Connor CroninMr.Beskin3 May 2014Poetry AnalysisThe City Under the SeaIn every piece of literature that Edgar Allan Poe wrote, the reader can quickly pick up on his gothic writing style. In his poem, “The City by the Sea” has no realistic setting but still a setting that quickly promotes a feeling of mystery and solitude. “The City in the Sea” was a revised version of his previous poem, “The Doomed City,” both of which give a feeling of death and loneliness. Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston. Both of his parents were traveling actors and were very poor. Edgar's father abandoned the family in 1811. When Poe was only 2 years old, his mother died of consumption, leaving Poe as an infant. A man named John Allan took Edgar to his home in Richmond, Virginia. John was a rich man. the Allan family moved to England where Poe attended an English private school in 1815. Then, after 5 years of living in London, the family returned to Virginia. While in the United States he suffered from a gambling addiction. He accumulated so much debt that his father left him again. Once again Poe was very poor and barely had enough money to live on. On September 27, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found dead. His cause of death is still unknown but there are theories. Lo! Death has set himself upon a throne in a strange city that lies lonely, far away in the dark west, where the good, the bad, the worst, and the best have gone to their eternal rest (Poe, "The City"). From this quote, it shows how the rest of the poem would be dark and dim. When Poe wrote this poem, he had already faced many tragedies throughout his life. it was easy to see how the poem actually reflected a lot on Poe, the problems he faced in... middle of paper... are commonly used in "The City" to really get a good picture of the city, the land and the water around it. In line 37, Poe says “Along that glass waste” He is comparing the surface of the sea to glass because of how calm and melancholy it is. The poem "The City in the Sea" is a very gothic poem. Poe also keeps the tone of the entire poem very dark and dim, making the theme and setting disturbing. Because of the life that Poe had to overcome, the poem was easily connected to it.. At the beginning of the poem, it was spoken it resembled his childhood a lot because he lived well and had a solid family and education. Everything was beautiful, just like the city. However, over time his life seemed to have become more worn and harsh, just like the city. It's truly amazing how Edgar Allan Poe connects his life to a poem but at the same time creates a poetic story out of it.