Poe’s Obsession: Death & Insanity

By: Eric Tereo

Edgar Allan Poe’s mind was one of

great mystery and taboo.

Nevertheless, he was an inspiration

and an icon of interest for many

throughout the realm of literature.

Death was no stranger to Poe. From an early age

it haunted him with the deaths of very close family

members. It continued to stalk him, taking the life

of his wife, Virginia Clemm.

This had a large negative impact on

Poe. He vented many of his emotions

through his literature.

Edgar Allan Poe’s work included short

stories, poetry, fiction, plays, and essays; with insanity

evident in all.

In “The Fall of The House of Usher”,

Poe used insanity as a plot mover.

Poe believe that a death of a young woman was

one of the most poetic things to write about.

Poe uses death as well as insanity as characteristics

of different plots, settings, and character traits.

The style and content of Poe’s literature has

sparked an interest of psychological analysis of

his writings and the writings of other authors.

“The Raven” is a perfect

example of Poe involving death

as well as insanity in one

beautiful, but disturbing piece

of literature.

Poe implemented insanity by

having the character driven mad

from the raven’s responses to

him, and death was him

longing over his lost Lenore.

“The Black Cat”, in addition to “The Raven”, was another

example of one of Poe’s characters being driven to the point

of insanity with an obsession to one of the his creatures.

Edgar Allan Poe

The father of American Gothic Literature.