Life and Edgar Allen Poe

For Christmas, I got a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's major tales and poems. It has a really cool cover, with a creepy raven on the front. I thought of you, Shannon, when I saw it. Not that you are creepy, but I just think you would like it. Anyway, Poe had an interesting mind, although it was kind of twisted. I just really enjoy his stuff because it was original. He wrote about what he wanted to, and he made it one of a kind, and I still haven't read anything like it, even today. Here's a little excerpt of "Annabel Lee", one of my favorite poems by Poe:
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee-
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love which was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee -
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

The poem goes on to depressingly state that the speaker is forever separated from Annabel Lee, which is exactly what makes the poem so Poe-ish.
After reading the stories or poems, I can shut the book and remember that I am so grateful to be living the life that I am living, and that maybe when I write my own poetry or columns for the paper, they will be refreshing and hopeful. I know it sounds a little over-optimistic, but that's what I'm striving to be these days. Because I realized-who wants to live a life of complaining and negativity? No one, I hope. I realize I have been too much like that at times. That's what I love about literature. It gives me different perspectives, and introduces me to new worlds, whether that world is one of the parties and marriages of 19th century England (thanks to Jane Austen), or the life of a young slave girl in 19th century America (thanks to Harriet Jacobs), or to a strange, upside-down mind, thanks to Poe. I read fiction, and am enthralled, as I have been since I was little, but then I shut the book and realize that I have so much to experience and learn and live for. And it's exciting.