Did he portray his personal life in his
writings?
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1440&bih=724&tbm=isch&tbnid=OjxBUCifEKxCXM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe&docid=2x9QaRDkiT8TrM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Edgar_Allan_Poe_portrait_B.jpg/220px-Edgar_Allan_Poe_portrait_B.jpg&w=220&h=299&ei=5DRnT5eRLZL5sQK3nfS2Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=809&vpy=172&dur=668&hovh=239&hovw=176&tx=64&ty=111&sig=116920720657554339060&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=116&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0
"I
became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of
absolute unconsciousness, I drank - God only knows how often or how much. As a
matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather than
the drink to the insanity. -- Edgar Allan Poe, letter to an admirer"
http://www.heureka.clara.net/art/poe.htm
In
many short stories, many writers put things in their stories that reflect their
life or personal problems. Edgar Allen Poe was a literary genius, but readers
think his personality and personal problems were translated in his stories. His
stories were suspenseful; creepy that often included a mad man or murder. He
was an "American short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor who is
famous for his cultivation of mystery and the macabre."
http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160 In the Tell Tale Heart
is one of his most famous stories that have a lot of unknown symbols that
entertain the audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4s9V8aQu4c For example the murder of the old man in the Tell Tale
Heart stemmed from no hostility or anger except fear from the old mans eye. The
narrator and the old man had a good relationship and the narrator loved the old
man, yet insanity was clearly a factor in this murder. The preparation and
clean up in this murder were carefully planned out like a mad man. People
wonder if Poe had dark personal problems in his life that prompted these plots
in his stories. At the end of the Tell Tale Heart the narrator admits to the
police of his murder and the location of the body. The narrator’s guilty
conscious drove him insane in front of the cops to lead him to admittance. The
readers wonder if Poe had a guilty conscious.
Another
example of Poe’s mysterious, gloomy, and depressing life was the Fall of the
House Usher. This story immediately starts off with that theme for example,
“dull, dark, and soundless day.” (The Fall of the House Usher) Roderick has
emotional pain; some think that Poe was suffering with something similar. People
who saw the usher house were afraid of its mysterious characteristics and
events that took place in it. Roderick's sister is also dying of a mysterious disease
that lead people to think that Poe had bizarre health problems as well as
mental problems. The death of Roderick's sister and accidental alive burial
under the floorboards appeared to be very fishy. Readers wondered if Poe had
something to hide. The noise that came from the house that Roderick and the
narrator heard was Madeline trying to escape her live burial. She terrified
them both when she arrived at the door covered in blood. Was Poe afraid of
death?
Though
all of this I believe he did portray his personal life in his writings. He had
a very hard upbringing and had a lot of misfortune later in his life. A lot of
his writing like previously stated was very creepy and had a lot of death in
them. The vents that took place in his life were very closely related to his
stories and would lead us to believe that it was almost in direct correlation to
each other.
