EDGAR ALLAN POE
(1809–1849)
Although born in Boston, Poe was of Southern descent and received his early education in England and Virginia. He belonged to no school of writers. His works are sui generis and bear no local color or imprint.
Though a loving husband, he was throughout his life practically without friends, his caustic criticism in particular making him many enemies in the world of letters, with disastrous effect on the reception of his writings. His life was consequently one long struggle for bare necessities, in spite of which, working with unflagging energy, he left behind several volumes of poems, tales, and criticism of a high order.
The wonderful technique, faultless form, and painstaking choice of detail, combined with the grotesque and morbid beauty of both his poetry and his prose have secured for Poe an abiding place in our literature. It is the perfection of literary style that has given him his great popularity abroad and especially in France. Indeed, Poe's neglect of the moral point of view and his constant achievement of artistic perfection of form are French rather than English or American characteristics.
THE MAN
1. Poe was born in Boston. Would you class him with the New England school of writers?
2. Where did he receive his early education? Does this account for certain peculiarities in his writings?
3. Was Poe a man of warm sympathies?