Edgar Allan Poe

Recently enjoyed the recent American Masters from PBS

episode which featured Edgar Allan Poe. Reminded me of a childhood obsession with Poe, his life as well as his poems and stories. Poe was a vital creative force whose own demons kept him from success. Hammered by debt all his life, whenever he achieved even a taste of fame and fortune, unwise decisions, sometimes based on his own arrogance, often caused his downfall. His talent cannot be denied - he was an absurdly brilliant wordsmith and even developed the modern detective mystery story as we know it  - he was often jealous of competitors and his background as a literary critic allowed him to lash out at colleagues of his time, even the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and others because he coveted their success and the public's respect of their literary achievements. But his work endures. though primarily known for his horror and fantasy themed work  - of which he only produced 12 out of hundreds of other writings - the masters' darker art sticks in the mind like a viscous spider's web.