You must make them laugh, make them weep, but above all, make
them wait! Charles Dickens
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The Life of Edgar Allan Poe This is a Mr. Levoy PowerPoint
Presentation
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Early Life Born in Boston Died in Baltimore 1809 1849 Lived in
NYC
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Honest Abe Born one month after Eddy Poe
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Mr. & Mrs. Poe Mrs. Poe was quite successful as an actress
while Mr. Poe Jr. struggled as an actor. Elizabeth Poe David
Poe
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See ya later Poes father abruptly deserted his family. Little
Poe was raised by his mother
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Family Death Poes mother died of Tuberculosis when he was a
only three. He watched his mother die which affected him
greatly.
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TB was also referred to as consumption.
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Tuberculosis What is it? - caused by a bacterial infection. -
many times began as pneumonia. How does one acquire TB? - air-borne
(coughing) What are symptoms of TB? - chest pain, coughing up
blood, fatigue yellowing of skin & eyes, loss of weight
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Treatment of TB during Poes time -Isolation -Pumping air into
chest cavity for relief -Folk remedies 1 out of 7 people died of TB
during this time period!
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Famous people w/ TB Alexander Grahm BellElenor Roosevelt King
Tut Frederick Chopin James Monroe
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Quite the Athlete Eddy was quite the athlete. He was not only
an excellent swimmer but a prized boxer.
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Enter the Mr. Allan While Edgar was an orphan, the Allans
served as Poes foster family. The Allans were extremely wealthy and
insisted that Eddy have a first class education.
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Edgar Allan Poe Eddy decided to take the middle name of Allan
to honor his new family. He was never formally adopted by the
Allans.
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First class education Poe attended the University of Virginia,
but only lasted one semester.
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One and done Poe ran up massive gambling debts after spending
all of his tuition money.
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On your own!! Poe and Mr. Allan would constantly argue over
$$$. When Eddy went into major debt at UV, Allan refused to help
with his finances. Poe become extremely bitterand broke! Tensions
mounting
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Army strong Poe had enlisted in the army under the alias name
of Edgar Perry. He did not want his father to know of his
whereabouts. But Eddy was soon discharged for disobedience and too
many infractions such as skipping classes.
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Lost Love Poe had written many love letters to correspond with
his first love, Sarah Royster while he had enlisted. Mr. Allan got
a hold of these letters and Royster never received them. She
married another man, which made Edgar heartbroken put him into an
emotional tailspin.
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No pain, no gain John Allan died believing that Eddy had always
showed a lack of gratitude to him. He did not leave Poe a single
cent in his will, while he left others, including his mistresses,
his fortunes.
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Broke broke broke Poe remained broke, penniless and alone.
UNTIL After Allans death
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Love at first site! he relocated to live with Virginia Clemm,
his first cousin. They fell in love! Poe was 27, while she was only
13 when they married.
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Self-starter Edgar Allan Poe was one of the very first American
authors to use writing as a means to support himself. However, most
of his short stories and poems were overlooked by publishers, and
he was barely making enough to support himself.
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A Days Pay While Poes stories were often being rejected, he
became an editor and critic at a literary magazine. He made lots of
enemies with other writers as he offered strong opinions and sharp
criticism of their works.
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Poe continued to write stories, and finally came up with one
BIG hit which soon turned him into an instant celebrity and
star.
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Quoth The Raven, Nevermore The Raven was published in 1844. It
took Poe 10 years to complete what is his most famous piece. He
barely made any earnings for his poem, having first published in a
newspaper for free. He lost most copyright rights. The Raven soon
appeared in school textbooks
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And many years later in Pop-Culture
pop-culturepop-culture!
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Down timesagain. As soon as Poes career seemed to turn for the
better, his dear Virginia Clemm became sick with Tuberculosis. She
died a slow death* the following years.
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He was fired from his post as editor due to his erratic
behavior and drinking tendencies as he was often in an alcoholic
stupor. Poe was devastated by the death of Virginia and became
severely depressed.
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Downward spiral Even though Poe had written a hit, his life was
never quite the same after his love died. He was often angry,
drunk, hopeless, and erratic who could blame him!!?.
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The end of a pioneer He was found outside of a tavern lying on
a park bench. He was disheveled and mumbling incoherent statements.
He died four days later in a nearby hospital. The diagnosis:
lesions on the brain. Poes death is surrounded with much intrigue
and mystery
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Election Day The day Poe was found on the bench was October 3,
1849, which happened to be voting day for a local mayoral election.
The tavern near the bench happened to be a poling location for the
election. Often, an unsuspecting person would be drugged and forced
to cast repeated ballets under different names. This type of voter
fraud was known as Cooping
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Lord, help my poor soul. The real cause of death is unknown and
his death certificate has disappeared. Theories of Poes death range
from political kidnapping to being affected by rabies.
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Poes lasting legacy He was the first writer to explore the dark
side of human imagination, sorrow, horror, and crime. His works
reflect his life experiences which happened to involve a lot of
sadness over the loss of loved ones. Considered by many to have
invented the American horror story, science fiction, and the
detective story genre. Defined writing terms of its ability to
excite the soul of the reader.