Masters of the Macabre
Masters of the Macabre Who are the two men responsible for the most popular horror stories to date? They are named the masters of horror; their lives separated by a century, with the words of one echoed by the other. Their lives were tumultuous at best, with personal experiences leading to the most bone-chilling stories ever written. Edgar Allan Poe did not have the perfect life. His mother and father were actors, a low-class profession at the time. Edgar’s father, David Poe, abandoned his wife and two young children after six weeks in New York. Shortly after David Poe left, Eliza Poe, Edgar’s mother, realized she was pregnant again. Eliza Poe worked very hard to support her three small children, but to no avail. The summer after her daughter was born, Eliza fell ill, and was unable to recover. Edgar was only three years old. The three children were separated and adopted into different families. Edgar was taken by the Allan family, but was never formally adopted, unlike his brother and sister. He felt that by not being adopted meant that John Allan did not care for him. Mrs. Allan, however, showed affection to Edgar, and attempted to give him the motherly love he desperately wanted. John Allan wanted Edgar to have the chance in school that he was never given. Edgar did very well in school, his gift being in languages. At the age of 14, Edgar began writing satire. While in school, Edgar became a member of the Richmond boys, the Junior Morgan Riflemen. Edgar took pride in his accomplishments with the Richmond boys because he finally felt connected to a family through his grandfather, David Poe, who had served as a General in the American Revolution. Edgar strived to excel at everything he did. The sense of loneliness he felt is common to orphans. He had the feeling that no one noticed or loved him, and he did everything in his power to change that. He wrote more because his classmates and teachers praised his writing, but John Allan considered it a frivolous undertaking. John Allan wanted Edgar to go into business, and expected Edgar to outgrow the writing phase. Edgar was accepted at the University of Virginia, but could not return after his freshman year. He had incurred massive gambling debts while at school, and blamed John Allan for the debt by not sending him enough money for books. John Allan had secured him a job to repay the debt, and, feeling the job was beneath him, Edgar quit and ran away to Boston. While in Boston, he published his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems. After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he reconciled with his foster father, who secured him an appointment at the U.S. Military Academy. His foster father permanently disowned him when he was kicked out of the academy after only a few months. Now penniless and feeling completely abandoned, Edgar moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt and then 11-year-old cousin. While living in Baltimore, Edgar started working as an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. When his cousin, Virginia, was 16, they were married. Edgar worked at various editing jobs, the marriage made difficult because of Virginia’s long illness. After Virginia died in 1847, he fell ill. Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849; his contemporaries alluded to drug and alcohol addictions, which may have caused his early death. The other master of horror I alluded to is Stephen King.