Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential writers in the history of Western literature, whose work has largely defined the genre of American Gothic. His compelling, often disturbing writing incorporates several Romantic attitudes, as well as the idea of the sublime. The concept of the sublime, that being a term for whatever excites the ideas of pain and danger, is widely present in his fiction. Sublime’s exploration of the darkest sides of the human soul and psyche has contributed greatly to the development of the horror genre. Poe’s depiction of some of the major ideas of Romanticism is another noticeable feature of his writing. Subjectivity and emphasis on individualism, romanticized solitude put in the spotlight, and the belief that imagination is superior to reason are some of the Romantic ideas represented in Poe’s characters. Life Overview Edgar Allan Poe is an American poet, prosaist, and literary critic. Born into a Boston family of actors at the beginning of the 19 th century, he became an orphan at a young age and was taken in by a successful merchant household. Throughout his life, Poe went through the conflict with his adoptive father, military service, his brother’s death, and a long period of financial struggle. Despite ending up becoming one of the genre-defining writers for horror and gothic literature, Poe was forced to beg for monetary assistance throughout his life. His writing career coincided with a difficult period in the American publishing industry that, at the time, was regularly undercompensating its authors (Safner 15). The writer’s life and work alike were impacted by his depression and other mental illnesses that aided him in the detailed depiction of disruptive, maladaptive thoughts (Dean and Boyd 490). Poe’s death was mysterious and rather painful: on October 7 th , 1849, he passed away after a prolonged delirium fit, fearing whatever awaited him in the afterlife. Work and the Four Genres The four genres Poe has worked in are science fiction, horror fiction, adventure fiction, and detective fiction: a form of literature he is frequently credited with inventing. His horror fiction works are characterized by the wide usage of the sublime, as mentioned above. They frequently incorporate such themes as mental disorders, body horror, and unexpected, uncontrolled violence or fear (Dean and Boyd, 483). His works in science fiction and adventure fiction generally tended to appease the mass market, as much of the writer’s career was dedicated to commercial writing. The detective genre, however, presents an interesting case, as Poe’s short story The Murders in The Rue Morgue is believed to be the first of its kind. Its narrative focuses on the investigation of the brutal murder of the two women, whose case presents a seemingly unsolvable mystery. The story’s protagonist, an amateur detective, finds a murderer – a giant ape – while the police forces are helpless: a plot device that later becomes emblematic for the genre. Introspective Narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” The Tell-Tale Heart is the story of a man who decides to confess his crimes after committing a murder due to being tormented by his own internal guilt. It is a clear example of the illustrative narrator in fiction