Edgar Allan Poe's writing was influenced by several personal and historical factors:
1) The Great Awakening of the 1830s, which questioned doubt in God and the supernatural, influenced Poe's use of religious and occult themes in works like The Raven.
2) Poe drew from superstition in works like The Black Cat, where a man's fears lead him to murder.
3) Poe's writing had dark tones reflecting his own difficult life, which included losing his mother in childhood and wife at a young age.
4) Stories like The Premature Burial explored the mind's powers, which fascinated Poe.
5) Poe's use of alcohol and possibly
2. THE GREAT AWAKENING Influenced The Raven The Great Awakening happened into the 1830’s Caused very little doubt existence of God, angels, and demons Set the stage for Poe’s use of the religious, supernatural, and occult
3. SUPERSTITION The Black Cat was influenced by superstition, the narrator of the stories superstition and fears set in motion the “supernatural” events of this story, which led him to murder his black cat, and his wife.
4. PERSONAL DARKNESS Almost all of Poe’s writing is dark. This is a reflection of his own darkness. Some of his darker stories include: The Tell Tale Heart, The Fall of the House Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum
5. LOST LOVES Poe lost his mother when he was a child, he lost his foster mother while he was a young adult, and lost his wife when she was only 25. He wrote Ligeia telling about love beyond death, Annabel Leewhich tells of a man suffering from the loss of his love, and To My Mother which tells of his own personal loss and love.
6. POWER OF THE MIND The minds power influenced some of Poe’s writing, these powers that he learned of from other researchers and possibly personal experiences. Stories such as The Premature Burial, which tells of a mans paranoia and fear being strong enough for his mind to create a disease, and Mesmeric Revelation, which is about a man who is questioning his hypnotized friend.
7. ALCOHOL AND DRUGS Poe’s use of alcohol was a big influence on most of his writing, especially in the story The Fall of the House Usher, and Ligeia, in which the use of opium is mentioned. This causes many to think that Poe himself used opium.
8. THE FIRST DETECTIVE Poe invented the first detective story with The Murders in the Rue Morgue , influencing the creation of Sherlock Holmes byArthur Conan Doyle who patterned Sherlock Holmes afterDupin, the main character in Poe’s story
9. POE LIVES ON Poe lives on through his writing, and through the authors that are influenced by his writing. The biggest role that any writer can play is to be the one that is the influence for another writer.
