Edgar Poe's, His Work and the Influence on the Literary World

Introduction

Edgar Poe was born in 1809 in Boston January 19. He was the second born in his family. His mother and father were also in the acting profession, and it is believed that this is what motivated Edgar's poetic career. It is thought that he was named after a character in William Shakespeare's play, King Lear which the couple performed in 1809. Consequently, their father abandoned them and the mother also died a year later. He was then taken to the home of a prosperous Scottish merchant in Virginia, John Allan who traded on different types of goods like tobacco, wheat, cloth, slaves, and tombstones among other products (Poe, 2008).

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It is while he was at Allan's family that he was given the name Edgar Allan Poe even though they never adopted him formerly (Poe, 2008). While with the Allan family, Edgar was baptized in 1812. It was John Allan's responsibility to ensure that his foster son was given the care and discipline that a child required for his positive growth patterns. The family then moved to Britain where Poe had the chance to attend a grammar school for a short stint in Irvine, Scotland before he could rejoin the family in London in around 1816. While in London, Poe was taken to a boarding school in Chelsea until 1817. From here, Poe was enrolled at Manor House School in Stoke Newington where he furthered his studies in the northern part of London.

Literature Review

Before Poe could finish his one-year University education, he was involved in a lot of debts, and he consequently claimed that Allan did not give him enough money to sustain himself in school and therefore he decided to enlist in the army because he was unable to support himself financially. While serving at Fort independence Boston, he released his first 40-page poetry collection book titled Tamerlane and other Poems. Unfortunately, only 50 copies were printed, and it received almost no public attention. After all these events that did not seem to favor Poe, he decided to go back to Baltimore where his brother, aunt, and sister lived in 1831. Because of the ill-health of his elder brother, as a result of uncontrolled drinking, he died in August the same year. Poe then decided to sign in his career as a writer after the death of his brother. He chose to face a hard time in American publishing to do so. (Poe, 2008) It is argued that Poe became the first known American to survive by writing alone and was profoundly affected by the lack of international law concerning copyrights. During this time, publishers produced copies that were unauthorized of British work but not paying for new jobs by the Americans. Poe always repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and other financial assistance in his attempt to live as a writer. This is because publishers did not pay their writers very well.

Discussion

Generally, literature is considered to be a perfect world where the writer's fantasy is mixed with the understanding of his life, emotions as well as thoughts. It is bear that the psyche of human is shaped under the consequence of some particular events, relationship with other people and even health conditions. In this case, Poe was not exempted. It is accurately observed that his great poems accompanied by his horror stories are as a result of dramatic occurrences in his life. It would be wise to note that the relationship of Poe's life to his books was first captured by Walt Whitman where he talked about the significance of Edgar Poe. His life features a personal alongside professional turmoil. It should be remembered that American Publishers refused to print his works as the laws regarding copyright were unfavorable. However, his strong spirit made him to move on despite all the difficulties he faced (Poe, 2008). In addition, it is worth mentioning that Edgar's service in the military also impacted greatly in his literary works.

In his first book titled Tamerlane and Other Poems, reveals the years he devoted himself in the army. The second volume attracted even more readers' attention in1829. He argues that he could be a good officer but his foster father, John Allan, could not provide financial support to him. (Punter, 2014) Edgar then started ignoring his duties and violated rules and consequently dismissed from the military academy. Nevertheless, it is important to note that Poe's rebellious nature enabled him to create his own rules in genres of literature, that is, detective story and horror novel. Most of Poe's writings are recognized as dark and measured in spite of the balanced death and beauty portrayed in the plots. People are caught in circumstances which are dramatic and shaped by inner darkness of human souls, intentions and thoughts. These features make Edgar's literary works quite unusual as instances of murder, cannibalism, and vengeance are observed in his stories. It is observed that Poe's literary works are quite psychologically thrilling as almost all his poems, short story or tale reveal some depth of human behavior and psyche.

This resulted from the fact that he had a psychological disease that he developed at a tender age. This is because Poe's parents died when he was only three years old. His ideas are also noticed in the book "The Cast of Amontillado" where readers are exposed to acts of vengeance which leads to death (Poe, 2008). Additionally, vengeance is seen to be a central theme in some other of Poe's works like Vendetta and The Black Cat where those considered as heroes are possessed with the idea to kill their enemies. It has been assumed that Poe's obsessive sensibility to vengeance is as a result of his experience when he lost the women he loved in his life, that is, his wife, mother, and a childhood friend (Punter, 2014). It would be wise to acknowledge the fact that the loss of these people had a profound impact on Poe's literary works.

During his time, Edgar Poe remained to be a literary critic (Poe, 2008). James Russell, who was fellow critic referred to him as the most discriminating, fearless, and philosophical critic. His scathing review earned him the status of being a "tomahawk man." Poe was also known as a fiction writer and was one of the first Americans of his time to become very popular in Europe more than in the United States. Poe was specifically respected in France due to previous translations by Baudelaire which developed definitive versions of his literary work throughout Europe (Sova, 2007). It is true to confirm that Poe's original detective fiction tales who features Auguste Dupin laid the foundation for modern detectives in literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said that each of Poe's stories is a root from which virtually all literature developed. To give reverend to Poe, The Mystery Writers of America named the awards for excellence in the genre, the "Edgars." Poe's literary work also affected fiction science.

Conclusion

However, as much as the praises, Poe received criticisms as well. This could be due to the negative perception of his character and the influence on his reputation. He was once referred to as vulgar by his major critique, William Butler while Ralph Waldo stated that he saw nothing in the book The Raven. It would, therefore, be fair to state in a conclusion that Edgar Poe's life was reflected in his literary works which had considerable impacts on the world literature in general

References

Punter, D. (2014). The Literature of Terror: Volume 1: The Gothic Tradition. Rutledge Publishing.

Poe, E. A. (2008). The cask of Amontillado. The Creative Company.

Sova D. B. (2007). Critical companion to Edgar Allan Poe: a literary reference to his life and work