Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 1813 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 6

Bottle

Biographical Context

Edgar Allan Poe did not have a happy childhood or life. The torment that he faced in his lifetime is reflected in his works. His father (David Poe Jr.) had abandoned the family when he was just 2 years old and his mother died soon after. He was placed in the care of a childless couple, John and Frances Allan, who doted on him but he was never legally adopted. He was to lament the loss of his parents by remarking, "The want of parental affection has been the heaviest of my trials." (Poe "Letter to Judge Beverly Tucker.")

The situation at the time that he wrote "MS. Message in a Bottle" at the age of 24 in 1933 was no different. Before that age, Poe had already gone through much in his life. He had been an unpopular figure at school, often taunted as son of actors (which was considered to be a disreputable profession at the time) and an un-adopted son. ("Poe's Life and Works") He had been alienated from his stepfather when he ran up huge gambling debts while at college that his stepfather refused to pay. A woman, mother of a classmate whom he had looked upon as his idealized mother died when he was 15 years old and Poe suffered an extended period of psychological depression. Poe courted a fifteen-year-old woman named Sarah Elmira Royster who got engaged to someone else. His stepmother died in 1829 to make matters worse for Poe.

After leaving college in 1827 following the gambling debts episode, Poe went back to the city of his birth, Boston, where he wrote the first poems under the pseudonym of Henri Le Rennet. He joined the army at the age of eighteen under the fictitious name of Edgar A. Perry and while still in the Army had his first volume of verses, Tamerlane and Other Poems, published. He entered West Point in July 1830, but was dismissed from West Point in March 1831 for drinking heavily and deliberately neglecting his duties. Poe then started to stay in Baltimore with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her young daughter Virginia Clemm who later became his wife. Shortly afterwards he published a slim volume of romantic poems but failed to attract much attention.

Stuck Writing Your "Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

During this time Poe applied repeatedly for editorial and teaching positions, but was unsuccessful in his effort to gain regular employment. (Ibid.)

In 1831, adjusting himself to the changing taste of the reading public he tried his hand at humorous and satirical prose. In 1833 Poe got his first literary break of sorts when he wrote a serious short story called "MS Found in a Bottle" (the first of his sea tales) and won a prize of $100 offered by a Baltimore periodical for the best prose story. This brought him to the notice of the literary world and landed him a job as a staff member of Southern Literary Messenger. (Ibid.)

Part 2: Composition and Publication

MS. Found in a Bottle" was first published in the Baltimore Saturday Visitor on Oct. 19, 1833. The story was published on the front page of the newspaper as the prize-winning tale of a contest sponsored by the newspaper. ("MS Found in a Bottle")

This prize-winning tale was published again in the December 1835 issue of The Southern Literary Messenger. At the time Poe was working on the staff of The Southern Literary Messenger and got the opportunity to publish many of his poems, tales and much of his literary criticism that were full of his unique sarcasm, wit, and exposure of literary pretension.

In 1836 and 1840, "M.S. Found in a Bottle" once again appeared in The Southern Literary Messenger titled "From the Gift." The story was edited by a certain Miss Leslie but the text showed few differences from the original. "M.S. found in a Bottle" was also published in Broadway Journal in 1845. (Ibid.)

The tale was appropriate for the time, as apart from exploring a new direction in the genre of short story writing, it was a 'sea tale.' Long distance travel in the nineteenth century was almost exclusively by sea and the mysteries of the ocean had not yet been fully explored. The tale is, however, not dated and has withstood the test of time. It is still read and analyzed today just as it had caught the eye of the literary judges who considered it worthy of a prize when it was first offered for publication more.....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did" (2002, November 04) Retrieved May 19, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/bottle-biographical-context-edgar-allan-137973

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did" 04 November 2002. Web.19 May. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/bottle-biographical-context-edgar-allan-137973>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Bottle Biographical Context Edgar Allan Poe Did", 04 November 2002, Accessed.19 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/bottle-biographical-context-edgar-allan-137973
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example