Autobiographical elements in the works of Edgar Allan Poe

        'There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportions' (Biography on Poe 8). Edgar Alan Poe endured a very difficult life and this is evident in his literary style. He was once titled the 'master of the macabre.' One of the aspects in his life with which he struggled was social isolation. He used this as a topic in a number of poems and short stories. Poe's life was also filled with periods …

…Allan Poe's difficult life was reflected in almost every work that ever left his pen. His collection portrayed encounters of social isolation, periods of fear and irrationality, and extreme bouts with alcoholism. His obsession with the subject of death, particularly the death of a beautiful woman, was expressed in a majority of his works. 'The one thing certain is that no American writer of Poe's distinction ever died a more lonely or pathetic death' (Poulter 3).