Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author, poet, and essayist who was born in Boston Massachusetts. He was educated in England at the Manor House School and later at the United States Military Academy West Point and the University of Virginia. Both of his parents were actors, and his mother died when he was only three years old. Following his mother's death, Edgar Allan Poe was adopted by the wife of successful Richmond Virginia businessman John Allan. During the one year he was attending the University of Virginia, he developed a gambling and drinking problem that resulted in John Allan refusing to pay his debts. The debt forced Edgar Allan Poe to work as a clerk in John Allan's business. He later quit the clerk position resulting in a break in the relationship with his foster father. Following this period, Edgar Allan Poe relocated to Boston, and in 1927 published his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems anonymously signed "A Bostonian". Following this publication, he spent two years in the United States Army. In 1929 he mended his relationship with his foster father and published the book of verse AL Aaraaf. Following the mend in their relationship, John Allan helped gain Edgar Allan Poe an appointment to West Point. His stay at West Point lasted less than one year, and this resulted in a permanent severance in his relationship with John Allan.

The dismissal from West Point, and severance of relationship with John Allan, represented a turning point in Edgar Allan Poe's life. From this point on he dedicated his time to writing. In 1831 he published his third book titled Poems which contained a collection of his earlier published poems and six new ones. In 1832 Edgar Allan Poe relocated to Baltimore Maryland, and lived with his aunt and cousin Virginia Clemm. In Baltimore he began to write short stories and won a prize of 100 dollars for his story A Ms. Found in a Bottle. In 1836 he married his cousin Virginia Clemm, and quit drinking which had damaged his health by this point. From 1835 to 1837 he worked as editor of The Southern Literary Messenger, and during these years wrote many of his stories of mystery and horror. Included in these stories are The Masque of the Red Death, Eleonora, and The Fall of the House of Usher. It was also during this period that Edgar Allan Poe began to publish his famous essays including The Rationale of Verse, which analyzes meter in lyric poetry. In 1839 he published a collection of short stories entitled Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. This collection includes stories such as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell Tale Heart, The Permanent Burial, Berenice, A Cask of Amontillado, Ligeria, and The Case of M. Valdemar. In 1841 his wife Virginia fell ill, and later died in 1947.

Edgar Allan Poe is most famous for his mystery novels which are often considered the foundation for most of modern mystery. Among these famous mystery tales are The Gold Bug, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Purloined Letter, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. During his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe gained the most success from his poem The Raven in 1845, and two later poems Annabel Lee (about his late wife Virginia Clemm) and The Bells.

Edgar Allan Poe is considered an original in American literature who successfully wrote with a style that was independent of English literature. His poems, stories and novels helped lay the foundations of style in American Literature. Many later American mystery writers including Stephen Crane, Ambrose Bierce and even Pierre Baudelaire were influenced by Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems. The illness and death of his wife Virginia Clemm following 1841 resulted Edgar Allan Poe returning to alcohol and subsequent mental illness. In 1849 Edgar Allan Poe died after years of excessive alcohol abuse.






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