Day 23: Ligeia & The Oval Portrait

These are two Edgar Allan Poe stories that I never got the chance to read-all I've got to say is, creepy as all get out. Good, but creepy. It made me wonder if he himself was an opium fiend, like most of his protagonists (He probably was-I'm also pretty sure he was an alcoholic). He was orphaned at a young age and taken in by the Allan family. Poe also had a marriage to his thirteen year old cousin(Just don't think about it...). She died before him...No wonder he did so well--he had lots of material for his work. I like Poe, especially when I'm in a macabre mood (Or it's Halloween), but sometimes I forget just how crazy and terrible they can be. He especially likes to describe the body....hands, skin....the eyes. That was something that was all over Ligeia, the description of the eyes, and how they bored into the soul. He was poor in spite of his work (He was a writer and a literary critic who was very prolific indeed). Interesting cat, Poe. No one really knows what he died from--the greatest mystery of all. We only imagine what death must be like, but we don't know until we get there what it's really like. I hope mine is peaceful. I would hope I don't die from rabies, tuberculosis, cholera etc...(These are just a few of the possibilities for Poe's death).