Who inspired Poe's poems?

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I have been looking for 3 hours. I'm trying to find out who inspired Poe's poems for a school project. If you can help me find some where please contact me today through an e-mail at volleyballchick2005@msn.com. Thank you!!

-- Anonymous, January 12, 2003

Answers

He wrote a poem about his deceased wife, Annabelle Lee, that might be considered an inspiration.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

Annabel lee is a fictitious name. As obvious as it might seem at first his dead wife is not necessarily the one and only inspiration for any poem except perhaps Eulalie and Ulalume. Even in those he uses another name, other imagery to cast his inspiration into the realm of art. Poems actually addressed to individuals are another matter IF those individuals are the recipients of the poem for a particular occasion. The idealized woman is more than a person in the highest poetry. "To Helen" is a good example where the dead Mrs. Stanard is probably the inspiration cast in a classical setting. Poe confuses the vagueness further by using some poems to flatter different ladies at different times. It might all go back to his mother, but not consciously, certainly not intentionally. The female is a symbol of an ideal but roamnce, disappointment and experience figure in also. Women who were figures of love and tragic inspiration: Mrs. Stanard(symbol of his Muse), Ellen Royster(first, lost love), Virginia Poe(his young wife who died), Sarah (Helen) Whitman(poet, the second "To Helen"), and various other lesser flirtations or benefactresses such as Fanny Osgood(poet). But the names Helen and Lenore and Annabel Lee, etc. are artistic creations.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

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