How did Poe's mother's death affect his writing?

-- Anonymous, January 12, 2004

Answers

Dim memories and a basic insecurity,her death at a time when he was too young to grieve. Maybe. Her tuberculosis symptoms were possibly reinforced by the death of his foster mother, Mrs. Allan, the death of Mrs. Stanard, his brother Henry and finally the tuberculosis of his wife, but Poe never made a direct connection. He was quite frank that the connection to his birth mother was remote and his attachments to later women often seemed in search of family replacement. His mother's beauty and artistry as singer and actress seem also a background more than a strong memory, her death in Boston providing some prophetic connection with Poe's life in that city. He mentioned that more as means of introducing himself(a Southerner)sympathetically.

Deep things are thus all guesswork. The singular fact of his orphaning and subsequent separations are more important and indirectly stem from his mother's early death. Had he been raised in the theater, fatherless perhaps, that might have made a huge difference, even in limiting his education. Speculation.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2004