How Does Edgar Allan Poe's Life Impact His Work?
Writing remains a strategic portal used to express intimate characteristics of a person's personality without the confines of society's ethical boundaries, allowing expression to be limitless. The raw communication methods we use today are both timeless as well as ever evolving. A person can express a wide range of their opinions, thoughts, emotions, lusts, and wants with a simple pen and paper. Great writers from the past have been able to harness the charismatic powers of the pen, transcending their powerful messages to paper that give the reader timeless literature masterpieces that challenge our minds to this day. A world-renowned American writer that had an international impact over two hundred years ago to present day was Edgar Allan Poe. Countless generations studying his work have labeled him positive as well as negative titles, but the majority of both parties will agree that he was masterful in challenging his readers' minds. Built structures all begin as stacks of wood and buckets of nails with a finished vision in mind. It merely takes shape after the frame is set, the paint applied, and only called home once it is filled with personal artifacts from the residence that will call it theirs. Edgar Allan Poe harnessed many of his life's work from the events of the period to frame his stories.
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Although these events may have produced the cause of his stories, the transpiring effects within each piece came from his creative genius as a writer. Edgar A. Poe was the master interior designer of the human psyche and specialized in lighting the darkest crevices of readers' minds through his captivating interpretations. One of these timeless psychologically impacting short stories written by Edgar A. Poe is “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe gives his readers a first person preview into the extreme madness of human nature at its most taboo act and state of mind, premeditated murder. Since the time of Poe's death, generations of scholars and psychologist have speculated to the gothic origin of his dark literature masterpieces. Modern analyses have dissected his life's work in an attempt to uncover the inner workings and truth to the great Edgar A. Poe's inspirations. Just like the resurrection of a body from the depth of an earthly grave, the pages of his writings have methodically been examined in an attempt to shed truth of Poe between the lines of his work. The quintessence that frames “The Tell-Tale Heart” stems from a bloody murder on an April evening of 1830 in Salem, Massachusetts. The horrific details of the plot to murder Captain Joseph White were sufficient to intrigue the mind of Poe, but the summation of the prosecuting attorney Daniel Webster to the jury sealed its fate to influence many classics we know today (Wagner). Edgar Allan Poe scholar Thomas O. Mabbott's excerpts of the beginning passage of Webster's speech reads: An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his own house, and in his own bed, is made the victim of a butcherly murder, for mere pay. Truly, here is a new lesson for painters and poets. Whoever shall hereafter draw the portrait of murder, if he will show it. . . where . . .last to be looked for . . . let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch. . . Let him draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon; a picture in repose, rather than in action; not so much an example of human nature in its depravity, and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend, in the ordinary display and development of his character (Mabbott).
Webster's prosecution speech challenges writers of that period, displaying the horrific details of the murderous plot and how it should influence the minds of anyone that came to know it. Mabbott's highlighted excerpts of Webster's speech mirrors Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” to a high degree of accuracy with regards to the infrastructure of the storyline. Poe only uses the murder of Captain White and Webster's message to spark the imaginative flame to create the structure of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, but not the intimate details of the narrator’s dialect or state of mind. Poe used his own life experiences to fill in the dialogue and interpret the story within the framing of the Salem murder. Beyond the surface of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the story can be interrupted as a confession of Poe’s inner anguish and personal struggles with maintaining a healthy relationship with his adopted father, John Allan. Intimate expressions come from experiences that a person has had from their past. A moment could have been from the early adolescence years or from the present day. Edgar Allan Poe masterfully connects his life experiences into his writing. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a key example to the inner turmoil that Poe was dealing with and could not express or would express to anyone. The story begins with an insight to the narrator's inner anger as he describes the sanity of his madness. The narrator speaks directly to the reader and is very open about his own acceptance that the insanity of his point of view on the circumstances is sane. The narrators holds the old man dear to his heart, and goes to state how the old man never wronged him, but he needs a point of fixation to make sense of inner malicious desires. This coincides with Poe's childhood history and the opportunities his adopted parents, John Allan and his wife Frances, gave him from the orphaned age of three (Silverman). They took him in as their own and provided Poe with an upper class lifestyle that was far from the class he was born (Minor). Thereafter, the narrator speaks to address his intents and that he has no desire for the old man's fortune.
