Common Themes In Edgar Allan Poe's Life

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous writers/poets of all time. When the name Poe comes to mind, most people think of his infamous tales of horror and mystery. His literary work reflects his troubled mind and the broken memories of his past. Poe is known as one of the most influential writers of the American Romanticism Period. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe is the son of two actors, David and Elizabeth Poe. He did not have a normal lifestyle because his father left the family, and his mother died when he was only three. After being separated from his siblings, Poe was taken in by the Allan 's, John and Frances. Edgar adapted to his new family well, only with one exception. He and Frances got along well, but John and him did not. Money was a major issue between Poe and John; constant fighting occurred because of this. Poe moved schools often while growing up, but still excelled in writing and poetry. For example, by age thirteen, he had written enough poetry to make a book. In 1826, Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia. During his time here, Poe went into debt, because John did not give him enough money to cover all of …show more content…
Each theme differed from story to story, but the three most common themes he wrote about were: death, obsession, and madness. For example in the short story, "The Premature Burial" a man obsesses over his burial and begins to lose his mind. In "The Pit and the Pendulum", a man is afraid of getting the death penalty and goes to great lengths to avoid a life-threatening event. This is shown through the following quote, "The sentence- the dread sentence of death was the last distinct accentuation which reached my ears"(Poe 9). Madness one of the themes in "The Raven". Throughout this story, the reader sees the man begin to lose his sanity because of the Raven 's ongoing torture. Many of these themes come from the feelings Poe had throughout his