What can we say about Edgar Allan Poe that hasn’t already been said?  I believe the answer to that question is “not much”.  Who was this man with the dark grey eyes and the melancholy madness?  He was a writer.  True to form, he was a writer.

Poe struggled, as many writers do, with obtaining recognition with his work.  He barely sustained a living from his writing, taking on jobs as editor of prominent publications of the time.  He wrote books; literary criticisms of poetry and the art of short story writing. He was passionate about what he wrote and didn’t conform to what he believed people wanted from his writing.  When he wrote reviews, he was brutally honest, whether he was reviewing the work of a friend or that of a foe.  Honesty.

His life was turbulent, filled with moments of deep sadness that would probably be considered clinical depression by today’s medical professionals.  He indulged in drinking because, some critics say, it was the only way he could deal with life.  He had a rocky relationship with his foster father John Allen, who took him in at the tender age of two in 1911, when Poe’s mother died (his father had already died in 1810).  He was able to attend good schools but found it difficult to adhere to the strictness that was placed upon him so he usually ended up being dismissed from the schools, West Point  Surprisingly, he joined the U.S Army and served for two years.  Once again, he asked his foster father for help to use his connections to get him out.  He gambled—badly, and this caused a gap in his relationship with Mr. Allan.  He accumulated large debts that his foster father soon tired of helping him with.   being one of them.

We have to remember though, Poe, at this point in his life was barely twenty years old!  He also had trouble with falling in love with women who would not or could not return his affections.  There was one, who he secretly became engaged to when he was seventeen.  There aren’t any great details as to what happen there.  We know that his young cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm (1822-1847), was to become his wife; a wife who would die at the young age of twenty-five, leaving Edgar alone in a stupor of depression.

In 1835 he became editor and contributor of the Southern Literary Messenger; a position that would finally bring him respect as a critic and essayist. His stories continued to be published and after marrying Virginia, they moved to New York.  In 1945 Poe received worldwide recognition for his work “The Raven”.  And it isn’t surprising because The Raven is one of the greatest literary works in history.  I know many will argue that point, but this is our page and we love Poe.  When one reads The Raven, you can’t help but feel the desperation and utter loneliness and terror of the narrator.  He fears death but at the same time he longs for it.  It is a tale of the fantastical, imbued with Gothic idealism.

Poe is considered a master of horror and the father of the modern mystery story.