This does not coincide with the actual Salem murder where fortune was the ultimate motive for the crime (Wagner). Poe did indeed need help with his finances during his lifetime, but he is it making it clear that the narrator's actions are not about monetary gain but for the reader to focus on the relationship of the two main characters. These points are clear in the narrator's character dialogue within the second passage of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire"
(Poe). The evil vulture eye that becomes the fixation of the narrator can alternatively be a metaphor for the years of judgment Poe received from John Allan regarding the lifestyle choices he made, very much displeasing his adopted father. Additionally, the description of the eye being diseased in appearance as a "pale blue eye, with a film over it" is common for a condition of that period as well as a disease that Poe would be familiar with, tuberculosis and cataracts (Poe). Tuberculosis was a disease that followed Poe in one shape or another throughout his life. This disease took the life of his biological mother, brother, foster mother, and lastly his wife in 1842 (Poe's Life). The precautious and methodical description that used of the methods implemented by the murder is similar in tempo of which Poe used in writing John Allen in his adult years. Each letter written by Poe methodically, cautiously, and with intent to shed a glimmer of light of insight to his life. The letters message attempted to draw the attention of the watchful eye of the unreceptive father that would not show Poe any sympathy in the end (John Allan). Following the narrator's descriptive passage of how he went about setting up the days to the murder. Poe details the length of time of these mischievous rituals took place, "And this I did for seven long nights - every night just at midnight - but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye" (Poe). The length of time Poe wrote John Allan was over a span of seven years, 1826 – 1833 (John Allan). A time in which John Allan distanced himself from Poe, similarly to an eye shut to see what was before it so no effect could be overcome by the reader John Allan. On the eighth evening, the narrator's actions lead to the murder of the old man. An eight date context has relevance to Edgar A. Poe's life; the eighth year would mark the exact timeframe after his seven years of writing his last known letter to his adopted father, 1834 is the year John Allan dies (John Allan). The shift of fixation from the watchful eye to the beating heart brings fruition of the change of the narrator’s outlook towards the old man. The beating of the old man's heart that troubles the narrator changes the dynamics of judgment with a personal connection between the characters. However, the thumping of the heart influences the narrator the same as the eye, at least he interprets it this way, driving the narrator murderous mad. There seems no way to stop the pain he feels inside without muffling the host of the heart, the old man. Believing that the death of the old man will subside the voices he hears within, he murders the old man but not with a blow of a club as was done in Salem, but by the suffocation of the old man. The narrator becomes the murder and has the old man's death is on his hands. Initially the death brings peace and the beating of the heart is no longer bothersome. The narrator believes with the passing of the old man, his worries are over and he has outsmarted the emotions that troubled him before. The narrator goes on to segment the body, meticulously clean up any evidence, and bury the remains under the floorboards. All his efforts are in an attempt to cleanse him from any suspicion to the crime. Nevertheless, why would anyone choose the very floorboards of his own residence to hide a body? A simple explanation would be convenience, and staying true to the stated time line the morning light would soon be visible making movement impossible out in the open. An alternative perspective to the origin of structure would point to the possibility that there is no other venue for the narrator to go. The dismemberment a metaphor for Poe’s extreme attempts to rid himself of any emotional connection with the old man, John Allan. The confession of the narrator takes place over the span of several days with no mention of any other setting. If this alternative perspective is accounted, the home is another metaphor used to frame the setting of the story, Poe’s mind. The narrator believes that he has gotten away with the perfect crime, but things turn for the worst with the early morning appearance of three police officers. During the first part of their visit all seems well and the narrator is able to keep a calm composure. But, the heart of the old man still thumps at his subconscious and makes relevant how powerful of a relationship the narrator had with the deceased. The narrator loses his strong will to stay quit and confesses to the location of the old man’s dismembered body. Figuratively, this could very well be Poe’s confession about how he feels about John Allan and his inability to keep the emotional pain private any longer. Acknowledging that John Allan’s death did deeply affect him and the personal guilt from the tarnished relationship between him and John Allan. Edward W. Pitcher's study, "The Physiognomical Meaning of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", states, "This interpretation of the tale inclines tone to dismiss the surface "plot" of a murder and endorse a reading of a tale seen entirely as a psychologistcal drama with one actor projected into two roles (Pitcher). At first read, many will judge "The Tell-Tale Heart" as a sick twisted story of a psychopath's scheming to carry out murder on a defenseless diseased old man, which it is. What we miss between the lines is the interpretation that only Poe could create to express himself. His use of events that have already taken place masked the true intent of his most memorable works. The dark expressive personality that brings out his artistry could not have been taken lightly in his time. This story is Edgar A. Poe's way of expressing himself and a method of self-therapy to overcome the pain that he was suffering from the reflections of his failed relationship with John Allan.
