ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Some have speculated that Poe’s family history of tuberculosis (his mother, his adoptive mother, his wife, and possibly his brother died of the disease) may have prompted him to write about a similar disease in Life in Death-a story about a painter and his dying wife, who incidentally resembled Poe’s wife (5).

Detailed explanation-2: -Early Life His father, David Poe was considered less talented. The Poes performed at theaters throughout the Eastern seaboard, from Boston to Virginia. In 1811, Elizabeth Poe died of tuberculosis in Richmond, Virginia, leaving orphaned Edgar, his infant sister Rosalie, and his older brother Henry.

Detailed explanation-3: -Virginia and Maria joined Edgar in Richmond in 1835. Edgar and Virginia were married in 1836. She was 13 years old and he was 27 years old. In 1842, Virginia became ill with tuberculosis.

Detailed explanation-4: -Poe suffered from recurrent depression, suggesting a bipolar disorder, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, which in fact led to his death from complications related to alcoholism. Various hypotheses were put forward, including Wernicke’s encephalopathy.

Detailed explanation-5: -Four months before the publication of the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” in Graham’s Magazine, Edgar Allan Poe’s wife contracted tuberculosis. While singing at the piano, nineteen-year-old Virginia began coughing up blood (Quinn 347-48; Silverman 178-81).