WI Poe Lives a Little Longer

He was a professional writer so yes presumably he would have kept writing if he didn't die. Also the definition of the American Literary Renaissance has generally been expanded to include the period of 1830 thru 1860 so that would actually encompass much of his career already.

Keeping him alive is easy since the reason for his death is unknown. If it's alcoholism he drinks just a little less, if cooping he stays home that day, if any of the diseases he's speculated to die of then they take longer to kill him.
 
Not sure what to call the 1850-55 period in American Literature then. I do know it's distinctive -- it saw the birth of the "Great American Novel" (Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Uncle Tom's Cabin), and American "styles" of poetry (Leaves of Grass) and long-form "personalized" non-fiction (Walden)
 
Not sure what to call the 1850-55 period in American Literature then. I do know it's distinctive -- it saw the birth of the "Great American Novel" (Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Uncle Tom's Cabin), and American "styles" of poetry (Leaves of Grass) and long-form "personalized" non-fiction (Walden)

A lot of great works were written in periods before and after as well. The 1850-55 designation is largely arbitrary since what defines a great novel is subjective and most of those authors had earlier works outside that period. Uncle Tom's Cabin for example isn't even particularly well written despite it's popularity at the time, while Moby Dick was a commercial failure that fell out of print. You're trying to put specific labels and timeframe on what was a general literary trend that took decades to build and included Poe.
 
I thought he died of too much absinthe? Never mind all the cocaine..

I would really, really like to see what he would have written in the later stages of life. As his addled mind and body age and begin to break down, I think his writing would either have gotten way darker or, possibly, lighter---experiencing such physical suffering (complications of aging, etc.), he might go a different way with his writing. Probably still very sad stuff, though.
 
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