Poe's life was tortured by many different vices, one of these being disease which haunted Poe's life for all his life. Tuberculosis, which was called Consumption in his time, took the lives of more than one woman in his life whom he was very close to. His mother, his foster mother, and even Virginia all fell victim to this dreaded disease. It fell especially hard on Poe when Virginia passed away because of the enormous effort he put into keeping her alive. Although working very hard, he could had a hard time keeping a roof over her head, food for her to eat, or even a fire to keep her warm. In fact, there was one point where he placed their cat on her chest to try to keep her warmer. .
All of Poe's life, he loved women. It seemed to him that women were in a sense the saviors of him. He never had ill words to say about women. In fact, once his wife Virginia died, his life seemed to come apart at the seams. He would go to her grave at night and mourn for her for hours on end. It was a terrible loss for Poe.
Literally, while Virginia lay dying in the other room, Poe was writing "The Raven" in regards to his current situation. In the poem, the main character was sitting in his chamber while thinking about his lost love named Lenore. Here is another place where Poe illustrates his love of women when he says "For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore." (11) He obviously holds her in very high esteem by saying that the angels themselves have named the woman that he longs for. As he sits, nearly asleep, he says that "suddenly, there came a tapping. / As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." (3-4) He goes to the door and opens it to find no one there. This could also be taken as a reflection of his life in the sense that he opens a door looking for someone and no one is there for him to find. "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing," (25) reflects again his inner thoughts.
