The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died of tuberculosis the following year. Poe was taken in by John and Francis Allan of Virginia; these foster parents added Allan to his name. He briefly studied ancient and modern languages at the University of Virginia, but he left college after one year. Finding himself in debt, he joined the US Army in 1827; the same year, he anonymously released his first book, a collection of poetry titled Tamerlane and Other Poems. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, but was court-martialed and dismissed in 1831 for gross neglect of duty and disobedience.

After leaving West Point, Poe began to focus seriously on his literary career. Realizing that he would be unlikely to support himself by writing poetry, he turned to prose fiction and editorial journalism. In 1835, Thomas W. White of the Southern Literary Messenger made Poe the publication’s assistant editor. In 1838, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published to widespread critical praise. Poe continued to write both poetry and prose and held various editorial positions at a number of magazines, although he was frequently admonished or fired for being drunk on the job. His wife, Virginia, whom he married in 1836, died of tuberculosis in 1847, leaving him devastated. After her death, Poe’s mental state deteriorated, and he continued drinking heavily. On October 3, 1849, he was found semiconscious on the streets of Baltimore; he died four days later. His cause of death is uncertain; historians have proposed heart disease, epilepsy, cerebral meningitis, or complications resulting from alcohol misuse as likely reasons for his demise.

Poe significantly impacted the development of American literary culture in a number of ways. During his lifetime, he was mostly known for his literary criticism and editorial work; he was particularly infamous for his venomous commentary on popular poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was also one of the first American writers to become famous in Europe, largely due to the work of the French poet Charles Baudelaire, who translated much of Poe’s work into French by the 1860s. Poe is also considered the creator of modern mystery literature, a genre he referred to as ratiocination because of its associations with logic and reason. His short stories featuring the detective C. Auguste Dupin influenced a number of mystery writers, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Dashiell Hammett. Finally, Poe is closely associated with Gothic fiction, a genre that was popular in both America and Europe in the 19th century. Gothic stories frequently include atmospheres of fear, dread, or hopelessness; ruined or decaying landscapes; supernatural figures or events; and acts of persecution or violence. Poe’s Gothic horror stories, which he called arabesques, are still widely read today, including “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”