Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts onJanuary 19, 1809. His parents were two struggling actors. After he was born,his father abandoned him. His mother died before he was three. This left EdgarAllan Poe a foster child.

Poe'sfather was an alcoholic and an indigent actor. Poe's mother was a remarkablytalented actress. She was sick with tuberculosis, and at the age of 24 shedied. Poe's memories of his mother were of when she died in a painful way on astraw mattress.

Edgarwas the second of their three children. When Poe's mother died, he was leftalone. He was taken as a foster child into the home of John Allan. John tookPoe to Great Britain where Poe was educated.

Duringthe fall of 1823, when Edgar was 14, one of his classmates, Rob Standard,introduced Poe to his mother, Jane Standard. Edgar went to her when he hadproblems at home or school. In many ways, she became his mother.

Illustration by "Herpin" for Poe's short story The...

English: Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's The Na...

English:

Poegraduated with the highest honors of his class for high school. After highschool, Poe served in the U.S Army under a false name, Edgar A. Perry, and anincorrect age. After the Army, he attended West Point from 1830-31. After that,he went to Baltimore to live with his aunt. Poe then married his cousin.

Poe'sstyle of writing might have come from the fact that the death of his motherhaunted him for his life. He wrote an essay, "Theory of Composition,"in which he writes, "andequally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such a topic are thoseof a bereaved lover". Poe wrote those in memory of his mother who diedat a young age.

Poe attended the University of Virginia tostudy law. He then went to Boston where he published "Tamerlane" andother poems. During the fall of 1838, Poe was asked by the author and scientistThomas Wyatt to prepare a book on shells and mollusks called TheConchologist's First book. During the summer of 1839, Poe was in needof money, so he joined the staff of a Philadelphia Journal called Burton'sGentleman's Magazine. On June 13, 1840, Poe wanted to raise both money andsupport. He announced in the Philadelphia Saturday courier that he was going tobe publisher of his own magazine, called the "Penn". Poe wrotehis third volume of poetry, it did not bring fame or profit, but a prize winingshort story "AMS Found in a Bottle". He gained a bit of fame fromthe publication in 1845 in a dozen stories as well of "The Raven".Poe's longest piece of fiction was a three chapter story, "The Narrativeof Arthur Gordon Pym". Poe's experience in South Carolina provided thebackdrop for some of Poe's later tales, most of all was the "The Gold Bug"written in 1842.

Poewrote 86 reviews, 6 poems, 4 essays, and 3 stories during the year ofeditorship at the Messenger. Poe would later lose his job at the Messengerbecause he could not control his drinking problems. Alcoholism and a mountingmental disorder made Poe quarrelsome and unreasonable, given outbursts ofsenseless rage. They think the drinking was to blame for his death.

EdgarAllan Poe was a fictional writer, he wrote poetry and stories. His drinkingproblems got him in a lot of trouble. Due to the drinking problems he lost thejob of the editorship for the Messenger. Poe's work is timeless, although hedid not live very long; he produced extraordinary short stories, essays andpoems. People will still be reading his work a long time from now.

Illustration by Édouard Manet for a French transl...