Lindsey Graham

American writer Washington Irving had popularized the short story with his 1820 tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, featuring a ghostly headless horseman.

Irving drew from the English Gothic tradition and contributed to American interest in the supernatural.

Poe followed in Irving's footsteps with his first published story, a gothic tale about the power of evil entitled Metzengerstein.

It featured a gloomy castle and an ancient family feud and combined the real and supernatural worlds.

Like Poe, the hero was orphaned at a young age, and though it failed to attract much attention, the story set a pattern for much of Poe's future work.

Still, despite making progress in his writing, Poe was desperately in need of money.

Once again, he appealed to John Allen, declaring, I am perishing, absolutely perishing for want of aid.

For God's sake, pity me and save me from destruction.

But Alan refused to respond.

So in February 1834, Poe turned up on his doorstep.

Upon receiving his foster son, Alan threatened to strike Poe with his cane and threw him out of the house.

But Alan was seriously ill and died a few weeks later.

He left Poe nothing in his will.

It was a horrible setback, but Poe was finally on the verge of a turning point in his literary career.

In March 1835, a new monthly magazine, the Southern Literary Messenger, published his story Berenice.

It depicted a man's descent into madness as he becomes fixated on the perfect teeth of his dying cousin and fiancée, Berenice.

She is accidentally buried alive.

And at the climax of the story, the narrator awakes from a trance and hears screams, realizing that he has opened Berenice's grave and extracted all 32 of her teeth.

The story's violence prompted multiple reader complaints, but Poe disagreed with the criticism.

He believed that whether or not the story was in poor taste was less important than the intention it received, declaring, to be appreciated, you must be read.