Here is something to chew over: Edgar Allan Poe one time expressed, “ Dream dreams that no 1 has of all time dreamed before ” ( Poe, The Raven ) . Even if a individual is merely a small familiar with the life of this fecund author, he can instantly place some sarcasm in the former citation. It is really dry in the sense that a adult male who suffered such unbelievable losingss in his life was still able to prosecute his dreams. Edgar Allan Poe came from a life of poorness, but is now considered one of America ‘s most fecund authors. Indeed, the world that Poe came from nil makes his accomplishments, as both a author and a individual, even more amazing. Therefore, Poe is surely right about his wise stating, as it reflects the narrative of his life. Possibly he was so successful because he wrote about his ain life and both his physical and mental experiences. All of the unfortunate events in his life service as the model for many of his celebrated pieces, including Annabel Lee, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. In fact, many of his subjects delve into the things Poe experienced in his life, peculiarly decease. The life of Edgar Allan Poe is characterized by assorted unfortunate events, which influence the subjects of his authorship: love, lecherousness, and decease.
The first and most outstanding is the presence of a asleep or deceasing adult female. This is no surprise as all the adult females in Poe ‘s life died from TB. In “ Annabel Lee, ” the rubric character happens to be the asleep adult female. “ It is ill-defined to whom Poe addressed “ Annabel Lee ” as his female parent, adoptive female parent, and married woman were all campaigners ( Peltak 91 ) . Many believe the asleep character represents “ all the adult females he loved and lost ” ( Peltak 91 ) . Regardless of who she personifies, she is idealized as a youthful, beautiful lady. There is besides a relation between disintegrating beauty and the physical marks of TB. “ The physical marks of TB include picket, aglow tegument and ruddy cheeks ” which corresponds to the victim in “ Annabel Lee ” as her beauty faded off ( Peltak 15 ) . Possibly Poe is successful at raising the dead “ so believably because it was such a changeless fact of his life ” ( Peltak 15 ) .
Another facet of Poe ‘s poesy that reflects his personal life is the component of the sorrowing adult male. Poe was left heartache stricken after the decease of his female parent, adoptive female parent, and married woman. The feeling Poe experienced is similar to the anguish and heartache the adult male in “ Annabel Lee ” exhibits. In this circumstance, the talker is a lasting hubby or lover. The storyteller laments his lost love, his beautiful “ Annabel Lee. ” The secret plan turn at the terminal of the verse form is that the storyteller ends up in the “ burial chamber by the sea. ” Such an action can be a mark of the storyteller ‘s true love. The storyteller about seems haunted with the love the two shared, which is correspondent to his relationship with Virginia. A outstanding subject is “ the love of beauty and the bereavement of its passing into decease ” ( Otfinoski 6 ) . The repeat of the name “ Annabel Lee ” proves how much this adult female meant to the sorrowing adult male. Poe truly wants the reader to see the same hurting he felt after losing the loves of his life.
The insanity of the storyteller impacts the verse form vastly. The storyteller thinks Annabel Lee was taken off because people were covetous. He believed her decease was supernatural instead than an unwellness. After the decease of Annabel Lee, the storyteller is left in purdah, and therefore becomes insane. Edgar Allan Poe was left in complete purdah assorted times in his life since he was abandoned by both male parent figures and all the adult females he loved died. Poe was besides known as a down and morbid adult male, particularly during the last few old ages of his life.
The Gothic subjects of perversion, decease, and insanity all reflect the hurting in his life. More significantly, they contain a significance throughout the work itself. Insanity is present as the storyteller experiences a devastation of his head, organic structure, and psyche. The secret plan is “ distorted ” because the reader discovers that the storyteller may be in the grave with Annabel Lee at the terminal of the verse form. Death is of import to the storyteller as he ponders what happens earlier, during, and after go throughing off. All of the former subjects have an implicit in significance that is related to Poe ‘s life. He experienced perversion, decease, and insanity in his life and doing them all of the major subjects of his plant is the manner he conveys himself.
