Edgar Alan Poe

Twain introduced Americans to life on the Mississippi. Thomas Hardy wrote on his

pessimistic views of the Victorian Age. Another author that influenced

literature is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known as the father of the American short

story and father of the detective story. To understand the literary

contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, one must look at his early life, his literary

life, and a summary of two of his famous works. "Edgar Allan Poe was born

in Boston'' (Inglis 505) "on January 19, 1809'' (Asselineau 409). He was

born to a southern family that were in a traveling company of actors (Inglis

505). His father, David Poe, was from a Baltimore family. He was an actor by

profession and a heavy drinker. Soon after Edgar Allan Poe was born, he left his

family. Poe's mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, was a widow at the age of eighteen.

Two years after his birth, she died of tuberculosis (Asselineau 409). When his

mother died, Poe was adopted by John Allan (Perry XI) at the urging of Mr.

Allan's wife. In 1815, John Allan moved his family to England. While there, Poe

was sent to private schools (Asselineau 410). In the spring of 1826, Poe entered

the University of Virginia. There he studied Spanish, French, Italian, and

Latin. He had an excellent scholastic record. He got into difficulties almost at

once. Mr. Allan did not provide him with the money to pay for his fees and other

necessities. Poe was confused and homesick. He learned to play cards and started

drinking. Soon he was in debt in excess of two thousand dollars. Poe discovered

that he could not depend upon Allan for financial support. His foster father

refused to pay his debts, and Poe had to withdraw from the University (Asselineau

410). In May of 1827, Poe enlisted in the army as a common soldier. He did this

under the name of Edgar A. Perry. He was stationed on Sullivan's Island in

Charleston Harbor for over a year. Poe adapted very well to military discipline

and quickly rose to the rank of regimental sergeant major. After a while, he got

tired of the same daily routine involved in military life. Poe wrote regularly

to Mr. Allan. He met with Mr. Allan after the death of Mrs. Allan in February of

1829. With Allan's support, he received his discharge and enlisted in West Point

on July 1, l830 (Asselineau 410). While at West Point, Mr. Allan, who had

remarried, continued in not providing Poe with enough money. Poe decided to have

himself kicked out of school. Cutting classes and disregarding orders were his

solutions. He was court-martialed for neglect of duties in January, 1831, and

left West Point the following month (Asselineau 411). "Poe was great in

three different fields , and in each one he made a reputation that would give

any man a high place in literary history. Poe wrote great short stories, famous

not only in his own country, but all over the world (Robinson V)."

"Hawthorne, Irving, Balzac, Bierce, Crane, Hemingway and other writers have

given us memorable short stories; but none has produced so great a number of

famous and unforgettable examples, so many tales that continue, despite changing

standards to be read and reprinted again and again throughout the world (Targ

VII)." "Poe was the father of the modern short story, and the modern

detective story (Targ VII)." "With the possible exception of Guy de

Maupassant, no other writer is so universally known and esteemed for so large of

a corpus of excellent tales as in Edgar Allan Poe (Targ VII)." In 1831, Poe

succeeded in publishing a new edition of his poems entitled, Poems. Poe was now

in great difficulty. He went to New York, but could find no job there.

Eventually he took refuge with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Baltimore. There he

decided to seek employment and make his living by writing. Fail

1000

ing to get

attention with his poems, he decided to start writing short stories. Poe

competed in a contest for the best short story in 1831. The prize was offered by

Phil-Saturday Courier. Because he did not win the prize, Poe started on an

ambitious project. He decided to plan a series of tales told by members of a

literary group. He found no publisher for his stories, and entered the contest

again in June of 1835. This time he sent one poem and six stories (Asselineau

411). His story, "Ms. Found in a Bottle," won , and he received one

hundred dollars for it (Targ IX). Through the influence of one of the judges,

John P. Kennedy, Poe became employed as an editor of the Southern Literary

Messenger, published in Richmond (Asselineau