Edgar Allan Poe Contributions To Literature

Edgar Allan Poe’s many contributions to American literature include poetry (which was Poe’s favorite), many short stories, and a book of scientific theory, a novel, a textbook, book reviews and hundreds of book reviews. Generally accepted Poe was the inventor of the modern day detective story, also that Poe was a driving force behind the science fiction genre, yet Poe made his living as a critic and theoretician (poemuseum.org). Poe lived a short, yet very sad, dismal life. Poe’s writings reflect the sad experiences of his short life. Edgar Allan Poe lived January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts and died October 7, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. David Poe, his father and an actor, and his mother and an actress, Elizabeth Arnold brought Poe …show more content…
John Allan had decided to minimally fund Poe’s education, so Poe ran into debt early and tried gambling to make money but he only went further into debt. Allan said he would not honor Poe’s gambling debt so Poe had to drop out. Another confrontation with John Allan, and Poe was ordered out of the Allan house. Poe then moved in with his brother, Henry, in Baltimore. Henry died a few years later from a combination alcoholism and tuberculosis at the age of 24. Soon after Henry’s death, “Edgar A. Perry”, Poe had changed his name, and joined the Army. Poe earned the Rank of Sergeant Major and was released. Poe decided that he would attend West Point, a military college, after the being released from the military. After nearly 4 successful years at West Point, John Allan died and passed all his wealth to the son of his second wife and didn’t even mention Poe in his will. Poe soon started missing classes and was booted out of the Academy. Poe lived much of the rest of his life in poverty and had moved in with his Aunt and her daughter, his cousin, Virginia. He had been placing poems and short stories in the newspaper for two years and was then introduced to Thomas W. White who had …show more content…
Poe lived in Virginia for almost 17 months and helped White with the new journal until Poe returned to drinking. Poe took a leave and went to Baltimore and quietly married his thirteen year old cousin Virginia then moved her and her mother, his aunt, to Richmond. White soon fired Poe because he wanted a higher wage and continued his excessive drinking habits. Poe had a few other editor and critic jobs and continued to write and publish many of his own writings. Many of Poe’s writings had great critical reviews, but being in the midst of a depression, his sales were rather dismal. After being only married 11 years to Poe, Virginia died from tuberculosis at the young age of 24. “Annabel Lee,” “The Raven,” and “Ligeia,” “Ulalume,” and “Lenore” are all written about women dying young, many people believe this is because his mother and his first wife and his foster mother all died at a young age. Poe courted a few women after Virginia’s death and was even engaged to one of