Sova, Dawn B. “Poe, Edgar Allan”.

Question 1

“The details of his life, rife with reports of gambling, drinking, addiction to opiates, and other profligate behavior, combined with his marriage to a 13-year-old cousin, have overshadowed his achievements”

Answer 1

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Poe was clearly very troubled and this impacted him not only in his personal life, but also in the course of history.

Question 2

Many critics have seen the influence of Virginia’s five years of dying in Poe’s work during those years, especially in works that focus upon death in life, such as “Eleonora,” “Berenice,” “Ligeia,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The madness of which Poe speaks in this letter and in other communications becomes the madness of the narrators of “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Black Cat.” Although “Annabel Lee” may reflect their relationship, it is “Ulalume,” published in December 1847, that was inspired by Virginia’s death and which Poe made clear was a memorial to his late wife.

Answer 2

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background for time the black cat was written

Question 3

On January 20, 1842, while she was playing the piano and singing to amuse her husband, a blood vessel in her throat broke, and blood began to pour from her mouth. Little more than five years later, on January 30, 1847, Virginia died. In the five years from the first serious evidence of her illness, Virginia had become an invalid, and her increasingly fragile health and the destruction of her body by tuberculosis sent Poe into deep depression. He lived in daily fear of her death, and the pain of watching her body waste away stayed with him until his own death.

Answer 3

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About a year and a half prior to the black cat virginia spits up blood which severly effects poe and the disease ravages her body

Question 4

Rather than viewing each poem and each story as simply the expression of Poe’s emotions and mental state, critics now acknowledge Poe as an artist whose stories, poems, and essays exhibit his creative talents and convey a sense of modernism in literature that remains relevant more than a century and a half after his death.

Answer 4

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Question 5

“Despite Griswold’s massive campaign of character assassination, Poe’s works have endured. Many of his poems and short stories have inspired composers of such diverse nations as Ireland, Russia, Lithuania, France, Sweden, Austria, and, of course, the United States to compose musical accompaniments and other instrumentals…Poe’s short stories have provided contemporary writers with inspiration and inspired Hollywood to place Poe’s work on screen”