We explain who Edgar Allan Poe was, what his most important works were and why he is considered one of the universal masters of the short story.
Edgar Allan Poe’s work has been extremely influential for writers and literary figures around the world.
Who was Edgar Allan Poe?
Edgar Allan Poe was a famous American writer, considered as one of the initiators of the American short story tradition and a central figure of American literary Romanticism. His work It is considered the starting point of detective literature.as well as a significant contribution to horror and science fiction literature.
Poe lived a short and arduous life, dedicated entirely to writing. His writings, which explore mystery, the macabre and terror, allowed him to earn a precarious living, even though They have been a source of inspiration for entire generations of later writers..
The figure of Poe is extremely popular in contemporary culture, and Much of his work has been adapted into different formats: film, animation, even video games.Today, many of his former homes are museums, and his name is given to the literary award given annually by the Mystery Writers of America.
Birth and family life of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Poe He was born in the American city of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 18, 1809.His parents were American David Poe Jr. and British Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, both theatre actors. Edgar was the middle child of the marriage, between William, the eldest, and Rosalie, the youngest, born in 1810.
Tragedy marked Edgar’s arrival into the world. He was still a baby when his father abandoned the family and his mother was left to care for his three siblings; until, the following year, she herself died of tuberculosis. Orphaned, the Poe brothers each went to a different home.: William went to live with his father’s family in Baltimore, while Edgar and Rosalie were adopted, respectively, by the Allan and Mckenzie families, both from Richmond, Virginia.
John and Frances Allan, Edgar’s new parents, raised and baptized him in the Episcopan faith. And although they never formally adopted him, they did give him their last name.Edgar lived with them until almost adulthood.
In 1815 the Allans traveled to the United Kingdom, where Edgar studied in Ayrshire, Scotland, the birthplace of his stepfather. Shortly afterwards he studied in London in 1816.both in Chelsea and Stoke Newington, before the family returned to Richmond in 1820. There they received a substantial inheritance in 1825 and Edgar’s stepfather bought a two-storey house, which he named ‘Moldavia’.
The next year, Edgar fell in love with Sarah Elmira Royster and also entered the University of Virginiawhere he studied for just 11 months. The institution was in its initial stages and university life was chaotic. Edgar soon found himself mired in gambling debts and the money provided by his stepfather began to run short. Family disputes then began, which ended up distancing Edgar from his stepfather.
Eventually, Edgar had to leave college and return home. There he found a very hostile environment: He was not entirely welcome in his family and his former girlfriend had married someone else.. He then made the decision to leave for Boston in 1827.
Boston and the military career
Young Edgar Allan Poe faced poverty after dropping out of college.
In Boston, Poe adopted the pseudonym “Henri Le Rennet” and devoted himself to writing for newspapers and doing office work, among other poorly paid jobs. However, He found time to indulge in a newfound passion: writing..
In fact, in 1827 he published his first book: a pamphlet of poems in the style of Lord Byron (1788-1824), entitled Tamerlane and other poems and signed as “a Bostonian.” 50 copies were made that went completely unnoticed..
That same year, with poverty beginning to corner him, Poe had no choice but to enlist in military service.which he did under the name Edgar A. Perry. He served initially at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor and then at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina. There he was part of the crew of the brig Waltham and received his first promotions. Two years later he was already a Sergeant Major of the Artillery.
With the idea of finishing his military service early and enrolling at the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York to study and develop a career, Poe decided to reconnect with his stepfather. He needed his support to leave the service and enroll at West Point, and he had not heard from his family for a long time.
Her stepfather, however, was still suspicious of her and took several months to reply, not even writing to tell her about her adoptive mother’s illness. Frances Allan died in February 1829 and Poe was finally allowed to visit his family.There he reconciled with his stepfather, who promised to support his entry into the academy in New York.
Thus, after finding a replacement, Poe left military service and before leaving for New York, he spent some time in Baltimore with his father’s family. There he wrote his second book of poems: Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and other minor poemspublished in 1829.
