Edgar Allen Poe by Ben

Edgar Allan Poe

On January 19, 1806 in Boston, Massachusetts one of the most famous poets was born and his name was Edgar Allan Poe. He had a brother and sister and unfortunately his Mother died when he was very young, and his father abandoned him shortly after. He was then taken in by a wealthy merchant and his wife. When he was ready for college Poe went to the University of Virginia, but he had to leave after the first semester because he didn’t have enough money. Then Poe decided he wanted to join the army and lied about his age to do so. He trained to be an officer, but failed the test. After he left the army he decided to leave his foster parents to pursue his writing career. Soon after that he married his 13 year old cousin Virginia Clemm. He started creating very popular poems and stories. He became very popular for creating Sci-Fi and horror stories. One of his greatest poems was “The Raven”. It was published in January 1845. He had many other stories to, like “The Tell Tale Heart” and “Alone”. Two Years after The Raven was published Poe’s wife died. This led Poe into a spiral of depression. Poe started to drink. He died on October 7th 1849 of unknown causes. He was found unconscious on the streets and that led to his death. Many believe he was killed or he died because of his alcohol problems. Poe still keeps inspiring other horror writers with his collection of work.

Poe was known as “The Father of Horror.” He was the first man to write horror stories and have the stories become popular. His stories made the whole world shriek in terror and let me tell you why. Poe used such dark and creative ideas for his poems, like in “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Raven.” In both of these poems the settings were very dark and eerie like in “The Tell Tale Heart” when the crazy man in the story killed the old man. I’ll give you a sample of the scene, “The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once –once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.” That one scene gave me a great picture of what was happening in the old man’s room and how the crazy man killed him with the bed. Let’s break up that scene in parts. Number 1 the setting: The scene took place in a very dark and scary room. Great. Number 2 the sound: The sound was amazing. I felt like I could hear the crazy man screaming and the old man’s heart slowly beating. Great. Number 3 the action: The action was one of the best parts. His language describing the action made me feel like I was in the room watching the crazy man dragging and killing the old man. Great. Poe was a master of horror. He could build up the anticipation till the last moment and that is an important element in a good horror story. Poe could also make you feel that you were in the minds of the victims and killers. His work inspired many writers of horror and mystery over the ages and continues to do so.

Many men and women love Edgar’s stories and Poems. Let me tell you why I love them. First, the titles are great. You may think the titles are just words but Poe’s titles make you wonder what’s going to happen in the story. They make you want to read the poem without giving too to much information away. The title is only the bun and the story is the real meat. As you know his stories are mostly horror. They are very scary. I think there some of the scariest stories ever. Poe reminds me of more modern writers like Stephen King and Alford Hitchcock. Edgar’s stories aren’t so much jump out of your seat stories but more mysterious and suspenseful. That is what I like. I love his characters and plots. They seem so real maybe some of his characters could relate to his real sad life. Just a hunch. I think Poe is one of the best horror story writers and always will be.

This picture is from flickrCC

Name: The Raven (Edgar Allen Poe)

By keveindooley

This Photo was shot on August 3rd 2008 with a with a Canon Powershot G7

The raven (Edgar Allen Poe)

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