Edgar Allen Poe

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 10th grade January 2002

download word file, 8 pages 0.0

Downloaded 13 times

Edgar Allen PoeEdgar Allen Poe is considered one of the most brilliant and original writers of all time. He has written many short stories and poems that have been loved and criticized by people around the world. Where did Poe's talent come from? How has Poe captured the attention and manipulated the emotions of millions of people? To answer these questions we must look at his childhood as well as when he began writing.

Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1809 to a struggling actress and an absent father. Edgar's father left him and his mother when Edgar was only two and in that same year his mother died. Edgar was then given to his new foster parents Mr. and Mrs. Allen who brought him to Richmond Virginia where he was raised and schooled. Although the Allen's never legally adopted Edgar they gave him his second last name, Allen.

Edgar attended the best and most expensive private schools thanks to his fathers very successful business. Although Edgar played many school sports and was very physically active he was outcast by his piers throughout his schoolings and was constantly picked on because of his real mother (an actress was not considered by "sophisticated people" to be a respectable profession) and also because of his stellar academic achievement. Before Edgar went off to collage he was courting a fifteen year old named Sarah Elmira Royster. It was clear that Edgar had intentions to marry the woman (fifteen years old was considered a woman, and many fifteen year old women had children) but his first priority was school. When Edgar returned from collage he found that her father had married Sarah Elmira Royster to another man. Edgar was sent to the University of Virginia by his father but had...