Edgar Allen Poe was an extraordinary writer who created a new form of literature called gothic. Like many other great writers Poe’s literature was influenced by his life and all of the pain he experienced. Two works of literature that was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe’s life is “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Annabel Lee”. In both in the short story and poem Poe expressed his feelings about two of the most influential people in his life, John Allen and Virginia Clemn. The timeline of Edgar Allen Poe, the letters Poe wrote to John Allen and a documentary on Edgar Allen Poe’s life lead to this conclusion.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story about a man who works for an older man and wants to kill him because of the older man’s eye. The worker described the man’s eye as “…a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”. In this quotation the worker felt that the eye was judging him and the worker couldn’t take the judgment placed upon him. So he felt the only way to end the judgment and get rid of the eye was to kill the man, which he did. However, right before the worker killed the old man the old man screamed.
The neighbors heard the scream and called the police. Once the worker finished the murder he cleaned up all of the evidence. This way if anyone came to see the old man they wouldn’t know that the old man was dead. That’s why when the police came the worker knew they wouldn’t know anything was wrong.
However, as the worker was having a conversation with the police his conscience began to overcome him and he old on himself. Much like the worker Edgar Allen Poe felt judged by John Allen.In 1809 Edgar Allen Poe was born and in 1810 Poe’s father, David Poe, abandoned Poe’s family. Then in 1811 Poe’s mother dies of tuberculosis and he became the foster child to John Allen and Frances Allen. John Allen never wanted to adopt Poe and never did. John Allen treated Poe with no love or affection.
With Poe’s father abandoning him and John Allen only doing the a little bit to support him Poe never favored men. Poe also felt that John Allen always judged him and never approved of his decisions. In a letter Edgar Allen Poe wrote to John Allen it stated that John Allen never kept a promise to Poe’s grandfather and intended to. John Allen made a promise to Edgar Allen Poe’s father that he would provide schooling for Poe, but in actuality he didn’t spend much money on Poe’s education and made Poe struggle through his college life. Since Poe had no money to support himself in college it caused him to become a gambler and put himself in debt.
Poe didn’t find relief until he moved in with his aunt.While living with his aunt, Poe met and fell in love with his future wife, his cousin, Virginia Clemn. His aunt figured that something was going on between Poe and Virginia and was going to send her to another family member until Poe wrote her a detailed letter stating his love for her and the pain he will experience if she was to leave. Poe’s aunt agreed to let her stay and Poe and Virginia got married and moved out.
According to the documentary Poe and Virginia were extremely happy playing games together, reading, and singing. Until one day when Virginia was about to sing and started coughing up blood. That’s when Edgar Allen Poe knew that she had tuberculosis.Once Virginia died from tuberculosis Poe went into a deep depression because she was the love of his life and she wasn’t the first women he loved to die of tuberculosis. In 1831 Poe’s aunt, Frances Allen, died of tuberculosis. All of the pain Poe exercised from Virginia’s death lead him to write the poem “Annabel Lee”, in the poem Virginia Clemn was clearly Annabel Lee.
The setting of the poem took place in a grave yard. In the poem Poe refers to many years as the years he was married to Virginia Clemn and her purpose of life was to love him and to be loved by him. They were like children in love, in the same sense that their love was full of life, and care free. Poe refers to Virginia catching tuberculosis by saying her male family members took her to be buried in the kingdom by the sea.
He justifies her death by saying angels took her because they wanted her for love. However, Poe stated in the last stanza that no one, and nothing can separate them and he can’t go to sleep without dreaming about her. If the death of Virginia Clemn never happened Edgar Allen Poe would have written “Annabel Lee”. In both “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Annabel Lee” Edgar Allen Poe described his relationships with John Allen and Virginia Clemn. This shows us as readers that life experiences influence what you do and how you do it.
For example, if Edgar Allen Poe was raised by his parents he might not have had such a negative outlook on life and may have written more positive situations. That’s why I feel that everything you experience only makes you a stronger person and enhances your wisdom like Edgar Allen Poe.
