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Edgar Allan Poe's life in "The Black Cat" & "The Raven"

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Examine "The Black Cat" & "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. What connections can you draw between the author's life and the themes presented in their work?

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This solution offers a brief analysis of how the life of Edgar Allan Poe permeates his two of his writings, "The Black Cat" & "The Raven." References are also integrated.

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As you briefly validate some possible connections between the author's life and the literary themes, tones, settings, characters, and plot events presented in Edgar Allan Poe's"The Black Cat," many critics clearly deem the narrator in this text as analogous to Poe himself.

One source offers insights:

Piacentino, Ed. "Poe's "The Black Cat" As Psychobiography: Some Reflections On The Narratological Dynamics." Studies In Short Fiction 35.2 (1998): 153. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.

For example, the author strongly insists that Poe's alleged and "....preferred love for animals over people" (153) permeates this piece, its content, and thematic implications overall.

When looking at some character parallels, the story's narrator sadly suffers from delusions and denials, which Poe and his irrational mind also exhibited in his own real life, too.

The author further contends that in Poe's life, he often sought affection and love from creatures since humans often alienated him, just like the narrator's rejection of his childhood friends in "The Black Cat."

Another parallel seems to be that when Poe returned to Richmond after his University of Virginia hiatus, he accrued substantial debts and felt totally detested by his notoriety. We see these themes of anger and abasement and revenge resonate throughout this story as well.

In a classic literary review, this article also comments on autobiographical hints within this story:
Bonaparte, Marie. "'The Black Cat.'" Partisan Review 17 (1950): 834-60.

In sum, Bonaparte overtly labels the narrator "...as an autobiographical reflection of Poe himself" (834).

Another source assesses further connections:

Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Silverman clearly informs how when Poe was a ...

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