Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example Wordsworth attempts to prevent the poetic figure from losing its natural passion, from repeating itself as an empty, mechanical device of style... Poe writes a poem packed with cliches in order to show that those cliches cannot succeed in remaining empty, that there is also a natural passion involved in repetition, that the mechanical is of a piece with the profoundest pain. (Bloom, 24) Poe was born on the 19th of January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, to David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe- both established actors. He had an older brother named William Henry Leonard Poe and a younger sister, Rosalie Poe. In 1810, Poe’s father abandoned them, and within a year, their mother died of consumption also known as tuberculosis, a highly contagious bacterial infection. Poe was too young to be influenced by the death of his mother at the time it occurred, but later reflections in adulthood led him to grieve for how much better his home life would have been, if he never had t o live with a foster family. His mother’s death by the dreaded disease of the time, tuberculosis, would be a common source of death in others who would matter much later in his life. Edgar and his brother and sister were split up and sent to live with different families; Edgar went to live with a man by the name of John Allan who was a Scottish tobacco merchant living in Richmond, Virginia; who was always abusive toward him. . â€Å"Although Poe seemed happy, deep inside he was confused. Because he was never formally adopted, he felt uncertain about his position in the Allan family and his doubt often made him cross and dejected.† (Poe & Bagert, 5)They fought constantly, and Edgar finally enlisted in the Army just to get away from him. John Allan was often under the influence of alcohol during the fights but out of respect for the Allan Family, Edgar took the middle name of Allan. Edgar began to write poetry regularly when he was in his early teens. He fell in love wit h a girl named Elmira, and they eventually pledged themselves to each other. In 1826, he was sent to the University of Virginia to study law. His rich foster Father John Allan with whom Edgar always had a chaotic relationship gave him a mere $100 to cover his yearly expenses that totaled to an estimated $450. Under such circumstances, the young man got highly indebted and began gambling in an attempt to make up for his losses. On top of this, Elmira’s letters to him had been intercepted by their parents and having received no encouraging replies from Edgar; she was persuaded to get engaged to another man. After this tragic event, Edgar began drinking seriously. He had little resistance to alcohol and easily became violent and irrational whenever he drank too much. By the end of the year, Mr. Allan pulled Edgar from the University and after loud and spiteful fights with his foster father; Edgar left home and made his way to Boston. In 1827, he published his first pamphlet of T amerlane and Other Poems, which is so rare nowadays that a single copy was sold in 2009 for $660,000. â€Å"This is known as the Black tulip of U.S. Literature†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wahlgren). However, at that time Poe enlisted in the army as Edgar A. Perry at the age of eighteen, stating on the application that he was twenty-two in order to earn a living. In 1829, after his beloved foster mother died, he applied to West Point military academy with the support of his commanding officer and foster father. By 1832, Edgar began to write fiction with the idea of entering story contests. He