It was not till after his military career Poe starting to become a successful writer. In 1840 Poe published a collection of his first twenty-five stories, called Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (World Book). Even after this collection failed to sell or gain recognition, Poe kept his daily routine of working on literature. In 1843 Poe published one his greatest works, "The Tell-Tale Heart- (Encarta). Yet it was the poem, "Raven- that brought Poe the most recognition and finally provided him a spot among America's greatest writers. .
Virginia Clemm Poe's wife died in 1847 of tuberculosis and in doing so shattered his heart again (World Book). Virginia s death had affected Poe much more than any other loss had up to this point in his life. Poe was once quoted saying: .
"Each time I felt all the agonies of her death "and at each accession of the disorder I loved her more dearly and clung to her life with more desperate pertinacity. But I am constitutionally sensitive "nervous in a very unusual degree. During these fits of absolute unconsciously I drank, God only knows how often or how much."" (Buranelli 38) .
Despite the overwhelming pain that Poe felt, do to the death of his wife he was still able to find relief. Poe belied death should not be feared, but instead it should be sought (Quinn 137). For Poe when Virginia died she escaped the curse of life. Poe met up with his former sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster and became engaged shortly there after. Just days before Poe's wedding, he made a stop in Baltimore and just disappeared. On October 3rd, 1849, Poe was found lying in a side street anesthetized (World Book). Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7th, 1849 (Britannica). The cause of his death has remained a mystery. .
All of Poe's works have a link to his own life's stories and the events that transpired in it. Sometime in Poe life he learned that a good story possesses real life events and those events are what gave his stories such strong emotions.
