Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, and critic, born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, known for his famous Gothic works. In his early life, Poe had no family; his father left, his mother passed when he was 3 and was separated from his siblings to live with John and Frances Allan, in Richmond, VA. At the age of 13, Poe was a "prolific poet" but was discouraged to continue by his headmaster and John. John and Poe didn't have the best relationship and John wasn't sending him enough money to cover the costs of college, which led Poe into gambling and soon in debt. As if his life wasn't going enough down hill, he came home to his fiancee engaged to someone else and moved to Boston. Around the time he published his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems he also joined the U.S. Army and John Allan was dying the same way his mother did, tuberculosis. He then attended West Point still living in poverty and when John Allan finally died he left no money to Poe. He started publishing more short stories and grew an interest with his younger cousin Virginia, and they got married. He was suffering from poor health and was still struggling financially and his death is still a mystery. After his death he was labeled as a womanizer and a drunk by his own literary adversary Rufus Griswold.

The Raven was one of his most popular pieces who main themes included undying devotion. A young man is mourning the loss of his lover, Lenore and is trying to get over it through his studies but is brought back to his sorrow when a talking raven keeps repeating "nevermore" which is the painful reminder that he would never be rekindled with his Lenore.

The Cask of Amontillado  one of my favorite short stories that made me way more interested in Gothic literature. This story details of so much irony and revenge and death and misfortune. A man named Montresor decides to seek revenge against a man ironically named Fortunato who is wearing a fool's outfit the whole time. He meets Fortunato and is luring him down to where he plans to bury him alive.

The Tell-Tale Heart also one of my favorites from Poe, due to the fact that I love watching Snapped and all those murder shows. In this work, a nameless person tells the story of his murder but rather pleading insane he says he has a disease and further more explain with his story of his murder. He hated an old man's pale blue eye and decided to kill him over it. He kept sneaking into his room at night with a lantern in hopes the old man would wake to be executed. He waited up until the eighth night, when the old man finally opened his eyes and screamed, the narrator took him off the bed and puts the bed on him until he cant breathe. It was his disease of sensitive senses that made him get caught when cops came.