Poe had a harsh childhood, and experienced deep loss. Both of his parents died before he was three years old, and was raised as a foster child in Virginia. Despite his rough childhood he attended high-end schools, the best boarding schools and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1825 where he excelled, and first …show more content…
Poe 's early life contributes to his writings in which all the death and loss he faced, is integrated into his works. For example, in, "The Raven," a reoccurring theme is a beautiful woman 's death, which can be related to the death of his wife, Virginia. She was not just his wife, but also his cousin. The two had an unbreakable bond – except against death. They were only married for about eleven years until she died of tuberculosis which crushed Poe (“Edgar Allan Poe – Biography”). Additionally, in "The Masque of the Red Death," death itself is referred to the disease of tuberculosis that killed numerous family members including his birth mother and father, foster mother, brother and his wife (“Edgar Allan Poe – Biography”). Another correspondence is in "The Back Cat," where the protagonist attacks a cat while highly intoxicated. This relates to his heavy drinking problem both before and after the death of his wife. Although there were many deaths in her family like Poe 's, Chopin’s stories are much more family associated, and contained fewer explicit descriptions and characters. In many of Chopin’s short stories, the works were about real life events and people that were depicted from her life in Louisiana. The Awakening, for example, is about an actual, famous French woman who Kate …show more content…
Poe is much more common than one would think. He is considered the father of horror stories and played a big part in the development of science fiction drama. He has also greatly influenced famous writers and thinkers such as Jules Verne, and H.P. Lovecraft. His writing techniques, and works are taught in numerous schools throughout the nation to emphasize how influential he really is (egs.edu). He influenced French symbolist too, which eventually altered the direction of modern literature (poetryfoundation.org). Kate Chopin influenced people in a bit of a different way. She influenced many feminists, in a way that she urged women and girls that they can and will participate and contribute to the upper literary world. It was hard for Ms. Chopin to really get her works out into circulation because of her gender. Society did not really accept females - or female writers for that matter - because of their role and stance compared to that of a man 's. They were not treated equally, and that reflected onto their works of