page_title: William Wilson (short story)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: William Wilson (short story) / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: The towers and spires of St Mary's old (left) and new (right) parish churches, Church Street, Stoke Newington, London N16, seen from the north
context_page_description: "William Wilson" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839, with a setting inspired by Poe's formative years on the outskirts of London. The tale follows the theme of the doppelgänger and is written in a style based on rationality. It also appeared in the 1840 collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, and has been adapted several times.
context_section_description: The setting of "William Wilson" is semi-autobiographical and relates to Poe's residence in England as a boy. The "misty-looking village of England" of the story is Stoke Newington, now a suburb of north London.  The school is based on the Manor House School in Stoke Newington which Poe attended from 1817 to 1820. Poe's headmaster there, the Reverend John Bransby, shares the same name as the headmaster in the story, though, in the latter, he acquires the dignity of being a "Doctor".  This school has since been demolished. The church mentioned in the story is based on St Mary's "Old" Church, the original parish church of Stoke Newington. This building is still extant. In Poe's story the church is described to have a Gothic spire. The spire, however, was only added to the church in 1829 some nine years after Poe had left the school.
  Additionally, Poe acknowledged that the idea of a story about the irritation one feels by meeting someone with the same name, thereby ruining a feeling of uniqueness, was inspired by Washington Irving's "An Unwritten Drama of Lord Byron". At the end of Irving's tale, the main character kills his double with his sword, only to see his own face behind the mask.
caption: Stoke Newington retains two parish churches: St Mary's Old Church (left) and New Church (right)
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