Tragedy In The Raven By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a highly renowned writer, poet, and scholar. He has written everything from horror stories to scientific textbooks. Edgar Allan Poe positively influenced the world artistically, philosophically, and literarily as reflected in the literature of the American Romanticism Period. Edgar was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents, David Poe Jr. and Eliza Poe, were traveling actors. His mother died on December 8, 1811 and his father died December 11, 1811. They are said to have been on a traveling theatrical tour at the time of their deaths. This tragedy caused Edgar to be taken in by his godfather, John Allan, and John’s wife Frances. Poe lived with the Allan’s in England from 1815 to 1820, and during …show more content…
The struggle and tragedy of his life is evidently seen throughout his writing, and in his exploration into the dark romantics of this time period (1809-1849). In “The Raven”, Poe is said to be retelling the story of the tragic loss of his young wife(Allen 1). In this poem he specifically says “It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—/Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore./ Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.””(Poe). Their are different ideas on what this is about, but many analysts say that it is about the death of his wife (Allen …show more content…
Poe was seen as a front-runner in the “Art for Art’s Sake” movement. This movement is described by the Art Story Foundation as, The phrase 'art for art 's sake ' condenses the notion that art has its own value and should be judged apart from any themes which it might touch on, such as morality, religion, history, or politics. It teaches that judgements of aesthetic value should not be confused with those proper to other spheres of life. The idea has ancient roots, but the phrase first emerged as a rallying cry in 19th century France…(Bell-Villada 9). The Art for Art’s sake movement was directly tied to the Romanticism movement, which Poe was involved in as well. Poe had a substantial influence on the French Symbolists of the 19th century, which were members of the Decadent movement as well. This is important today, because of how we view the different art forms now, because of supporters,Poe, of movements like these we now have a very open and accepting view of art and literature. This is another reason that Poe is such an important figure to continue learning about today (Bell-Villada