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American Masters

The Deaths of the Women in Poe's Life

Throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe lost the women he loved, including his mother, adoptive mother and wife, many to tuberculosis. Their absence played a huge role in his writing. According to Poe, who often focused on death and loss in his works, "the death, then, of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world."

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American Masters Season 29
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