Theme Of Depression In Edgar Allan Poe

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is still famous to this day. Not only his writing, but his life. He is known for having a difficult life and writing about it. Through all his poems and short stories there are little hints everywhere that relate to his life. Depression, insanity and tuberculosis were all common topics of Poe’s writing that related to his life. Throughout many of Poe’s poems and short stories such as, The Raven or The Black Cat, depression or sorrow was a recurring topic. First of all, in The Raven the narrator is speaking to the Raven begging for an afterlife, hoping to see those he loved once again. However, all the Raven says is “Nevermore.” Telling him, he will never see them again. In his life, Poe was always missing the ones he loved such as his mother, his foster mother and his wife, Virginia. He was always hoping that there was an afterlife, so he could see them again. Depression and sorrow were also represented in The Black Cat. In The Black Cat the narrator was always drinking to get away from his “disease.” “But my disease grew upon me-for what disease is like alcohol?” He would drink to forget about those who had passed and the little money he had to support even just himself. The depression and sorrow that occurred in Poe’s life was well symbolized in many of his poems and short stories. Some would say Poe was insane or mad. For example, when his mother died he was only three but it grew on