Edgar Allan Poe, also known as Allen Rufus Poe, was an American Poe enthusiast who also had a knack for writing and editing short stories and poems. It was said that he often worked in the afternoons after his daily newspaper work when he could not get any work done because of his intense love of word puzzles. Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous work, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Some consider it to be more appropriate for children than for adults, but it is still widely read and enjoyed by people of all ages.
In 1849, a tragic event caused Edgar Allen Poe to stop composing, and although he never stopped working on his writings, it was only for a short time. It was not until the death of his first wife, nurse, and friend, Martha Bisbee, that he was inspired to write his amazing tales about the strange and macabre side of human life. During this period of mourning and grief, Poe had begun to focus more upon the darker side of life, especially the death of a loved one. It was during this time that he would compile several novelette collections that are now considered to be among his finest pieces of writing. Among these were “The Coddle Shop,” “The Dead Dove,” and “The Dance of the Broom.”
Although it is unclear how long before he died he actually died, it is certain that he was very unhappy about being dead. His unfinished work was burned into the back of his headstone at the gravesite in Boston cemetery. Many of the stories that Edgar Allen Poe wrote while in this condition are now well known, even though some of them were not originally written by the poet himself. Two of his most famous works “A Descent into the Muddy Blue Mountains” and “The Pit and the Pendulum” are the only two poems he ever wrote while in this state of depression. He ended up writing many more poems that would be his trademarks, including the classic “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
