During Mr Poe’s life he dealt with the death of two important figures in his life, his mother and his wife which both had sub come to the treacherous death of tuberculosis (Edgar Allan Poe – Biography). The first death lead him to be taken in by the Allan family who cared for him until he went off to the military. After some years Mr. Poe went on to marry his cousin who after a few years of marriage was dying of tuberculosis. Having to witness the death of two important people in his life Mr. Poe sought some comfort in drinking his sorrows away (Edgar Allan Poe – Biography), because after witnessing a disease that attacks a person’s pulmonary track, which lead to terrible sweats, fever and bloody cough must have taken its toll on Mr. Poe’s psyche (Tuberculosis Symptoms). With this so called “motivation” Poe went on to write many poems and narrative such as “The Raven” which dealt with horrifying deaths such as this poem (Edgar Allan Poe – Biography). This poem was published three times with three different names each one that signified death, despair, and sin. The first publication was named the “Doomed City”, then “The City of Sin”, and finally in 1845 became known as the “The City in the Sea” (Cummings Study Guide). Although they were published with different names these works all had the same theme and underlying theme of death, doom, swelling seas, and of water turning red. These themes can be perceived to be reflections of what Mr. Poe felt and saw during the death of his wife and mother. With the disease came feelings of despair and doom, which rose from the constant deterioration of his wife and mother, that drained him of all hope that his wife or mother could be “saved” in a mortal way and also religious manner . Knowing their fate of death only prolonged the vivid imagery of their lungs filling with fluids and turning into blood as it was expelled from their bodies. These images are present and play a role in many of Mr. Poe’s literary works which portrayed death in a horrid way.
“Cummings Study Guide.” Poe’s The City in the Sea: A Study Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
“Edgar Allan Poe – Biography.” Edgar Allan Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
“Tuberculosis Symptoms.” Tuberculosis Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
103A: American Literature from 1789 to 1900 
I’ve read some Poe before but was unaware of the amount of deaths that he was plagued with throughout his life. The death of his mother at an early age and his adoption shines a whole new light on why so much of his poetry is very dark and filled with death imagery. The deaths of the important women in Poe’s life clearly had an effect on his subject matter and tone, but Poe also had abandonment issues dealing with his father figures. His first father left him at the age of one. His second foster father Mr. Allen often argued with Poe and wanted to stop supporting his way through college. These abandonment issues and feelings of not being accepted by his father seem to also play an important role in Poe’s work.
In 1838, Edgar Allan Poe published his only complete novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. In one part of the story, a ship got lost out at sea with only four crewmen. After they ran out of food, the men drew lotteries and ate their young cabin boy, Richard Parker. Well almost fifty years later in 1884, an actual disaster left only four people surviving. The men on the Mignonette yacht also drew lottery and young cabin boy Richard Parker was killed for food. A dark coincidence of cannibalism that would have made Poe proud. It was also that coincidence that caused Yann Martel, who wrote Life of Pi, to name his shipwrecked tiger Richard Parker.
The death of two important people in his life, definitely shows through his writings of darkness and death. This is apparent in his literature being classified in the Gothic. The American dream signifies a family. The loss of his wife, death essentially, became symbolize of his American nightmare. The whole themes of death, despair, and sin contribute the opposite of the American dream and only help reiterate the nightmare that it seems as if Poe is living in through his literary work.