About Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. At the young age of two, he became an orphan. He was given to John Allan and his wife, whom lived in Virginia. When Poe got older, he attended the University of Virginia. Even though he did well in school, he did have other problems. One was that he lost large amounts of money while gambling. After a quarrel with John Allan, Poe decided to move out. He went into the military and briefly attended West Point. In 1827, Poe published his first book of poems, called "Tamerlane and Other Poems". At this time, Poe was living in Baltimore with an aunt and her 8 year old daughter. He continued writing, and in 1833, Poe won a $50 prize for a short story titled "Ms.Found in a Bottle." Within the next three years, Poe did critical reviews for the Southern Literary Messenger. In 1836, Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia. About this time, Poe took his family and moved back and forth between New York and Baltimore. In 1839, Poe had a book entitled "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" published. In the last decade of Poe's life, there was many troubles. Poe was a heavy drinker and his wife Virginia was very ill. Despite these, and other problems, Poe continued to write. Even with the stories and poems he had published by this time, he still had not gained very much recognition. That changed in 1845 when Poe published his poem titled "The Raven". The poem became popular very quickly, and gave Poe more visibility in literary circles. In 1847, his wife, Virginia died. After her death, Poe was less productive. On 4 Oct 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in a Baltimore tavern. On 7 Oct 1849, Poe died. There are speculations surrounding his death. Some believe it was from the alcohol. However, Poe's family say that he had been sober for 6 months prior to his death. Some now believe, he might have died from rabies. After his death, there were two more poems of Poe's published. They were "The Bells" and "Annabel Lee". In the US, Poe's reputation suffered for a long time due to his drinking and charges of immorality.
