The Line

We have all heard the saying there is a fine between genius and insanity. Those who walk on this preverbal line are forever immortalized as the brilliant thinker or as the quack philosopher. The jury still isn’t out on Poe but today we will all come to our own opinion of what Poe really was. Edger Allen Poe was born January 19th of 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts Son of actress Eliza Poe and actor David Poe Jr. His mother Eliza died and his father also died/disappeared. Leaving Poe to be adopted by John and Fanny Allan in. Edgar worked very hard to write. He drank often. And in 1836 He married his cousin, Virginia Clemm. She was 14 years old. Virginia, his young wife, dies Poe gets involved with a few other women, but does not stay sober or successful long enough to please them. Poe’s writing are writing of ominous and gothic storylines. This can be seen as fore shadowing of his life. An example of this is the poem “Ligeia” which can be interpreted as a story of the death of his wife. Themes and symbols of his stories are Love and Hate, Self vs. Alter Ego, The Power of the Dead over the Living, and Eyes serve as window to the soul. To quote William Shakespeare Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Some people believe Poe to have had greatness thrust upon him. Due to his chronic alcohol addiction critics argue that the under toning themes, motifs, and symbols of Poe's writings are by happenstance more so than Poe coming up with the creative and complex under toning. All in all I believe the man was great because there not enough luck in the world to produce the themes, motifs, and symbols exemplified in Poe’s writings. Now it’s your turn genius or insanity.