What were some of edgar allan poes works and how did his life affect them?

      One example of a similarity between Poe’s life and his stories is in, “The Masque of the Red Death.” In this story, a country is haunted by a deadly plague called the Red Death. It sweeps across the nation quickly, much like the Black Plague did in Europe. If you were to catch the Red Death, you were quarantined and shut out from the aid of others. The symptoms were horrible: cutting pain and dizziness was followed by blood seeping abundantly from your pores. There is a very interesting life connection in this story. The disease is very similar to tuberculosis, which was a very important illness in Poe’s life. His mother, foster mother, and wife all died of tuberculosis. These three woman were the only people he ever loved.

        Similarly, there is also a common theme of beautiful young women dying in Poe’s works. In stories and poems such as, “Annabel Lee,” The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Oval Portrait,” etc., a young, innocent woman, full of life, dies in a strange and horrible way. The cause of death is generally unusual and different. There is a direct connection to Poe’s life in this theme. Again, this is going back to the note that he loved his foster mother and wife dearly, and they passed on before him. Virginia, Poe’s wife, was very pretty and died at a young age, just like the characters in many of Poe’s stories.

        Yet another reference in Poe’s stories to his life is alcohol. Towards the end of his days, Poe began to spiral in to depression and madness. He drank more and more heavily. The stories he wrote in the last years of his life often included an alcoholic character. For instance, “The Back Cat” was published in 1845, 4 years before Poe died in 1849. In the story, the narrator attacks and wounds his cat while he is extremely drunk. He is overcome with the fiery demon of alcohol, much like Poe became before he died. In the story, the narrator states,

    “One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him... The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer... I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!”

    “The Cask of Amontillado” was published in 1846. It was also written in first person view like “The Black Cat.” In this story, however, it is the victim (Fortunato), not the murderer (Montresor), who is drunk. Fortunato’s intoxication is what allows Montresor to chain him to a stone and trap him forever in the catacombs. It is a different version of the theme of alcohol, but it still includes a drunken person.

    In short, Poe’s life was rather awful, and it is apparent in many of his stories and poems that the events in his past had a huge impact on his writing.

Poe's life had many hardships that inspired his work. Readers can clearly see the connection to Poe and the other people in his life to the characters in his poems and stories. Many of Poe's works may seem normal at first, but almost always end in tragedy, just as his life did.

He did not look to any literary works for inspiration, and acted more from his imagination and the experiences he went through. Acting more as a literary inspiration for others.

The Raven

The inspiration to Poe's darkest and most well known poem, written in 1845, was a real raven that was the beloved pet of the writer Charles Dickens who named it Grip. Dickens was fasinated by the bahaviors of his bet and kept it in his stables to study it. Dickens had been impressed by how intelligent and aggressive the bird was. Dickens also taught his raven to speak, just like a parrot, which is also what interested Poe the most and acted as a direct influence for his story "The Raven." Poe's raven favored the work "Nevermore" while Dicken's raven prefered "nobody," which Poe's raven also says. Poe also uses other direct references in hie poem to Grip.

One of the major inspirations of Poe's career was his wife Virginia, as well as her death. Coming from her death came some of his most well known poems such as �Annabel Lee�.

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,  

In a kingdom by the sea,  

That a maiden there lived whom you may know  

By the name of ANNABEL LEE;  

And this maiden she lived with no other thought  

Than to love and be loved by me.

_I_ was a child and _she_ was a child,  

In this kingdom by the sea:  

But we loved with a love that was more than love--  

I and my ANNABEL LEE;  

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven  

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,  

In this kingdom by the sea,  

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling  

My beautiful ANNABEL LEE;  

So that her highborn kinsmen came  

And bore her away from me,  

To shut her up in a sepulchre  

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,  

Went envying her and me--  

Yes!--that was the reason (as all men know,  

In this kingdom by the sea)  

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,  

Chilling and killing my ANNABEL LEE.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love  

Of those who were older than we--  

Of many far wiser than we--  

And neither the angels in heaven above,  

Nor the demons down under the sea,  

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul  

Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams  

Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;  

And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes  

Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;  

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side  

Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,  

In her sepulchre there by the sea--  

In her tomb by the side of the sea.

Another inspiration of Poe was his aunt. She was the only family he became close to after his parents died. She treated him as her own, and he saw her as his mother, especially after he married her daughter, Virginia.

To My Mother

1849

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,  

The angels, whispering to one another,  

Can find, among their burning terms of love,  

None so devotional as that of "Mother,"  

Therefore by that dear name I long have called you--  

You who are more than mother unto me,  

And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you,  

In setting my Virginia's spirit free.  

My mother--my own mother, who died early,  

Was but the mother of myself; but you  

Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,  

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew  

By that infinity with which my wife  

Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.

sorry i can't really see the questions that good so next time, copy and paste, k?

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