I'm doing a report on Edgar Allan Poe and how his lifestyle affected his writing style. Although it actually is a biography, the main focus is how the environment in one lives affects the way they think. I have done enough research to know that he suffered from alcoholism and depression, but how did that affect his life and writing? Thank you very much for considering my question.

Sincerely, Sunny Chiao

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2000

Answers

It made a big big problem in his life because he had alot of women when his wife was dieing.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2000

i think that your question is the stupidest one on this forum . Look at his lifstyle . Many lost loves , his parents leaving him at age 2 , his wifes death ....i don't think he ever lived in luxury or ever earased these thoughts from his mind so now you answer me , stupid

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2000

i needed the answer to the same question. my paper is on that exactly so i came here looking & found that people were very rude about it... anyway it seems that the whole depression thing about everything he went through played a role. I read that he claimed to use the horror genre because it was the fashion of the time. I also read that there were several mental issues & sexual impotence, etc. that led to it. and i also read that it was a mask to hide behind, and it led him to be misunderstood

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

Poe hated telling anything about himself, but biographical references including significant dates(deaths usually) and name anagrams abound perhaps subconsciously in part, sometimes even humorously. Every good writer at least puts part of himself in these symbols, rarely intentionally. Poe artistically wanted to communicate the feeling or mood most of all. Therefore we assume, most often wrongly that these dramatic impressions revealed his true life. Actually the interesting stuff is in the little details. The atmosphere of fear, dissolution, vertigo, things coming apart reflect some real emotions concerning his daily troubles? What you can't find is Poe's dealing much with death in his correspondence. Usually he avoided the subject, once berating himself for his poetic naivete about the romance of a dying young woman after experiencing the real thing with Virginia. Get away from the obvious dark stuff. Study his southern background, orphan of actor parents, taste for the Allan's southern wealthy class, his military experiment, his concern for his appearance, his Imp of the perverse, sensitivity and powers of analysis, strong but defensive ego, sentimentality etc.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001