Poe has that indescribable something which men have agreed to call genius." This is how James Russell Lowell described Poe (Poe's Problematic Biography). Edgar Allen Poe was one of the great American authors ever; his work was ground breaking and that is why he is still famous today. Poe sets the standard for horror writing because of his creative style and crazy ideas (Wilson, James). Poe was definitely born with a natural talent for writing horror, but there were many other factors that affected his writing. One very important thing that had a big impact on Poe's ability to write such gloomy and scary stories and poems was his own life experiences; his life gave him more inspiration for his work in literature. Poe's life experiences are one of the factors that made his writing so authentic and successful today.
Poe had a very hard childhood; he experienced death, hardship, and unhappiness. Poe's father abandoned his family shortly after he was born, and he watched his mother die a year later. This must have been a very troubling thing even for such a young child to go through. Experiencing death first hand at such a young age must have left some lasting impression on him, some sort of fascination with death. This almost certainly affected his work. You can see this in many of his works such as "The Cask of Amantiladio." This is my favorite of all Poe's work I have read. It's such a scary situation. Poe had a special talent for thinking of terrifying situations; this came in part from his life I think. After his mother's death the Allen family took him in. Young Poe's life took another rough turn after he and his stepfather quarreled and his father refused to pay for Poe's college and broke off Poe's engagement to Sarah Elmira Royster, his Richmond sweetheart (Regan, Robert). After a series of events, Poe with the help of his stepfather enrolled at WestPoint. But within a year he was discharged, after this Poe and his father became estranged (Wilson, James).