Edgar Allan Poe

What does 'being a hero' mean to you? To me, it means making a self-sacrifice and being brave in the process. If they didn't make a self-sacrifice, to me they're not a full hero, and may even be an evil person. I think that Edgar Allan Poe is a hero. I feel that he's a hero to me because he made a sacrifice--to publish his writing even though he was not treated as a good writer and was in a bad situation. He also was brave throughout that bad situation. In this essay I will prove that Edgar was a hero because he made a self-sacrifice and was brave throughout the entirety of his life.

Poe lived from 1809 to 1849. He lived in Baltimore for a while, but spent the last years of his life in New York. Poe was trying to help himself - meaning he was trying to make a living after being in debt from college and being kicked out of the house. He had gotten into debt, gambling in college, and had gotten kicked out of the house during a fight over said debt. He couldn't find work and needed money. His actions were important because he became one of the most respected and praised authors of his time, but not until his death did he become such. To this day he still is respected and admired.

http://www.poemuseum.org/poes_life/index.html

I am going to focus on when Poe first started publishing his work, and those first REAL works that we still recognize today. He had to be brave to publish his works, as he could have been rejected. He also had to make a self-sacrifice in order to start writing--joining the army. After he got kicked out of college, he started writing and soon after, published Tamerlane and Other Poems. Then, he published a second compilation, titled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Neither of those works got any attention or recognition, so he tried again. He started publishing short stories, which, today, are known worldwide. Not much of an impact was made through the above events when they occurred, however, impacts have been made in people today, turned onto his works. The only major impact made during the time of the events was on Poe's life, considering he was the one who made the events happen. A quote from him can summarize the impact, "I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity."

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/130
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edgar_allan_poe.html

I am going to focus on what began after his short stories were published. Again, he had to be brave to publish his works, and this time, he had to accept the fact he just wasn't being recognized and fix that problem. After his stories were published (they were in magazines), he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, in Richmond, and brought his aunt and his cousin (he was living with them) along. Then, over the next 10 years, he edited a large amount of magazines, including the Broadway Journal. During this time, be began publishing some of his more widely known stories. His work had a large impact on American writing, even making him the originator of horror and detective stories. Another quote from him sums up the other impact, "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/130
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edgar_allan_poe.html

Poe left behind an imprint on the world of his stories, and his establishing of the horror and detective genre. All of the world knows about him, and his many stories and poems. A particularly well known one would be The Raven. Also, others would know about his works and possibly use him as an inspiration and begin writing, themselves. He was a hero in the fact that he was in a bad situation(depression) and battled with it and tried to make the best of it until the end. I think he would tell people today some things about depression, and to not go down that path, and to try and make the best of it. He also might tell kids to not get into alcohol, as he and his father were alcoholics. Poe would also tell kids about how lucky they are to be living how they are today. I know I would tell them the same things if I were in the same situations as him.