Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
After winning a short story contest, Poe’s writing career picked up and he went
on to publish more short stories in literary journals and magazines. He also worked
as a critic for the Southern Literary Messenger and was notorious for his biting
reviews, earning him the nickname “Tomahawk Man.” His position as critic with
the magazine proved short-lived as his seething reviews often led to confrontation.
It is believed he was red after his boss found him drunk on the job. Over the
years, Poe had developed a liking to alcohol, eventually leading to a dependence
on liquor. This dependence evolved into full-blown alcoholism when Virginia fell
ill with tuberculosis in 1842. The very disease that killed his birth mother and later
his adoptive mother seemed insatiable, targeting the women Poe loved. It was
while his wife was sick that Poe wrote the famous poem for which he is known:
“The Raven” (1845).
“The Raven” skyrocketed Poe from infamous critic to famous poet. But the
literary recognition of his arguably most popular poem did not come with the
paycheck one would expect. He only received 9 from The American Review for it,
and Poe continued to struggle nancially for the rest of his life.
Debt and alcoholism weren’t the only demons haunting Poe. Death soon
darkened his door yet again. In 1947, Virginia lost her battle with tuberculosis,
devastating Poe. She was only 24 years old. After her death, Poe’s dependency
on substances grew until, in 1849, he died at the age of 40 under suspicious
circumstances. Some sources say he drank himself to death while others blame his
death on drugs or rabies. No one is certain how Poe died, and it remains a mystery
to this day, not unlike the gothic endings of some of his most celebrated works.
Poe may have beaten Death in the end; his works are still recognized as an
important part of the American Literature canon. Modern day readers have Poe
to thank for detective ction, a genre which some credit him for creating. Best
known for his evocative storytelling and his gothic style, Poe continues to inuence
writers across the centuries from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Stephen King, who
is quoted in a Mystery Scene magazine article as saying of Poe, “He wasn’t just a
mystery/suspense writer. He was the rst.”
4.16.1 “Sonnet—To Science”
(1829)
SCIENCE! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
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