Edgar Allan Poe is an acclaimed American-born writer and poet, best known for his macabre and chilling short stories and poems such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher. Born in 1809, his legacy still continues today as he changes the modern literary arts of horror, adventure, detective, and science fiction (Kipen, 2009). With his exceptional skill in writing, Poe has composed many remarkable works with brilliance that have been approved by many literary critics and thus has generated countless amount of admirers throughout the generations.
Other than the dark and suspenseful quality of his plots, Poe’s eccentricity in writing is also captured by his fictional characters. They usually show particular characteristics of psychological impairment while the story revolves around their minds and behaviors; further exposing the peculiar nature of a complex human psyche. Such ability in portraying psychologically challenged characters, which he so consistently manifests throughout his works, depends heavily on his own psychological condition. Poe’s continuous struggle against poverty and drinking problems, numerous suicide attempts, along with his mysterious characteristic and lack of social interaction, has incited many experts to accordingly propose various theories concerning Poe’s mental health. Kay Redfield Jamison is one of the examples, alleging that Poe is in fact suffering from a bipolar and manic-depressive syndrome (Canada, 1997). |