The author of the legendary poem “The Raven” is quite possibly one of America’s most famous writers. When you Google the very name Edgar, Edgar A. Poe’s name is the most searched for item and he shows up as the first person on the list. This is quite a feat for a man who has been dead for over 161 years. Poe is still a household name, and his short stories and poems have passed the test of time.
Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts, however a year after his birth Poe’s father abandoned the family, and his mother “died a year later from consumption” (Edgar A. Poe Wikipedia). “Consumption, also known as tuberculosis”, would play a large part in Poe’s life and legacy (Aldridge). Poe was then taken into the home of John and Frances Allan whose residence was located in Richmond, Virginia. John had a habit of being tough on Poe, and Frances had a habit of spoiling him. However in 1829 Frances Allan died from consumption. Poe had now lost two mothers to the deadly disease (Liukkonen).
After a small unsuccessful stint in the military Poe embarked to become one of the first American writers to succeed solely on his literature as a source of income. However Poe was quite unsuccessful. Despite this Poe married his 13 year old Cousin Virginia Clemm. Clemm showed signs of consumption soon after “while singing and playing the piano. Poe described it as breaking a blood vessel in her throat” (Edgar A. Poe Wikipedia).
Once Virginia became ill Poe’s life itself began to crumble. Poe knew the outcome of his wife’s illness was an unavoidable death, as there was no cure to consumption at the time. Not only had the disease taken his mother, but it was now taking the very woman he wished to spend his life with. After her death Poe wrote perhaps his most popular work “The Raven”.
“The Raven” is a short poem which mainly consists of a man encountering a raven who reminds him of his dead love named Lenore. And from this poem forth Poe uses death in almost every.
