Edgar Allan Poe's macabre influenced stories disrupt the everyday flow of the human psyche. Prime examples of Poe's sadistic style of writing can be found in the short stories entitled, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado." The two stories taunt the senses with descriptions of gruesome brutality in places the worst nightmares could take the mind. Even though Poe immerses both stories with dark romantic gloom through his graphic sensory images, the subject of each story contrasts in many ways.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar Allan Poe's tumultuous childhood can be seen as the source of his dark and devious writing. At the age of two Poe's mother Elizabeth Arnold Poe died. Poe was then taken in by John Allan, a tobacco-merchant, who barely helped struggling Poe. John Allan failed to give Poe enough money for any expenses Poe had. John Allan even went to the extent to not allowing Poe to attend his second term at the University of Virginia (Wilson, James 1). His strenuously warped childhood is reflected in many of his greatest works. .
Poe published his first volume of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in Boston after all ties were broken with his stepfather John Allan. While living in Boston, Poe decided to enlist in the Army in hopes of attending West Point, with no money or shelter Poe's frustration got himself released from the academy in 1831. With nothing in Poe's favor he decided to enhance his writing career. "The Fall of the House of Usher," which first appeared in "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine" in September 1839, was reprinted in Poe's books of 1840 and 1845. In 1840 he released Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and .
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Arabesque, and in 1845 he released "The Raven" which gave Poe most of his fame. In 1846 is when Poe released "The Cask of Amontillado" in Godey's Lady Book. The same year his wife died, his Broadway Journal failed to sell, and Poe became very ill.