Edgar Allan Poes message on life and death Research Paper

Edgar Allan Poes message on life and death - Research Paper Example Among the literary figures who tried to analyse these two terms, Edgar Alan Poe stands apart from the common category. His perspectives on these two terms were the contributions of the great man’s experience with his life. He has not clearly stated his perspectives directly about life and death, but the works and characters display the way he viewed both life and death. According to Harold Bloom, Poe’s life â€Å"presents almost as much mystery, drama, melancholy, and in some cases fiction as his tales and poems do† and one can also find that â€Å"Poe’s personal image is closely associated with many of the characters and imagery contained in his works: dark, gloomy, half –mad (Bloom 5). In most of his works, the characters show the true replica of Edgar Allan Poe’s own ideas regarding life and death. The narrator in the poem, The Raven, is believed to be Poe himself. The personal experiences of Poe from his early child hood to the adulthood are reflected in his works. Almost all his works are filled with the element of melancholy and disillusionment in it as he had witnessed in his life. In his essay, The Philosophy of Composition, he states, â€Å"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones† ("The Philosophy of Composition": Edgar Allan Poe (1809?1849) 3). His works are a combination of the twin aspects- life and death. It can be seen that the attitude of Poe towards life was something pessimistic. This paper analyses Poe’s perspectives on life and death as shown by his characters in various works. For this, some of his important works are taken into consideration, to elucidate how much these aspects- life and death, are portrayed in his works. Life sketch of Edgar Allan Poe and the making up of the philosophy: The experiences that one receives from one’s personal life create an influence on one’s own perspectives. It was true with the case of Poe. The background of Poe was very dismal from his early child hood. He was born on January 19, 1809. In his short span of life (40 years) he had gone through all sorts of struggles and his personal life was a series of tragedies. Being orphaned at the very small age due to the death of his mother and the desertion of his father, he was entrusted with the care of John Frances Allan. The name, Allan he took from his care taker. His step father and step mother could not soothe the young Poe in his agonies. The antagonistic attitudes that developed between his step father and Edgar made their relationship become very uncomfortable. As a result, young Edgar had to struggle a lot to earn money. The futile studentship due to lack of money in the University of Virginia was another hit in his life. Even though he succeeded to become a soldier at the end the undesired incident could make its effect in his life. He h ad some kind of attachment to Mrs. Allan, his step mother. The death of his step mother also contributed to his peculiar character and thereby constructed a philosophy of dark comedy in his works. He had to part with the Allans as the struggle between the two increased, and he moved towards the outside world and tried to get foot in his literary career. The experiences that he acquired from working in various journals and periodicals paved the way for his literary career. The movements he had made far and across the places had also made an influencing effect to picture his philosophy in his works. In considering his very personal life many ill-fated sequences can be seen. His first courtship with Sarah Elmira Royster was a failure. When he wooed his 13 year old cousin Virginia Clemmm, he was faced