Poe ‘s best known verse form, The Raven, was published in 1845 and surely made Poe celebrated. The verse form became so celebrated that “ people referred to Poe as ‘the Corvus corax ‘ ” ( Oakes 3 ) . Similar to Annabel Lee, specific subjects in The Raven correlative to Poe ‘s personal life. Some of import subjects to do note of include insanity, decease, solitariness, and the component of supernatural. Each subject is relevant to Poe ‘s life in at least one position.
The most obvious subject is the yearning over a lost loved one. Specifically, the speaking raven reminds the storyteller about his dead love, Lenore. Although Poe mourned the deceases of assorted adult females in his life, many critics believe this verse form was written for his married woman, Virginia. When The Raven was published, “ Virginia had been blowing off from TB for three old ages ” ( Peltak 13 ) . It is strongly believed that The Raven was written “ in portraiture of the calamity that existed for the two lovers ” ( Oakes 2 ) . “ Nevermore ” is the Corvus corax ‘s insistent message that “ is immediately recognizable even outside the context of the verse form ” ( Peltak 12 ) . “ The effectual repeat of this phrase gives the verse form a dramatic strength that carries the narrative and the reader to an ultimate realisation ” ( Otfinoski 5 ) . The storyteller, who is the mourning hubby, eventually “ realizes that his psyche will ‘Nevermore ‘ be freed from the shadow of his former love ” ( Whitening 36 ) . It is really possible the strength and elaborateness was intended as a agency to stand for Poe ‘s complex life, particularly sing adult females. He lost one loved adult female after another, and mourned each decease more than the other. The repeat of the diabolic message, “ Nevermore ” emphasizes Poe will no longer be reunited with his asleep female parent, adoptive female parent, and married woman. Poe is highly talented in his ability to escalate his prose and “ give his audience an tempting mix of handiness and enigma ” ( Peltak 12 ) . Critics are convinced that it is a enigma and addition of anxiousness that allows The Raven to vibrate coevals after coevals. Yet, “ despite the component of horror and phantasy, The Raven is finally a Poem about retrieving ” ( Peltak 13 ) .
The steady answer of ‘Nevermore ‘ hangouts the storyteller, who is unable to accommodate the loss of Lenore, ” and therefore loses insanity ( Peltak 13 ) . The hubby serves as a sorrowing adult male who goes insane by the terminal of the verse form. The raven garbages to go forth the door of the library, merely like the hurting from Lenore ‘s decease will ne’er melt. A few analogues between Poe ‘s life and literature can instantly be recognized. The bereaved storyteller resembles Poe because both work forces will ne’er be relieved from the decease of a loved one. “ The angered storyteller reveals that the Corvus corax remains in the library and that he can ne’er be free of its torture, ” merely like Poe will ne’er be free of the torture of his heartache ( Peltak 12 ) . It is besides clear that Poe correlates the decease of a loved adult female to the loss of beauty because Lenore is “ idealised as vernal, beautiful, and perfect ” ( Peltak 16 ) . This besides implies the beauty he saw in the adult females he lost, which perchance sparked more desperation. Poe stresses the construct of “ beauty ” like no other author. Since Poe positions beauty as flawlessness, and it is impossible to achieve flawlessness, it is basically impractical to keep beauty. This statement is executable because Poe lost all beauty in his life ; nor was there anything “ beautiful ” about his life. The loss of beauty merely deepens the anguish the grieving storyteller experiences. Poe ‘s accent on Lenore ‘s beauty greatly affects her hubby and drives him insane.
The subjects of decease, solitariness, and insanity are non merely apparent in The Raven, but besides in Poe ‘s life. The supernatural component is the speaking Corvus corax. Poe decidedly believed in the supernatural because he thinks decease is slightly supernatural. For case, in Annabel Lee, the storyteller believed Annabel ‘s decease was utterly supernatural. Because both Poe and the characters of his narratives believed in the supernatural, they were frequently seen as insane. In The Raven, the storyteller ‘s lunacy is sparked by the Corvus corax ‘s twit ; he is convinced the Corvus corax will ne’er go forth. The fiscal torment and Virginia ‘s decease “ drove Poe to depression and suicidal imbibing ” ( Peltak 37 ) . Poe ‘s ruin is really similar to the devastation of the storyteller ‘s head, organic structure, and psyche. The storyteller becomes down because he will ‘Nevermore ‘ see his love once more, therefore his dislocation begins. He is lonely after the decease of his married woman, which is correspondent to Poe ‘s solitariness after Virginia ‘s decease. After her decease it was about impossible for Poe to happen stable love and support.
