In this essay I will discus the life of Poe and how it impacted his work. I will explore several stages of his life and discuss their significance. Also I will try and link if anything substantial happen in his life at the time of a particular writing a piece. The works I will explore are "The Raven", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Man of the Crowd".
             Poe's life was struck with tragedy extremely early in his life. Edgar was born into a family of actors in Boston in 1809. Suddenly in July of 1810, David Poe, Edgar's father, vanished abandoning his family. During December 1810 Elizabeth Poe gave birth to Rosalie, his sister. Edgar was again struck with tragedy a year later. On December 8th 1811 he watched as his mother become ill and slowly die. Edgar and his sister Rosalie were then separated and taken in by different families. Rosalie was brought into the Mackenzies family and Edgar to the Allan's.
             "The closest being in his childhood world and the source of all the security and tenderness he had ever known, Edgar found himself among strangers... Even Rosalie, his only companion, had been taken from him."(Winwar 26)
             In 1815, Mr. Allan, his wife, and Edgar sailed for England on a business venture. This was meant to be a short stay but lasted for five years. Edgar got a taste of his birth mother's land. Poe spent his 8th through his 13th years at the Manor House School. Inside, it was a labyrinth of corridors with unexpected,
             shallow flights of stairs from one room to another. To a small boy, even finding his dormitory was a journey of mystery. The school may have been reproduced in some of the darkly romantic houses of Poe's later stories. Edgar took much from this school and put it into his writings. "Dr. Bransby, his teacher and the ancient Manor House School imbedded themselves so deeply in his ductile memory that they were enshr...