Edgar Allan Poe Influences

Edgar Poe is known as one of the most influential writers in history. His stories are the dark, gloomy, mystical enchantments poetry lovers dig into. Poe’s writing has influenced countless other authors across the world in many ways. However, Poe’s influences came from his personal life experiences beginning at a very young age until his tragic death. Writings such as “The Raven” incorporate Poe’s feelings and life throughout the spilled words on the pages. As many can conclude, Poe’s gothic writings came at a cost. According to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Edgar Allan Poe was born January 18, 1809 in Boston. At the age of three, his mother passed away and his father had left him. This led to Poe being raised by a John Allan and his wife,…show more content…
In one of Poe’s most known poems, “The Raven”, reflects depression clearly with its disheartening words and settings of a dark night in the middle of winter. Poe establishes this scene and includes a man that has lost all hope after loosing his wife “Tis some visitor’ I muttered ‘tapping at my chamber door-Only this, and nothing more.’” (Eckert). Poe’s inspiration for this is that everything he has had, from opportunities to loved ones, he has lost throughout his life to this point. In his life when he wrote “The Raven,” Poe was still poor and was still trying to become a poet, which could have been discouraging. Through the story, it reflects the loss of something that can never be regained, such as a maiden mentioned that the main character can never have back. Even though this was before the lost of his wife, he had lost a fiancé before to another man and never gained her back. From the lost of his one father and mother, to getting ejected from numerous schools, to the loss of other family members, Poe’s incorporated these pains into the story because they are…show more content…
The poem “To My Mother” written in 1849, was dedicated to his aunt, Maria Clemm, the mother of Poe’s wife. Maria Clemm was like the mother Poe never had. Within the poem, Poe mentions “My mother-my own mother, who died early, was but the mother of myself; but you are mother to the one I loved so dearly.” (Eckert). Of course, Poe was inspired by Maria Clemm’s death from tuberculosis. However, Poe was again inspired from another death, his wife Virginia, who died of tuberculosis. He wrote a poem about her called “Annabel Lee”. Poe continuously indicates the beautiful nature of his wife. At the beginning of the poem, Poe describes a setting that included “a kingdom by the sea,” which is Poe in his life with his wife. The setting changes with a wind blowing out of a cloud that kills his wife, indicating that his wife died suddenly. After that Poe writes “The angels, not half so happy in heaven, went envying her and me- yes, that was the reason…” that indicated that she was taken from him unfairly from the heavens (Eckert). The last stanza of this poem describes how he will never forget her but the setting changes to become more depressing. From both of these deaths inspires Poe to continue to write other stories as well such as the story “The Masque of the Red Death” portrays a sickness that kills its victims, much like tuberculosis did (The Masque of the Red