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Edgar Allan Poe's Impact on American Literature

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Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential writers of the horror genre in American history. His horror stories have impacted numerous authors and their stories over the years. Various people have tried to copy his way of writing style, but they have failed to achieve the success he did. Even though Poe is no longer living, his impact on American literature can still be felt today. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. Even though Edgar Allan Poe did not grow up around his biological parents, his parents were both actors. “His father left the family early on, and his mother passed away when he was only three.” (“Biography”) Since Poe did not have any parents around, he went to live with John and …show more content…

King has this to say about Poe's works, “He wasn't just a mystery/suspense writer,” adds the author many fans would describe as the modern Poe, Stephen King. “He was the first” (Hockensmith). Poe's detective fiction or mystery fiction can best be felt in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is one of the best knows detectives in the history of literature. His fame can be spotted in the books that have been written and the movies that have been produced about Holmes. Poe's works were able to influence the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he based the character of Sherlock Holmes off of one of Poe's characters whose name was Dupin who was used in the mystery story The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The similarities between the two characters are quite grand. “Both are solitary men who prefer to live quietly in either isolation or in the company of one close companion.”(“Nineteenth Century Influenced Poe”). Both men also tend to shift to the bottom of their mysteries without a large amount of clues that other detective writers appear to have in their stories. The impact that Poe has had on authors and stories cannot be matched. His stories have provided a model for future authors to use, in the hope of growing the notoriety of mystery fiction or the horror genre. Poe's writing was able to captivate people, as stated above, but Poe was also able to reach a plethora of authors that lived in the South. “The life of

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