to some few observations respecting this (p. 255). Edgar then went back to Baltimore and started to write stories. It was during this period when in 1833 his Ms. Found in a Bottle won $ 50 from Baltimore every week, and by 1835 he went to Richmond as editor. There he established himself as a critical reviewer and wedded his young cousin Virginia Clem, who was then 13 years old.
Edgar’s addiction to alcohol
Due to his alcoholic behavior, Edgar was dismissed from his job in Richmond. He went to New York City and his alcoholic behavior actually became the bane of his life. He became addicted to alcohol such that, to make a presentation to a large company he needed some stimulant, thus a glass of sherry could start him on fling, and, even though he hardly succumbed to intoxication, he was frequently viewed in public when he did.
Edgar’s life, like any other genius, had a lot of tragedies that all manipulated his craft. Since he started his writing career, he had a passion of writing poems for the loves of his life. Afterward, when he matured and understood the real difficulties in life, his writing became darker and more distressing. This was due to long experimentation with opium and alcohol. Edgar’s horror narratives continue to be scary stories ever written, and as a result of this, there have been speculations on what led these themes to come so naturally to him.
Historians and literature fanatics argue that his vacillating love life is the cause whereas other it is due to substance abuse. His unique approach of writing can be attributed to both theories; however the core factor is the death of many of his close friends and the abuse which was inflicted upon him by some of his friends. This, considerably, doomed his outlook importance.
Feverish Dreams in Edgar’s Works
Edgar’s work can be associated to his feverish dreams; to which he used an exceptional sense of shaping plausible fabrics from impalpable materials. His production was determined by the ability of imagination and an explanation approach. He excelled in his writing career and became prominent universally. This can be attributed to the following characters he possessed; idealism and musical gift, dramatic art of storytelling, strong judgment skills as literature appraiser.
Edgar’s first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, was published in 1840. This collection involved one of most popular work, “The fall of the House of Usher.” In the story writer goes to the crumbling mansion of his friend and attempts to dispel Roderick’s gloom. The tale has stirred various film adaptations.
Despite the increased growth of American periodicals at the time Edgar ventured in writing profession, he fueled in career by new technology. Many writers did not survive a few issues and cases of publishers refusing to pay their writer were very common. Edgar, in his effort to remain as a writer, he persisted to humiliate appeals for financial support. Initially, Edgar was concentrating on poetry, but after a while he changed his attention to prose. He published a few stories in Philadelphia publication and started concentrating on his drama politan. Edgar won himself a prize from Baltimore Saturday visiter in October 1833 for his story Ms. Found in a Bottle” as mentioned previously. Later on he published several books, poems, reviews, and stories in the paper.
Intentions to Initiate Own Journal
In the year 1840, Edgar declared his intentions to initiate his own journal. At first he thought of naming his journal The penn, due to the fact that it would have been situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, however, it was called The Stylus. After this initiative, Edgar purchased an advertising space in Saturday Evening Post, for its prospectus. However, the journal was not produce till Edgar died. All this period, he was trying to get a position with the Tyler administration, in order to have opportunity to facilitate publication of his journal. Due to his alcoholic behavior, Edgar missed the opportunity to secure a position in Tyler administration, despite the fact that he had been assured to be appointed. He failed to show have for the meeting he had with Thomas to concerning the appointment, which was planned in mid-September 1842. All the positions were filled with others, following Edgars turn down.
Most of the Edgar’s work was about terror and bitterness, however in normal circumstances the poet was an amusing companion. He narrated brightly, authoritatively of literature, and his own poetry and that of in a tune of outstanding beauty. Edgar in his work has demonstrated the sense of humor, appealing to the customer for not maintaining a pet raven. According to the view of Edgar, the duality remains to be most striking. According to Leigh (2008), Edgar has deeply influenced the modern decadents, who admire to be associated with him (p. 51).
In conclusion, we can concur with Bogousslavsky and Boller (2005), who say; despite Edgar being one of the most famous and celebrated American storytellers, misfortunes, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse plagued his life (p. 57). These have contributed to his episodic changes in consciousness and sporadic obsessed behavior. Bogousslavsky and Boller (2005) continue to argue that personal experiences most likely influenced Edgar to feature characters with intermittent lapses of awareness and alterations in behavior in a number of his works (p. 57).
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