A MISUNDERSTOOD GENIUS

A prominent writer turned his life tragedies into a work of art. His pen was a magic wand that portrayed a disastrous world. This writer was Edgar Allan Poe, who has been regarded as one of the greatest literary artist of the last centuries. "The doomed poet" left us a sadistic taste through his book, Tales of Mystery and Imagination.

In his stories were revealed a morbid world created with narcotic inspiration. This morbid world was created with one important ingredient: a deep sensibility. This feature of Poe's character was exacerbated by the effects of opium and alcohol. The author mentioned the stimulant in one of his short stories below:

In beauty of face no maiden ever equaled her. It was the radiance of an opium dream- and airy and spirit lifting vision more wildly divine than the phantasies which hovered vision about the slambering souls of the daughters of Delos. 1

In this fragment, he saw the beauty of his lover as a hallucinogenic portrait. Her beauty was as exciting as to be drugged. Also, it mentioned opium as hallucinogenic element.

Alcohol was an inspirational poison as well. Together with, it created a perfect combination to produce a lot of exciting stories and poems. Alcohol was the other element mentioned by the author who admitted his addiction to it. Poe wrote, "But my disease grew upon me- for what disease is like Alcohol!- and at lenght even Pluto, who was now becoming old and consequently somewhat peevish- even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper". 2

Both addictions changed his mental perception, and put him in a highly inspirational condition as semi unconsciousness, in which the words may have flowed easily and quickly.

Poe said the following about his addictions:

I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has no been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of strang impending doom. 3

Regarding this quote, Poe used stimulants in order to escape from hard experiences, to evade his loneliness. But he did not seem to notice that his addictions were the source of inspiration to compose high quality creations, due to their effects on his consciousness.

Death was one of the topics mentioned most. His life involved the loss of loved ones such as his mother and wife. Both women passed away due to tuberculosis. This fact somehow may have contributed and provided the foundation fo his works. However, death also symbolizes the loss of expectations, illusions, uprooting of a classist society, the passing of stages, and the wish of freedom for his soul. Poe wrote the following:

There are two bodies- the rudimental and the complete; corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we call "death", is but the painful metamorphosis. Oour present incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary. Our future is perfected, ultimate, immortal.
The ultimate life is the full design. 4

In Poe's murder stories, homicide required animalistic elements. Animals killed, they died, and informed crimes committed among men. For instance, these animals were: a cat, a dog, a bug, horses and an orangutan. Some of them had an esoteric and sinister connotation: the cat. All the animals has something to reveal; of course, with human being's help. They were special characters that acted in the story to fulfill certain purposes.

Other elements included madness, heart, eyes. The heart represents "feeling" or "emotion" and the physical "pump" of the body. The eyes represent the window of the soul as well.

Most of his stories were recharged with a gothic style, a dark atmosphere in a cruel and mournful world. Poe's works have become an important legacy for the American Literature of the nineteenth century. He was the pioneer creator of detective stories. Edgar A. Poe with all his madness, brilliant imagination, addictions and chaotic life encouraged himself to write, to depict his own pains, which made him after his death, the most popular writer throughout the centuries.

1.Edgar Allan Poe, "Ligeia", 24 Nov.2008, 17 Jun 2010 http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/ligeiaa.htm

2.Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat",17 Jun 2010 http://www.online-literature.com/poe/24>

3.Edgar Allan Poe, 17 Jun 2010 http://goodreads.com/quotes/search?q=poe&commit=find+quotes

4.Edgar Allan Poe, "The Mesmeric Revelation", 17 Jun2010 http://poestories.com/read/mesmeric