e became very upset and thought he would now for sure be kept out of John’s life for good. Edgar had decided to write a friendly letter asking for some books and some money to see where they stood. Edgar had been right, at the end of the year John wrote back saying that this was to be his final letter and that he had no desire to continue any further communications with Edgar. Edgar became very upset and decided he wanted to leave West Point, but he had to have John’s written permission to leave. John, again, refused to answer any of Edgar’s letter. Edgar threatened to ignore all of his studies until then John responded. Edgar did just that too. Soon Edgar appeared on the list of cadets who had committed the most offenses of that month. Rapidly, he dropped from the top of the class to the bottom. Edgar was then ordered a court-martial, faced with two charges. Edgar pleaded guilty to both, found guilty, and was dismissed from his service. After leaving the academy, Edgar returned to Baltimore to live among his father’s family. Edgar had begun writing again and published new poems which showed hie performance in mixing the past and present, dream and reality, and myth and science. Much of his recent work was now described as promising but “bizarre and obscure.” At the time, Americans were infatuated with death and many of Edgar’s poems often showed his thoughts of death and the afterlife. His work often showed a thin line between life and death. Edgar’s inability to find a substitute for a lost loved one as a child which is how children learn to deal with death, probably resulted in his underlying denial for death which greatly influenced his poems. When Edgar moved to Baltimore he found the opportunity to spend a lot fo time with family. He also met many of his blood relatives which he did not know of, such as his first cousins, Elizabeth Herring and Virginia Clemm, along with s...