Although these events may have produced the cause of his stories, the transpiring effects within each piece came from his creative genius as a writer. Edgar A. Poe was the master interior designer of the human psyche and specialized in lighting the darkest crevices of readers' minds through his captivating interpretations. One of these timeless psychologically impacting short stories written by Edgar A. Poe is “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe gives his readers a first person preview into the extreme madness of human nature at its most taboo act and state of mind, premeditated murder. Since the time of Poe's death, generations of scholars and psychologist have speculated to the gothic origin of his dark literature masterpieces. Modern analyses have dissected his life's work in an attempt to uncover the inner workings and truth to the great Edgar A. Poe's inspirations. Just like the resurrection of a body from the depth of an earthly grave, the pages of his writings have methodically been examined in an attempt to shed truth of Poe between the lines of his work. The quintessence that frames “The Tell-Tale Heart” stems from a bloody murder on an April evening of 1830 in Salem, Massachusetts. The horrific details of the plot to murder Captain Joseph White were sufficient to intrigue the mind of Poe, but the summation of the prosecuting attorney Daniel Webster to the jury sealed its fate to influence many classics we know today (Wagner). Edgar Allan Poe scholar Thomas O. Mabbott's excerpts of the beginning passage of Webster's speech reads: An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his own house, and in his own bed, is made the victim of a butcherly murder, for mere pay. Truly, here is a new lesson for painters and poets. Whoever shall hereafter draw the portrait of murder, if he will show it. . . where . . .last to be looked for . . . let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch. . . Let him draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon; a picture in repose, rather than in action; not so much an example of human nature in its depravity, and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend, in the ordinary display and development of his character (Mabbott).
Webster's prosecution speech challenges writers of that period, displaying the horrific details of the murderous plot and how it should influence the minds of anyone that came to know it. Mabbott's highlighted excerpts of Webster's speech mirrors Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” to a high degree of accuracy with regards to the infrastructure of the storyline. Poe only uses the murder of Captain White and Webster's message to spark the imaginative flame to create the structure of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, but not the intimate details of the narrator’s dialect or state of mind. Poe used his own life experiences to fill in the dialogue and interpret the story within the framing of the Salem murder. Beyond the surface of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the story can be interrupted as a confession of Poe’s inner anguish and personal struggles with maintaining a healthy relationship with his adopted father, John Allan. Intimate expressions come from experiences that a person has had from their past. A moment could have been from the early adolescence years or from the present day. Edgar Allan Poe masterfully connects his life experiences into his writing. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a key example to the inner turmoil that Poe was dealing with and could not express or would express to anyone. The story begins with an insight to the narrator's inner anger as he describes the sanity of his madness. The narrator speaks directly to the reader and is very open about his own acceptance that the insanity of his point of view on the circumstances is sane. The narrators holds the old man dear to his heart, and goes to state how the old man never wronged him, but he needs a point of fixation to make sense of inner malicious desires. This coincides with Poe's childhood history and the opportunities his adopted parents, John Allan and his wife Frances, gave him from the orphaned age of three (Silverman). They took him in as their own and provided Poe with an upper class lifestyle that was far from the class he was born (Minor). Thereafter, the narrator speaks to address his intents and that he has no desire for the old man's fortune.
