Why should Edgar Allan Poe be taught in the 11th grade curriculum? There are many opinions you could express. In this essay I will reflect on Poe's dark and mysterious works, his personal perseverance, his advanced vocabulary, the struggles he faced, and why he is such an inspiration. Poe's works have been in print since 1827 and are identified through many stories, such as “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Premature Burial”, “The Raven” and many other dark works. It is an inspiration to writers and people who express themselves in dark and mysterious ways. Poe was an interesting man, he wrote very unusual pieces such as "Annabel Lee" which is about his cousin Virginia who he married and later died of tuberculosis. Even though we may think this is strange today, it was relatively normal back then. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is about an incestuous family who had twins tied to the house, and when they died the house collapsed. "The Tell-Tale Heart" featured a distraught neighbor who was frightened by the eyes of an old man; he killed the man and placed his heart under the floorboards. Many people might argue that Poe might be inappropriate, but doesn't the Bible have inappropriate things in it too? When you read his works, you think to yourself "He must have been at a really dark time in his life to have written this", well he was. Instead of turning all these horrible moments into negatives, he turned them into positives with poems and stories. With its use of advanced and detailed vocabulary you have to be a little mature and dig deep to discover the true meanings and understand them completely. It challenges you to push yourself into deeper things. As you read the poems... middle of paper... works, but the biography had the opposite effect and drove sales of Poe's books to higher levels than they had ever been during the author's lifetime. Griswold's image of Poe that made Poe the legend that lives to this day. Even after all these things happened in Poe's life, he still persevered through everything! He still managed to succeed in everything he did. Why wouldn't someone with his nature and character be an inspiration? Others might argue, “He was an alcoholic and a gambler, why on earth would you be inspired by him?” It's not about what he did in the past, we all have dark pasts. It's important to see how he changed his life and transformed his pains and weaknesses into monumental things. Most people would collapse if this happened to them! Edgar Allan Poe is and will forever be a muse to writers, artists and men.!