Death and Misery! These are the most prominent themes in the works of Edgar Allan Poe as well as in his life. In analyzing Poe's works you will see evidence of the sorrow and grief in his soul brought on by the death's of his parents while he was still a child, his forced breakup with his fiancé' and first love, Sarah Elmira Royster, and the untimely death of his wife Virginia Clemm. As well as his lifelong problem with drugs and alcohol, which ultimately caused his own untimely death. Here I will focus on the deaths of his parents and that of his wife Virginia as they affected his life and are evident in some of Poe's poetic works. And the possibility that Poe recognized he had his own personal "demon" which was the true influence behind his illustrious works. But was this demon actually just the death and misery that surrounded his life? And would he have been as great an author without his "demon"?
             Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, on January 19, 1809 to David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, both of who were touring actors. Poe's parents died before he reached the age of three years old. In 1830 Poe wrote the poem entitled "ALONE", in which he describes how his childhood and life up to that point was different from that of others due to the death of his parents which may have caused a sense of loneliness in his life. This can be observed here in an excerpt from the poem "ALONE".
             'From childhood's hour I have not been
             From the same source I have not taken
             And all I loved, I loved alone.'
             In the first line of this excerpt, 'From childhood's hour I have not been as others were; I have not seen as others saw; I could not bring My passions from a common spring' Poe acknowledges that his childhood was different from those of his peers, in that he never had the chance to have a relationship with his parents as ot...