Guest Author - Sharon Cullars
Over a hundred years before Stephen King sat down to pen his first horror story, another King of the Macabre reigned, and his timeless stories have inspired subsequent generations of writers to vie for his scepter. Edgar Allen Poe had an intrinsic ability to tap into human fears, both conscious and unconscious, and rework them into imaginative tales of terror that still chill the blood and make us listen out for a taletell rhythm beneath the floorboards. Although his body of work is small, it comprises a wealth of stories that have been pondered, analyzed and translated into film.
Poe’s life was a fluctuation of personal loss and professional success. Born in 1809 to actor parents in Boston, Poe’s alcoholic father abandoned the family when Poe was only two, leaving his mother to rear two sons and a daughter. She subsequently moved them to Richmond, Virginia where she soon died. Poe was then separated from his siblings and given to a childless couple named Allan. The “stepfather” (Allan never officially adopted Poe) afterwards moved the family to England where Poe completed his education in prestigious academes. It was while in Europe that Poe first became acquainted with popular Gothic literature. The family eventually returned to Virginia where Poe continued his education in private schools.
Because of his dubious position in the Allan household and his lineage to actor parents (acting being considered a scandalous profession), Poe was often taunted by his peers. Distant from his stepparents, Poe’s one real friend was Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of a fellow student who was very supportive and encouraging. When she died suddenly of a brain tumor, Poe sunk into a prolonged depression and visited her grave frequently.
Later, at seventeen, Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia. After a failed romance and estrangement from his stepfather due to Poe’s gambling and drinking excesses (his stepfather would later disown him), Poe left the university to return to Boston, where he moved in with his paternal aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter, Virginia. It was at this time he began writing poetry. While in the military, he published his first book, Tamerland and Other Poems (1827). He would later write two other books of poetry, but they would never receive any literary attention.
Unsuccessful in obtaining employment, Poe published a few comedic pieces, writing more out of a need to meet popular demand than anything else. He afterwards wrote a couple of serious pieces “MS Found in a Bottle" (the first of his sea tales) and "The Assignation" which finally brought his talent to light to John Pendleton Kennedy who helped Poe obtain a position on the staff of the prestigious journal, The Southern Messenger. It was while at the Messenger that Poe wrote his first horror story, “Berenice,” published in 1835. Later, as editor of the Messenger, Poe wrote scathing book reviews that made him enemies, many of whom would remain so throughout his lifetime.
In 1836, Poe married his cousin, Virginia Poe, who was only thirteen to his twenty-seven. He relocated to New York, then Philadelphia where he began writing more horror tales, accumulating several stories in the next eight years. They include "Morella" (1835), "Ligeia" (1838), "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) and "William Wilson" (1840).
Unfortunately, more heartache was to follow, when in 1842, Virginia suffered a brain hemmorhage as well as tuberculosis. Some believe Poe’s response to his wife’s illness led to the allegorical “Masque of the Red Death”. Although Poe began drinking heavily during this period, in the following years he saw more success with several stories told from the perspective of the murderer, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Black Cat. Poe also began writing poetry again, and penned “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee,” an obvious and lovely dedication to his wife.
Poe suffered as his wife’s health deteriorated, in his own words, “oscillating between hope and despair”. Virginia died in 1847, after which Poe sunk into heavy drinking and depression. Ever resilient, though, he ascended from his depths to later write several introspective, theoretical works, including “Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848)”, in which he expounded on God’s will and the universe. Again, he found a measure of success that remained tempered by his personal tragedy. During his later years, though, he even managed to find some personal happiness, courting a widow to whom he became affianced. However, the marriage was never to be.
On October 3, 1849, Poe was found in Baltimore delirious and half-conscious a few steps away from a tavern (he had started a trip from Virginia to New York, but no one knows why he stopped in Baltimore). It has often been disputed whether he was drunk or not. Whatever his condition, Poe finally succumbed on October 7, and his last words were stated to be "Lord help my poor soul," which became his epitaph. Poe was buried the next day in Baltimore's Presbyterian Cemetery, which remains a favorite haunt around Halloween.
Read Poe’s first tale of horror, Berenice.
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