Can learning about an author’s life and experiences give you a deeper understanding of his characters, perspective, and purpose?
What was the first tragic event in Poe’s life, and what was unusual about the woman he married? How did these events and others influence Poe’s life? You will find the answers to these questions and learn many other fascinating facts during this activity.
- Collect information from the Knowing Poe Interactive Timeline (click here) and record notes on the sheet provided .
- Read through the notes you’ve taken and consider the following questions:
- What was Poe’s life like?
- How might the events of his life influenced his writing?
- Now answer the questions on the back to make connectections between the facts and how they relate to Poe’s life and writing.
Q1: The first tragic event was Edgar’s mom dying when he was 2 because she was his actual mom and she died when he was at a very young age.
Q2: The unusual thing about his marriage was that his wife was his cousin. I know they could marry their relatives, but if Edgar and his cousins had kids then the kids would be his cousin.
Q3: I think his life influenced his writing because he had a sad and rough life. When he wrote the raven it was talking about a girl died. So I have not any others but I am guessing Edgar has written most of his poems about someone or something dying.
Q4: Poe’s life was pretty rough. His mom died when he was 2. his dad died when he was a couple days after her. His adopted mom died when he was 20. His adopted dad died when he was 25 and he was very rich ,but he didn’t leave him any money.