Introduction


Edgar Allan Poe

You have to wonder where some authors get their ideas or how their work relates to their own life, but you don't have to wonder with Edgar Allan Poe. First, his father abandoned the family; then his mother died when he was very young, and his foster father, John Allen, erratically swung between lenience and extreme discipline; finally, Poe married his much younger cousin Virginia, who died at an early age. Is it any wonder, then, that Poe's work focused on the macabre, the bizarre, and the outcast? No. The wonder is that he found a way to make such striking art from his suffering. Before his death at age 40, Edgar Allan Poe raised the American short story to a new level, writing works that completely modernized detective fiction, science fiction, and, of course, the horror story.

Essential Facts

  1. Poe attended the University of Virginia...until he had to drop out due to lack of money. It seems that Poe had a gambling problem, and his foster father got tired of bailing him out.
  2. Broke, Poe lied about his age and joined the army. He served two years...and then got himself dismissed by court martial.
  3. Poe’s short stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin shaped the modern mystery story so much that Arthur Conan Doyle compared Sherlock Holmes to Dupin, and the Mystery Writers of America give an award named the Edgar—after Poe, of course.
  4. Poe’s bizarre life didn’t stop just because he died in 1849. He was buried in an unmarked grave, and when gossip finally led to a stone being ordered, it was destroyed in a train accident.
  5. Ever since 1949, someone has left a bottle of cognac and some roses on Poe’s grave. Who is leaving these things? And why?
 

Recommended Resources

  1. Edgar Allan Poe Criticism
  2. The Cask of Amontillado eText
  3. The Cask of Amontillado Study Guide (eNotes)
  4. The Tell-Tale Heart Study Guide (eNotes)

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. 100 Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction
  2. Annabel Lee - Masterplots II: Poetry
  3. Annabel Lee Study Guide
  4. Critical Survey of Poetry
  5. Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century
  6. Edgar Allan Poe
  7. Edgar Allan Poe Criticism
  8. Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide
  9. Gothic Literature
  10. Ligeia - Book Review
  11. Ligeia - Literary Characters
  12. Ligeia - Literary Places
  13. Ligeia eText
  14. Ligeia quickNotes
  15. Manfish (1956)
  16. Masque of the Red Death (1965)
  17. Masque of the Red Death (1989)
  18. Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide
  19. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)
  20. Murders in the Rue Morgue eText
  21. Murders in the Rue Morgue Study Guide
  22. Sonnet-To Science - Masterplots II: Poetry
  23. Stories of Edgar Allan Poe Lesson Plans
  24. Tales of Terror (1962)
  25. The Bells - Summary
  26. The Best of Poe Lesson Plans
  27. The Black Cat - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  28. The Black Cat eText
  29. The Black Cat Study Guide
  30. The Cask of Amontillado - Book Review
  31. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  32. The Cask of Amontillado Criticism
  33. The Cask of Amontillado eText
  34. The Cask of Amontillado Study Guide (eNotes)
  35. The City in the Sea - Masterplots II: Poetry
  36. The City in the Sea - Summary
  37. The Essays of Edgar Allan Poe - Masterplots
  38. The Fall of the House of Usher - Book Review
  39. The Fall of the House of Usher - Literary Places
  40. The Fall of the House of Usher - Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism
  41. The Fall of the House of Usher - Short Story Criticism
  42. The Fall of the House of Usher - Study Guide
  43. The Fall of the House of Usher Criticism
  44. The Fall of the House of Usher eText
  45. The Fall of the House of Usher Literary Characters
  46. The Gold Bug eText
  47. The Gold Bug quickNotes
  48. The Gold-Bug - Literary Characters
  49. The Gold-Bug Literary Places
  50. The Masque of the Red Death - Book Review
  51. The Masque of the Red Death - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  52. The Masque of the Red Death eText
  53. The Masque of the Red Death Study Guide
  54. The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Book Review
  55. The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  56. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Literary Characters
  57. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Literary Places
  58. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature
  59. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Criticism
  60. The Oblong Box (1969)
  61. The Oxford Companion to American Literature Article on The Raven
  62. The Oxford Companion to American Literature on Edgar Allan Poe
  63. The Oxford Companion to English Literature Article on Edgar Allan Poe
  64. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare Article on Edgar Allan Poe
  65. The Pit and the Pendulum - Book Review
  66. The Pit and the Pendulum - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  67. The Pit and the Pendulum eText
  68. The Pit and the Pendulum Study Guide
  69. The Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe Criticism
  70. The Purloined Letter - Book Review
  71. The Purloined Letter - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  72. The Purloined Letter eText
  73. The Purloined Letter Study Guide
  74. The Raven (1915)
  75. The Raven (1935)
  76. The Raven (1963)
  77. The Raven - American History Through Literature
  78. The Raven - Masterplots II: Poetry
  79. The Raven - Poetry Criticism
  80. The Raven Study Guide
  81. The Tell-Tale Heart - Book Review
  82. The Tell-Tale Heart - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  83. The Tell-Tale Heart Criticism
  84. The Tell-Tale Heart eText
  85. The Tell-Tale Heart Study Guide (eNotes)
  86. Ulalume quickNotes