Edgar Allan PoeErica Shewbart

Period 711-3-11

EDGAR ALLANPO

EBorn on : January 19, 1809.Died on: October 7, 1849.

http://www.examiner.com/literature-in-national/baltimore-evermore-edgar-allan-poe-relatives-choose-home-city-for-writer-s-remains

5 Short Stories and 5 Poems

5 STORIES The Angel of

the Odd The Balloon

Hoax Berenice The Black Cat The Cask of

Amontillado

5 POEMS• Annabel Lee• The Conqueror

Worm • A Dream Within

A Dream• The Raven• A Valentine

Biography (:

Edgar was born on January 19,1809. His parents passed away when he was a child and Frances and John Allan took them in. He traveled with them to England where he started school in Chelsea. In 1820 he went back to Virginia and went to the University of Virginia. He could no longer pay for school because of gambling debts and dropped out. He then went to the U.S Army and served there for two years. In 1827 his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems was published at his own expense. He also had his poem in a newspaper.

Biography (:

In 1827 his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems was published at his own expense. He also had his poem in a newspaper. He then enlisted in a military academy but was dismissed a year later. In 1829 his second book was published, Al Aaraaf. He then found his love, also known as his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm. In 1835 he became the editor to a popular Southern Literary Messenger. He then published his first novel in 1838. Virginia died in 1847. He then met his old teenage sweetheart Elmira Royster. He began to fund for his new magazine The Stylus. He soon passed October 7, 1849 in Washington College Hospital.

My Theory on Poe’s Death

I think that the disease and medical problems are the most believable because of all the medical history they have. This man had some serious medical issues. I believe that because of all of this it could have just been so many problems going on his body just decided to shut down. He had suffered from heart disease, which he had denied. He complained about having his head hurt and, barely being able to hold his pen. Even a doctor said that Poe was going to die because of a problem in his brain that had also been having problems.

My Favorite Edgar Allan Poe Story

My favorite story was the The Red Death. During this time in the story tuberculosis was spreading. The prince gathered 1000 healthy knights and ladies. The prince then decided to shut the gates to the castle so the disease would not get in the castle. The prince has a big ball to celebrate. There were several rooms though each a different color and had a different meaning. The party was in the first six rooms while the seventh was empty. Every hour the people would obsess over the clock ringing. They ignored several times and continued the party anyway. After the people stopped for the midnight ring of the clock a man who wore a black cloak and resembled a skeleton came out and walked through all the rooms towards the prince.

My Favorite Story (continued)

The man looked at the prince for awhile. The prince told people to seize him but everybody was to afraid. The man walked to the black room. The prince ran after him with a dagger and as soon as they came face to face the man killed the prince. Then everybody rushed towards the room and saw the prince dead. The man then killed everybody else. Poe used suspense by making the man mysterious and not having him say anything. He also used suspense when he made the prince to go after the man with a dagger.

Conclusion

Edgar invented horror by always making these creepy stories. He was able to make horror even though it was frowned upon back then. His stories I enjoyed. I liked his stories because they were different than you would normally read, and they were very creative. I don’t think that I could make any connections while researching Poe. I am not a creeper like Poe even though I thought Poe was quite an interesting person to research.

Works CitedGiordano, Robert. “Short Stories By Edgar Allan Poe”. Poe Stories.com-An Exploration of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (27 June 2005). (26 October 2011). <http://www.poestories.com/offline.php>.

Merriman, C.D. “Edgar Allan Poe”. The Literature Network. (2006). (31 October 2011).<http://www.online-literature.com/poe/>.

The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. “The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe”. The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. 12 December 2010. 31 October 2011. < http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poedeath.htm>.

Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Masque of The Red Death Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory”. Shmoop, we speak student. (11 November 2008)> Shmoop University, Inc.( 19 October 2011) http://www.shmoop.com/masque-of-red-death/symbolism-imagery.html Spark Notes Editor. “SparkNote On Poe’s Short Stories”. SparkNotes.com. (2011). (19 October 2011). <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/section10.rhtml>.