西北师范大学美国文学通史课件 Chapter 7 Colonial Period.pptVIP

Chapter Seven Edgar Allan Poe By Xiulan Zhao I. Life II. Writing career III. Poe’s short story theory IV. Poe’s poetic theory V. A brief introduction to Poe’s short stories VI. A brief introduction to Poe’s poems Edgar Allan Poe (1809?–1849) was an American poet, short-story writer, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the American Romantic movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-story genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science-fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. I. Life Born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts, Poe was the second child of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. He had an elder brother, William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister, Rosalie Poe. Poes parents died when he was young. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never formally adopted him. The family, including Poe and Allans wife, Frances Valentine Allan, sailed to England in 1815. Poe attended the grammar school in Irvine, Scotlandfor a short period in 1815,before rejoining the family in London in 1816. Poe received education in England. Poe moved back with the Allans to Richmond, Virginia in 1820. After spending a short period at the University of Virginia and briefly attempting a military career, Poe and the Allans parted ways. Poes publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to a Bostonian. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move between several cities, including