Like Annabel Lee and The Raven, the recurrent subjects of decease, perversion, and devastation of the head, organic structure, and psyche are merely a few of the legion subjects found throughout The Fall of the House of Usher. When first analyzing The Fall of the House of Usher, the reader will instantly observe that Roderick Usher is mentally ill. Because of his mental unwellness, Roderick represents the head, which obviously reflects the mental struggle Poe suffered in his life. Between his depression and the dependences, it is just to state that Poe ‘s life gad been mentally unsmooth. Roderick Usher characterizes all of Poe ‘s mental conflicts. Poe was surely, “ attracted to ghost narratives and the supernatural ” ( Otfinoski 4 ) . It is no admiration why he is fascinated by horror narratives since his life was similar to one. Both are full of decease and lunacy.
Since the male represents the head, it is logical that the female signifies the organic structure. Roderick ‘s sister Madeline is physically ill. Madeline ‘s unwellness basically reflects the unwellness the adult females in Poe ‘s life had. The anguished or sorrowing adult male, deceasing or deceased adult female, a supernatural component, a creepy or glooming scene and assorted symbols and portents are all easy recognizable in The Fall of the House of Usher. The crumpling house with a cleft provides the glooming and creepy scene in The Fall of the House of Usher. It would be unreasonable to anticipate a adult male who has experienced a great sum of decease and solitariness in his life to compose about cheerful topics.
Madeline, the organic structure, needs Roderick, the head, to decease. Both represent to halves of the whole which indicates an incestuous relationship. Edgar ‘s relationship with Virginia was so incestuous, since they were cousins. After Madeline and Roderick dice, the house, stand foring the psyche, splits and falls. Since Poe experienced all the elements within his narrative, it was likely comparatively simple for him to include such great item and strength. It happens to be “ this personal strength, more than any other literary feature, that makes Poe ‘s best narratives so stalking and unforgettable ” ( Otfinoski 4 ) .
In Poe ‘s literature, “ the same awful subjects occur in narrative after narrative ” ( Otfinoski 4 ) . Every subject and component is relevant and related. The puzzling quality of the strange is apparent in the glooming scene and perverted secret plan turn. Madeline was alive all along, and finally kills her brother doing the house to fall. There were many unusual facets of Poe ‘s life, peculiarly the fact that the three adult females he loved the most died of the same disease. The devastation of the head, organic structure, and psyche exemplified through the ruin of Roderick, Madeline, and the crumpling house. The prostration of Poe and the people in his life can be easy seen through this equivocal symbolism. Just like the remainder of Poe ‘s literature, there is insanity, which is largely epitomized by Roderick.
It would take an infinite sum of pages to explicate every correlativity between Poe ‘s life and Annabel Lee, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. However, it is most indispensable to acknowledge that he expresses his emotions through the imperative subjects of his literature. Every verse form and narrative contains comparatively the same elements: a sorrowing adult male, asleep adult females, the supernatural, insanity, love, and of class, decease. The redundancy of these subjects indicates the importance of these elements, and besides how much they impacted Poe ‘s life. The anguished and sorrowing adult male concurs with Poe ‘s solitariness all throughout his life-time. The asleep or deceasing adult females symbolizes the author ‘s female parent, adoptive female parent, or married woman who left him entirely after decease. Poe ‘s feelings toward love and decease are really alone and are shaped by the events in his life. Poe loved all three adult females and venerated their beauty, even after they died. There is ever a character that goes insane in Poe ‘s literature, which acts as a contemplation of Poe himself. Poe is a literary mastermind because he is successful at turning the unfortunate problems of his life into the major subjects of his narratives. Life threw him awful state of affairs, but with them he created literature, both superb and expressive.
