Edgar Allan Poe is known to have written many gothic poems with darkness, death, or gloomy themes.
According to Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Edgar Allan Poe is considered the inventor of detective fiction genre in his mysterious “Thou Art the Man” (1844).
His most famous poem might be “The Raven”, published in 1845. Edgar Allan Poe’s poems are inspired by death, loss and despair.
Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar Allen Poe had a great interest of horror tales from a very young age and published his first book entitled “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” in Philadelphia in 1840. Edgar Allen Poe’s works were not popular at all during his lifetime but started to receive more attention after his death because of the atmosphere they have been created with that has been described as unique by some critics.
One of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems is The Raven (1845). Edgar Allen Poe wrote this poem after losing his wife , Virginia Clemm. From very early on, Edgar Allen Poe had demonstrated symptoms of depression but that changed around 1841 when he married Virginia Clemm at age 26 . They got married in 1836, Edgar’s wife Virginia died tragically just five years later when Edgar was only 30 years old. Edgar Allan Poe had a close relationship with his wife, Virginia. Edgar also suffered from tuberculosis which may have contributed to the death of his beloved wife, Virginia.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Raven after losing his beloved wife Virginia and in that same poem he uses darkness as an integral part of the poem. One of Edgar Allen Poe’s poems about death is called The Conqueror Worm (1843). Edgar’s poems are full of metaphors about life and death. In this poem, Edgar Allen Poe compares life on earth to one long night full of horror where there is no escape. Edgar must ask himself what kind of man would go through every night watching people die around him? Well, Edgar Allan Poe felt that it was a man who believed that life is nothing but an endless night of horror.
Edgar Allen Poe’s poems of death and darkness are not only poems of Edgar’s own experiences, Edgar was expressing the feelings and emotions he saw in other people as well. Besides Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem The Raven (1845) Edgar also wrote another poem called Ulalume: A Ballad (1847), which is considered one of his most complex and haunting poems. In this poem, Edgar Allan Poe uses dark elements such as depression, desolation, night, fear and death to create a mysterious atmosphere full of fear. Edgar Allan Poe used metaphorical language in this poem to describe how lonely he is without his dear Ulalume.
Edgar Allan Poe also uses gloomy and dark imagery to describe how he feels about his private life. Edgar portrays himself as an unhappy man who is suffering because of the loss of his loved one, Ulalume. Edgar’s poems express Edgar’s feelings towards death, darkness, depression, loneliness and desolation. Edgar Allen Poe was a very sensitive person who suffered greatly from his losses in life. Edgar wrote about what was closest to him – death, darkness, pain, and suffering which are all major themes in Edgar Allan Poe’s poems.
Edgar Allan Poe always wrote about these topics using metaphorical language with great skill; Edgar wanted his readers to understand them without much. Edgar Allen Poe was a man of many talents and Edgar’s poems reflect Edgar’s deep understanding of human emotions and his great storytelling ability. Edgar wrote about death because this was one of Edgar’s biggest fears in life; Edgar Allan Poe suffered greatly from the loss of each person he loved. Edgar Allan Poe’s poems were very dark and Edgar himself always struggled with darkness.
Edgar was a very emotional and sentimental person who expressed these feelings in his poems and detective mysteries written by Edgar Allen Poe usually end up happy, even though they are full of despair at first. Edgar Allan Poe also used to say things such as “I live only in myself, I build myself up in my own mind, I am that I can never know. Edgar Allan Poe’s poems show Edgar’s feelings and Edgar wrote about death the most; Edgar Allan Poe’s poems of darkness are Edgar’s way to express Edgar’s pain.
Edgar Allan Poe’s poems, The Raven and The Bells tell of his darkness and death. Edgar Allan Poe uses darkness in his writing to show the reader that there is evil within death and this negativity impacts readers in a negative way . Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells” has a positive effect on readers when Edgar tells of bells being used as symbols of love.
Pro: Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells” has a positive effect on readers when Edgar tells of bells being used as symbols of love. (Slovey p. 14) According to Slovey, “However, one critic does find redeeming features such as the use of an objective correlative for sorrow through ‘the repetition of the sound and of the action and of the effect upon him’ (203)”. Edgar Allan Poe uses repetitive sounds to show how important they are in his poems. Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells” has a positive effect on readers when Edgar tells of bells being used as symbols of love. (Slovey p. 14)
Con: Edgar Allan Poe writes about death which causes readers to dislike his poems.( Slovey p. 15) Edgar Allan Poe writes about darkness within death . This negatively impacts readers by making them not want to read Edgar Allan Poes poems, “The Raven and The Bells” due to their negativity .Death is inevitable and Edgar Allan Poe knows this through his poems.
Edgar Allan Poe writes about death which causes readers to dislike his poems. The feeling of darkness and death in Edgar Allan Poes poems can be linked back to Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood years . Edgar Allan Poe writes about the darkness within Edgar Allen Poe’s poems because of Edgar Allan Poe’s harsh childhood memories due to his mother dying when he was two years old and living with a step mother who was unkind towards Edgar Allan Poo.
