Edgar Allan Poe Essay.docx - A scythe swings growing ever...

A scythe swings growing ever closer to a man’s chest , a murderer goes mad
hearing the heartbeat of his victim, and a raven taunts a man reminding him of his own
mortality. Most short stories focus on the struggle and prevail of the human spirit over
hardship and adversity, but in the literary pieces of Edgar Allan Poe, he often includes a
multitude of aspects of the dark side of human nature and the human psyche. This
major recurring theme is derived from suffering faced in his own life and how he reacted
to tragedy. Being a depressed alcoholic, his dark works convey his own thoughts and
troubling aspects of the reality of how little life truly means in the grand scheme of the
world and history. After the death of many of his closest relatives and his wife, Poe
found himself living a life in which he was displeased. A seemingly perpetual chain of
misfortunes befell his life causing him to live in constant depression. Death and disease
was a constant reminder and instead of rejecting these notions, he relished in them
both by writing about the macabre incessantly. Thus, he faced his fears head on. As
most authors project their own emotions and outlooks in their writing Poe was no
exception, and his writing is arguably the most dreadfully depressing and macabre of
any other author of his time. His writing focused on the part of his life that caused him
the most trouble, his struggle with mortality both of his own, and those who he loved.
Many of his most popular works include impending death and suffering. Throughout the
American classics “The Tell Tale Heart”, “The Raven”, and the “Pit and the Pendulum”,
Poe focuses on human struggle with mortality, depression, and the effect of immense
physical and emotional pressure on a person’s will to overcome obstacles and persist in
life.

Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809 into a family of professional
actors. His father left when he was very young and his mother passed away when Poe
was only three years of age of tuberculosis. He was raised as a foster child by Frances
Allan and John Allan in Virginia. He moved away from the Allans in 1827 to return to
Boston and enlist in the army after John Allan would no longer pay for his college
education because Poe had accumulated a hefty gambling debt causing tension
between them. He eventually moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm,
and he eventually married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, when she was only fourteen
years old. In the decade after his marriage, he became a more established author and
his popularity grew. However, many of his more famous works were produced after the
death of his wife which pushed him into a deep depression, further inspiring his dark
literature. He often turned to alcohol during his times of despair which fueled his writing
and allowed him to create remarkable stories and poetry however, at the cost of his well
being. In 1849, he suddenly returned to Baltimore for reasons unknown where he was