Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. He was born to a southern family that were in a Traveling company of actors. His father David poe was from a Baltimore family. He was an actor by profession and a Heavy drinker. Soon after Edgar Allan Poe was born, David left his family. Poes mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, was a widow at the age of eighteen. Two years after Edgars birth Elizabeth died of tuberculosis. Poe remembered, when he was little, his mother being carried off by men dressed in black while she was vomiting blood.
When his mother died, Poe was adopted y John Allan (Perry XI) and C. In 1815 John Allan and his family moved to England. While in England Poe was sent to a private school. In the spring of 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. At the University he had an excellent scholastic record. Almost at once he ran into difficulties. His foster father did not provide any financial support for school fees and other necessities. Poe became homesick. At school he began to drink. Soon he was in debt for over two thousand dollars. Poe discovered that he could not depend on his foster father for any financial needs.
John Allan refused to pay for any of Edgars debts, therefore he had to withdrawal from the University. In May of 1827, Poe enlisted in the army as a common soldier. Poe enlisted under the name of Edgar A. Perry. He was stationed on Sullivans Island in the Charleston Harbor for a little over one year. Poe adapted to military life and discipline and rose quickly to the rank of sergeant major. After a while Poe became tired of the same daily routine of military life. Poe wrote several letters to his foster father, quite regularly. After the death of Frances Allan, Poe met with John Allan in February of 1829.
On July first of 1830, Poe enlisted in West Point. While Edgar was at West Point, John Allan, who had remarried, continued to not support Poe with enough money. Poe decided to have him self kicked out of school by cutting classes and disregarding orders. HE was court marshaled for neglect of duties in January of 1831, and left West Point the next month. In 1831, Poe published a new edition of poems entitled, Poems. Poe went to New York, but could not find a job. Eventually he found refuge with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm in Baltimore. There he decided to seek employment and make a living by writing.
With ailure in writing poems, Poe turned to writing short stories. Poe competed in a short story contest in 1831. Poe did not win the contest so he started on an ambitious project. Poe decided to plan a series of tales, but he could not find a publisher for these stories. Poe again entered the contest in June of 1835. He entered one poem and six short stories. His story, Ms. Found in a Bottle, won, and he was rewarded with one hundred dollars. Poe was employed as an editor in the Southern Literary Messenger, published in Richmond. While in Richmond, Poe married his cousin, Virginia, who was almost ourteen years old.
Poe was fired in January of 1837, due to alcohol. Edgar went back to New York, were he was again unsuccessful. In the summer of 1838 Poe moved to Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, he worked as an editor of two magazines. Poe moved back to New York once again and became and assistant editor for the Evening Mirror. The very famous poem The Raven, first appeared on January 29, 1845. The Raven became very popular and was published in all different news papers and magazines. In 1845 Poe published a collection of his tales and edition of his poems alled The Raven and Other Poems.
Poe also became the editor of the weekly Broadway Journal. Poe fell in Love with Virginia and she died of in January of 1848, her death sent Poe into deep depression. The following year, 1849. Poes stories and poems contain several symbols. Some symbols are very obvious while other symbols are subtle. The Raven is one of Poes greatest poems, which is about a lonely man that tries to ease his sorrow for this lost love, the man does this by distracting himself with old books of forgotten lore.
The man is interrupted by a tapping at his door. hen he pened the door he finds nothing but darkness and he whispers, Lenore, in hopes that his lost love has returned. Next he hears a tapping at his window, when he opens the window he finds a raven. The man asks the ravens name and suprisingly answers, and croaks Nevermore. The raven only has one response Nevermore, so the man can anticipate the birds response. The man decides that continuing the dialogue with the raven would be pointless. The most obvious symbol in this poem is the Raven itself. Poe thought that using a creature that can not reason would be the most effective.
It is mportant the answer to the question is already know as to illustrate the self-torture that the narrator exposes to him self. Another symbol in The Raven is the chamber that the man is situated in, this chamber is used to create a sense of loneliness. The poem entitled Tamerlane is the deathbed confession of a great King about his lost love. He starts out as a young peasant boy, who experiences a very moving dream about power and success. This becomes his driving force in life. Soon, he meets a beautiful young peasant girl, and they fall involve.
He shares his dreams with her, and romises that he will be his queen once he becomes king. She never really comments on this; she just loves him. He finally gets the over whelming urge to fulfill his ambitions, and leaves her without saying goodbye, thinking that it would be easier that way. He rapidly becomes a great warrior, and eventually a King “greater than Ghengis Khan. ” He then returns to his old home to find his love, only to discover that she died of a broken heart when he left her. This poem was the basis of Poe’s first book of poems and the first of two long narrative poems that he wrote.