This does not coincide with the actual Salem murder where fortune was the ultimate motive for the crime (Wagner). Poe did indeed need help with his finances during his lifetime, but he is it making it clear that the narrator's actions are not about monetary gain but for the reader to focus on the relationship of the two main characters. These points are clear in the narrator's character dialogue within the second passage of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire"
(Poe). The evil vulture eye that becomes the fixation of the narrator can alternatively be a metaphor for the years of judgment Poe received from John Allan regarding the lifestyle choices he made, very much displeasing his adopted father. Additionally, the description of the eye being diseased in appearance as a "pale blue eye, with a film over it" is common for a condition of that period as well as a disease that Poe would be familiar with, tuberculosis and cataracts (Poe). Tuberculosis was a disease that followed Poe in one shape or another throughout his life. This disease took the life of his biological mother, brother, foster mother, and lastly his wife in 1842 (Poe's Life). The precautious and methodical description that used of the methods implemented by the murder is similar in tempo of which Poe used in writing John Allen in his adult years. Each letter written by Poe methodically, cautiously, and with intent to shed a glimmer of light of insight to his life. The letters message attempted to draw the attention of the watchful eye of the unreceptive father that would not show Poe any sympathy in the end (John Allan). Following the narrator's descriptive passage of how he went about setting up the days to the murder. Poe details the length of time of these mischievous rituals took place, "And this I did for seven long nights - every night just at midnight - but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye" (Poe). The length of time Poe wrote John Allan was over a span of seven years, 1826 – 1833 (John Allan). A time in which John Allan distanced himself from Poe, similarly to an eye shut to see what was before it so no effect could be overcome by the reader John Allan. On the eighth evening, the narrator's actions lead to the murder of the old man. An eight date context has relevance to Edgar A. Poe's life; the eighth year would mark the exact timeframe after his seven years of writing his last known letter to his adopted father, 1834 is the year John Allan dies (John Allan). The shift of fixation from the watchful eye to the beating heart brings fruition of the change of the narrator’s outlook towards the old man. The beating of the old man's heart that troubles the narrator changes the dynamics of judgment with a personal connection between the characters. However, the thumping of the heart influences the narrator the same as the eye, at least he interprets it this way, driving the narrator murderous mad. There seems no way to stop the pain he feels inside without muffling the host of the heart, the old man. Believing that the death of the old man will subside the voices he hears within, he murders the old man but not with a blow of a club as was done in Salem, but by the suffocation of the old man. The narrator becomes the murder and has the old man's death is on his hands. Initially the death brings peace and the beating of the heart is no longer bothersome. The narrator believes with the passing of the old man, his worries are over and he has outsmarted the emotions that troubled him before. The narrator goes on to segment the body, meticulously clean up any evidence, and bury the remains under the floorboards. All his efforts are in an attempt to cleanse him from any suspicion to the crime. Nevertheless, why would anyone choose the very floorboards of his own residence to hide a body? A simple explanation would be convenience, and staying true to the stated time line the morning light would soon be visible making movement impossible out in the open. An alternative perspective to the origin of structure would point to the possibility that there is no other venue for the narrator to go. The dismemberment a metaphor for Poe’s extreme attempts to rid himself of any emotional connection with the old man, John Allan. The confession of the narrator takes place over the span of several days with no mention of any other setting. If this alternative perspective is accounted, the home is another metaphor used to frame the setting of the story, Poe’s mind. The narrator believes that he has gotten away with the perfect crime, but things turn for the worst with the early morning appearance of three police officers. During the first part of their visit all seems well and the narrator is able to keep a calm composure. But, the heart of the old man still thumps at his subconscious and makes relevant how powerful of a relationship the narrator had with the deceased. The narrator loses his strong will to stay quit and confesses to the location of the old man’s dismembered body. Figuratively, this could very well be Poe’s confession about how he feels about John Allan and his inability to keep the emotional pain private any longer. Acknowledging that John Allan’s death did deeply affect him and the personal guilt from the tarnished relationship between him and John Allan. Edward W. Pitcher's study, "The Physiognomical Meaning of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", states, "This interpretation of the tale inclines tone to dismiss the surface "plot" of a murder and endorse a reading of a tale seen entirely as a psychologistcal drama with one actor projected into two roles (Pitcher). At first read, many will judge "The Tell-Tale Heart" as a sick twisted story of a psychopath's scheming to carry out murder on a defenseless diseased old man, which it is. What we miss between the lines is the interpretation that only Poe could create to express himself. His use of events that have already taken place masked the true intent of his most memorable works. The dark expressive personality that brings out his artistry could not have been taken lightly in his time. This story is Edgar A. Poe's way of expressing himself and a method of self-therapy to overcome the pain that he was suffering from the reflections of his failed relationship with John Allan.