by Sean Quinn
Edgar Allan Poe was born in the year 1809. He was the child of two actors. After living with them for a brief time period, they put him in an orphanage. A man named John Allan took Poe in. Allan was a merchant in Richmond, Virginia. That is where Poe received most of his education. At the age of 17, Poe went to Virginia University. When he graduated, he continued living with John Allan until their relationship became strained. "Poe went to Boston in 1827, enlisted in the army, and wrote his first book, 'Tamerlane and Other Poems' " (Spendor and Hall, 232). In 1830, Poe went to Westpoint Military Academy and he left one year later. During his time spent at Westpoint, Poe's adoptive father, John Allan, got remarried and had another child. Poe realized that this meant he was going to be left out of Allan's will and this angered him greatly. Because he now new he would have to support himself in the future, Poe began searching for a job. He worked on magazines in Philadelphia, New York, and Richmond. In 1836, Poe married his "cousin" Virginia Clemm. He loved her very dearly. Poe lived in poverty until 1845; the year that he wrote his most well-known story, "The Raven". Virginia died in 1847 and Poe cracked. He dropped back into poverty and took up drinking. In October of 1849, Poe was found living in the street outside of a Baltimore bar and that is where he died. The exact causes of his death are unknown, but the official cause of death was, "congestion of the brain".
Edgar Allan Poe was a poet, short-story writer, and a literary critic. "Poe's stormy personal life and haunting poems and storied combined to make him one of the most famous figures in American literary history" (Information Finder). His "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is known as the first detective story. "His poetry and his stories of terror are among the most influential in modern literature" (Information Finder). Many authors have used Poe's writing styles to launch their careers; the most famous of these is Robert Louis Stevenson. "His attitude towards pure beauty laid the foundation for many writing styles, especially symbolism" (Information Finder). Poe tried to start his own magazine but failed. During his time, Poe was not very popular because he was thought of as being one of the "crazy narrators" from his stories. During his brief life, Poe wrote a little under sixty poems and many stories including "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Raven", "The Tell Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", and "The Pit and The Pendulum". Poe is now considered one of the greatest poets/authors of his time.