The romantic period in american literature had taken place in 1830 and lasted until 1865. This was a time of extreme growth and expansion in the United States that supported imagination and individualism in literature. When we think about stories that are titled 'romantic' we think about love stories and intimate romance novels, but that is not what they are talking about in the American Romantic Period. Edgar Allan Poe was an american poet considered a part of the American Romantic Movement that seemed to carry a message of gothic literature and romanticism in his works. His body of work, which included stories, tales, and poems, is filled with many different qualities and characteristics. Poe's example of romanticism was very similar to his life, but most of his works often focused on what was later called the gothic genre. The gothic genre focused on darkness, death, isolation and caution either in the behavior of one person toward another or within an individual's own selfhood (poemuseum.org). As Poe put the scientifically proven facts into the basis of the work, he eventually created outstanding poems and short stories which later influenced other authors and trends in literature. Edgar was the inventor of the detective fiction genre and also famous for his poetry like "The Raven", and short stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart". He was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic and was better known for his tales of mystery and horror.
Poe had a life that was full of depression. This being said, his depressing life helped with his inspirations for his dark stories. When he was born on January 19, 1809, he was separated from his parents and siblings at birth. After this, he went on to watch the rest of his family die around him. Throughout his early life at the age of eighteen, he enlisted into the army. In 1830, at the age of twenty-one, Edgar Allan entered as a cadet at West Point.