This second book, centered on an astronomical anecdote by Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and the description of paradise from the Koran, contains the longest poem Poe ever wrote. It was met with few comments, mostly negative.except for the writer, editor and critic John Neal (1793-1876), who gave Poe “the first words of encouragement that I remember having received,” as he himself defined it years later.
Finally, Poe arrived at West Point in 1830 and enrolled as a cadet.That same year, his stepfather married Louisa Patterson, which greatly displeased Poe. Her reproaches regarding this and regarding other illegitimate children that his stepfather had fathered ended up making Poe an enemy of his stepfather, who from then on decided to disinherit him.
The life of a writer
Edgar Allan Poe did not last long at West Point Academy. By 1830 he was already determined to be fired and pursue a life as a writer.So he did everything he could to get himself court-martialed and dishonorably discharged, which took him less than a year to accomplish.
In February 1831, during his stay in New York, Poe published his third book, called simply Poems. The funding for this volume came from his former classmates at the military academy.who donated 0.75 cents per head to the project.
The book was artfully labeled a “second edition,” as it contained the same long poems as his two previous books, along with six other previously unpublished works. It was dedicated “to the United States Cadet Corps.”
Poe, however, did not stay much longer in New York, because His older brother was seriously ill, due to problems arising from alcoholism.In March 1831 he returned to Baltimore and accompanied his brother until his death in August of that same year.
In Baltimore, Poe began to move away from poetry and venture into his first stories. These were not easy times to be a writer: newspapers and journals were plentiful but short-lived and paid little and late, and there was no international copyright law to prevent American publishers from offering clandestine editions of British authors, instead of betting on local writers. Added to this, a few years later, was the economic crisis of 1837.
The “Panic of 1837” is one of the greatest economic depressions in the history of the United States, comparable to the Great Depression of 1929. It began during the first weeks of the government of Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), when in response to certain measures of the previous government, the banks announced that they would no longer make their payments in gold and silver coins. This started a speculative fever and a subsequent five-year economic depression, during which many banks failed and unemployment soared.
All of this forced Poe to beg for payment for work done and to live in a continuous state of economic uncertainty. Even so, his prose brought him his first successes.. While working on his only play, Politianhis first stories saw the light: the weekly Baltimore Saturday Visiter He was awarded a prize in 1833 for his story “Manuscript in a Bottle” and this opened a space for him in the Southern Literary Messenger from Richmond.
Initially, his role in the newspaper was that of a contributor: he published “Metzengerstein,” considered his first horror story, and then “Berenice,” which was so shocking that the editors received letters of protest from numerous readersPoe was then hired as an editor.
On September 22, 1835, Poe married his paternal cousin Virginia Clem. He was 26 and she was just 13 years old. Everything indicates that Poe was an affectionate and family-oriented husband, although That same year he began to have problems with drinking.. In fact, he was dismissed in 1837 from the Southern Literary Messenger due to his drunkenness, which although sporadic, usually occurred in public in an embarrassing manner.
Once again, Poe decided to try his luck in New York.
The prolific years
Poe spent the next few years producing some of his most important works.In 1838 his only complete novel appeared in New York, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pymand received an enthusiastic reception. This work is considered to be the source of inspiration for the Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1819-1891).
A year later, Poe and his wife moved to Philadelphia, where Magazine Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine offered Poe the position of co-editor. His stories “William Wilson” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” also appeared in that publication, the latter being one of his most famous stories. Many of these stories were included in his first published collection in 1840: Tales of the grotesque and arabesquewhich received positive and negative reviews but had poor sales.
That same year, Poe was convinced to start his own magazine, whose title ranged from The Penn and The Stylus. He even bought advertising space for it in the Saturday Evening Post from Philadelphia, but Poe would never complete his project.
In 1841 Poe resigned Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and got a job at the prestigious Graham’s Magazine as a writer and co-editor of the magazine. There he published “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, considered the first detective story in history..
During that time he also wrote important stories that appeared in different publications, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Gold Bug”. With this last story he won a prize…