Barn Burning

with an unusual theme: the attempts of a group of wealthy people

to insulate themselves from the plague by shutting themselves up

in a mansion and throwing a ball. Although Poe was never to write

another story precisely like this one, his work throughout his

lifetime dealt with the theme of morbidity and death. Recently

some critics, notably Kenneth Silverman, have postulated that the

source of this morbid imagination may have been the loss of so

many of Poe's relatives and loved ones. His short stories and

poetry can thus be seen as a process of working through his grief

by playing up its morbid aspects. This process can be seen in

Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809, in Boston, the

son of actors in a traveling company. After the death of his

parents when he was two (although some sources, including

Silverman, say three), Poe was taken in as a sort of "foster

child" by John Allan, a tobacco merchant in Richmond, VA.

Our first clue that Poe had a somewhat abnormal interest in

death occurred when he was yet a child; he enjoyed playing

practical jokes, dressing as a ghost or a corpse and frightening

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
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