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As mentioned in the biography, Poe chose a very bad time to start trying to live on writing alone. Not only did many publishers pirate British works, the Panic of 1837 also caused many publishers to either pay the authors late or worse, not even pay the authors at all. Because of this, Poe had to beg for money from friends and relatives. As a side note, he also accused Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism. Longfellow never responded to his accusations.
The bad economy wasn't the only obstacle Poe had to deal with. His wife Virginia died of tuberculosis. While she was ill, Poe drank heavily. And even though he managed to strike fame with "The Raven", he was only paid $9 for its publication. Many of Poe's poems were about beautiful women who died or otherwise just walked out of the narrator's life. This happened to Poe a lot of times. First, he had a sweetheart when he enlisted at West Point; but she married someone else. Then Virginia died. Then he tried to court another woman; but her mother stepped in. Finally, he resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart.
Tuberculosis was also rather significant. During the 19th century, tuberculosis was one of the primary killers in the world. TB victims were typically thought to be vampires because when they died, their family members would slowly die, too, as if they were sucking the life force from their families. The New England Vampire Panic was happening during Poe's times, before antibiotics were discovered; it wasn't even named tuberculosis until 1839 (it was called consumption before that). In 1815, 1 in 4 deaths in England were caused by TB.
The bad economy wasn't the only obstacle Poe had to deal with. His wife Virginia died of tuberculosis. While she was ill, Poe drank heavily. And even though he managed to strike fame with "The Raven", he was only paid $9 for its publication. Many of Poe's poems were about beautiful women who died or otherwise just walked out of the narrator's life. This happened to Poe a lot of times. First, he had a sweetheart when he enlisted at West Point; but she married someone else. Then Virginia died. Then he tried to court another woman; but her mother stepped in. Finally, he resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart.
Tuberculosis was also rather significant. During the 19th century, tuberculosis was one of the primary killers in the world. TB victims were typically thought to be vampires because when they died, their family members would slowly die, too, as if they were sucking the life force from their families. The New England Vampire Panic was happening during Poe's times, before antibiotics were discovered; it wasn't even named tuberculosis until 1839 (it was called consumption before that). In 1815, 1 in 4 deaths in England were caused by TB.