A Life of Misery becomes Misery as Literature: The

Influence of Edgar Allan Poe Dark, haunting, and eerie

novels don’t sound like the staple for a famous American
Novelist, but Edgar Allan Poe helped change American
literature as it is by centering his novels, short stories, and
poems around these points. Edgar Allan Poe was an
American author, poet, editor, and literary critic during the
American Gothic Romantic Movement. Best known for his
tales of mystery, Poe utilized dark and bleak settings to
further entice his readers. Poe was the first well-known
American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone,
resulting in a financially difficult life and career as an
author/poet. Born in Boston, Poe was the second child of
two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, soon
dying of tuberculosis and his mother died the following year
of similar circumstances. Thus orphaned, the child was
taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia.
Although they never formally adopted him, Poe was with
them well into young adulthood. Poe’s adolescence to
adulthood was consumed by death and loneliness, which
soon corrupted Poe and ultimately affected his writing style
completely. Poe went on to be considered one of the more
famous authors or poets during the romantic era, and one
of…