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Ignore this everyone, Im just copying this for Kallie. But everyone should know that I have officially signed up for Beloiy! YEah! See everyone at Christmas!
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Edgar Allan Poe and the Macabre Themes of Vampirism
Edgar Allan Poe was pyshologically tortured by the alcohol he used to drown out the sorrows of his life. During the days leading up to his unfortunate death in 1849 he believed that two men were out to kill him and chop his aunt into pieces. His actual death still remains mysterious, but his life was plagued by similar horrors and a certain internal decay that Poe clearly conveyed with the macabre themes of his works.
Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston to two actors, David and Elizabeth Poe. The two struggled to find work, and in 1811, the financially burdened father abandoned his family. Shortly after, Elizabeth fell ill and died. Edgar was placed in the care of John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia, who moved to England and enrolled Edgar in a boarding school, where he was praised for his academic skill. In 1826, Edgar enrolled in the University of Virginia, got engaged to his neighbor Elmira Royster, and grew increasingly estranged with Allan. Although Poe excelled academically, Allan did not give him the proper funds to pay for school, and he resorted to gambling to pay his own way. However, he got so far in debt that he had to drop out of the University.
In 1831, Poe moved in with his widowed aunt Maria and cousin Virginia, and took over the position of the man of the household. He married Virginia in 1836, and drifted through various jobs. Poe never earned enough money to provide good living conditions for his aunt and cousin, even after his most famous poem, “The Raven” was published in 1845. Poe became obsessive over losing Virginia as her condition worsened, and in 1847 she died. Poe then slipped into a grave state of depression and drunkeness, and never quite recovered. He died in 1849 (Leone 16-30).
Poe’s works contained many elements of Gothicism. The burlesque plot of “Ligeia” is “full of terror and it duplicates the ideal horror story” (Griffith 73). The eyes of Ligeia are vividly described and worshipped as an epitome of great beauty, characteristic of the Romantic movement. They were “mystic...and represented a word of no meaning” (Griffith 74). “In ‘Ms. Found in a Bottle’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ no character can even visualize, much less define, the awful mysteries for which he is compelled to search” (Griffith 75). The core theme of the Gothic movement, in its quest for knowledge, is conveyed through this “searching” despite the imminent shadow of death.
Poe’s early childhood was rocked by the untimely death of his mother. The antagonization of moving from town to town and looking for work and adequate income to support her young children was overwhelming and in 1811 she fell ill with tuberculosis. It is believed that her premature death, followed by the fevers, coughing of blood, hemorrhages, and pallid wasting away of tuberculosis, imprinted itself into Edgar’s young mind, thus causing his obsessions with the tragedy of dying women (Griffith 15). According to Hoffman, it can be inferred that the tragic vulnerablitiy Poe watched his mother succumb to manifested itself in the works written all throughout his career and can be noted in the victimization of the “Premature Burial and the suffering of all of his heroines” (88). Poe’s women symbolize the weakness of the will and the vampirical means of internal decay through control, obsession over loss, and the rejection of such vulnerability. The morbidity of Poe’s works is simply a manifestation of the paradoxical horror of loving until the point of death and decay.
1
Edgar Allan Poe and the Macabre Themes of Vampirism
Edgar Allan Poe was pyshologically tortured by the alcohol he used to drown out the sorrows of his life. During the days leading up to his unfortunate death in 1849 he believed that two men were out to kill him and chop his aunt into pieces. His actual death still remains mysterious, but his life was plagued by similar horrors and a certain internal decay that Poe clearly conveyed with the macabre themes of his works.
Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston to two actors, David and Elizabeth Poe. The two struggled to find work, and in 1811, the financially burdened father abandoned his family. Shortly after, Elizabeth fell ill and died. Edgar was placed in the care of John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia, who moved to England and enrolled Edgar in a boarding school, where he was praised for his academic skill. In 1826, Edgar enrolled in the University of Virginia, got engaged to his neighbor Elmira Royster, and grew increasingly estranged with Allan. Although Poe excelled academically, Allan did not give him the proper funds to pay for school, and he resorted to gambling to pay his own way. However, he got so far in debt that he had to drop out of the University.
In 1831, Poe moved in with his widowed aunt Maria and cousin Virginia, and took over the position of the man of the household. He married Virginia in 1836, and drifted through various jobs. Poe never earned enough money to provide good living conditions for his aunt and cousin, even after his most famous poem, “The Raven” was published in 1845. Poe became obsessive over losing Virginia as her condition worsened, and in 1847 she died. Poe then slipped into a grave state of depression and drunkeness, and never quite recovered. He died in 1849 (Leone 16-30).
Poe’s works contained many elements of Gothicism. The burlesque plot of “Ligeia” is “full of terror and it duplicates the ideal horror story” (Griffith 73). The eyes of Ligeia are vividly described and worshipped as an epitome of great beauty, characteristic of the Romantic movement. They were “mystic...and represented a word of no meaning” (Griffith 74). “In ‘Ms. Found in a Bottle’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ no character can even visualize, much less define, the awful mysteries for which he is compelled to search” (Griffith 75). The core theme of the Gothic movement, in its quest for knowledge, is conveyed through this “searching” despite the imminent shadow of death.
Poe’s early childhood was rocked by the untimely death of his mother. The antagonization of moving from town to town and looking for work and adequate income to support her young children was overwhelming and in 1811 she fell ill with tuberculosis. It is believed that her premature death, followed by the fevers, coughing of blood, hemorrhages, and pallid wasting away of tuberculosis, imprinted itself into Edgar’s young mind, thus causing his obsessions with the tragedy of dying women (Griffith 15). According to Hoffman, it can be inferred that the tragic vulnerablitiy Poe watched his mother succumb to manifested itself in the works written all throughout his career and can be noted in the victimization of the “Premature Burial and the suffering of all of his heroines” (88). Poe’s women symbolize the weakness of the will and the vampirical means of internal decay through control, obsession over loss, and the rejection of such vulnerability. The morbidity of Poe’s works is simply a manifestation of the paradoxical horror of loving until the point of death and decay.