Edgar allan poe brief biography

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  • Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, , in Boston. Poe’s father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three years old, and John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and, later, to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, he was forced to leave the university when Allan refused to pay Poe’s gambling debts.

    Poe returned briefly to Richmond, but his relationship with Allan deteriorated. In , Poe moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane, and Other Poems (George Redway), was published that year. In , he published a second collection entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (Hatch & Dunning). Neither volume received significant critical or public attention. Following his Army service, Poe was admitted to the United States Military Academy, but he was again forced to leave for lack of financial support. He then moved into the home of his aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter, Virginia, in Baltimore.

    Poe began to sell short stories to magazines at around this time, and, in , he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, where he moved with his aunt and cousin Virginia. In , he married Virginia, who was thirteen years old at the time. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals including the Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short story writer, and an editor. He published some of his best-known stories and poems, including “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Raven.” After Virginia’s death from tuberculosis in , Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, During his lifetime he was best known for his poetry. Some of his poems that are still studied today are Annabel LeeThe Bells, Lenore, and The Raven. Today, The Raven may be his best known poem.

    Mr. Poe is credited with being the father of both Horror/Macabre fiction and the Mystery genre. Three of his mysteries, The Purloined Letter, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, and Murders in the Rue Morgue are the first to have a police detective (C. Auguste Dupin) and to have a locked room mystery. 

    This time of year, we celebrate the gothic, macabre, and horror aspects of his writings. Many of his stories accurately depict the psychology of events and fears. Death was a preoccupation of his time period. The most horrifying part of this preoccupation was the fear of premature burial. Not only did he write a story called the Premature Burial, but this same theme occurs in The Fall of the House of Usher.

    Poe himself died under mysterious circumstances in Baltimore on October 7, (see: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe)

    For more information on his life:

    The Poe Museum

    Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore

    Boston Public Library Poe Exhibit

    Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston  &  Edgar Allan Poe’s Feud With Boston? Nevermore

    Biographies of Poe in the ASU Library

    Poetry Foundation - Poe Biography

    IMDB Poe biography and trivia

    Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe - An A&E program (ASU access only)

    The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe (Smithsonian)

    The Final Days of Edgar Allan Poe: Clues to an Old Mystery Using 21st Century Medical Science (ASU only access, others use: DOI: /OMd) 

    New York Times Topic - Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe

    American writer and critic (–)

    "Edgar Poe" and "Poe" redirect here. For other uses, see Edgar Allan Poe (disambiguation) and Poe (disambiguation).

    Edgar Allan Poe (né&#;Edgar Poe; January 19, – October 7, ) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as one of the central figures of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States and of early American literature. Poe was one of the country's first successful practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. In addition, he is credited with contributing significantly to the emergence of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living exclusively through writing, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career.

    Poe was born in Boston. He was the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His father abandoned the family in , and when Eliza died the following year, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he lived with them well into young adulthood. Poe attended the University of Virginia but left after only a year due to a lack of money. He frequently quarreled with John Allan over the funds needed to continue his education as well as his gambling debts. In , having enlisted in the United States Army under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, which was credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife, Frances, in However, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declared his intention to become a writer, primarily of poems, and parted ways with Allan.

    Poe switched his focus to prose and spent t

      Edgar allan poe brief biography


    Pioneering author, editor, poet, literary critic, husband, sonEdgar Allan Poe lived just to the age of 40 but his works continue to captivate readers around the globe today.


    Early Life

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in Both of his parents were actors. His mother, the much admired Elizabeth Arnold Poe was a talented actress. His father, David Poe was considered less talented. The Poes performed at theaters throughout the Eastern seaboard, from Boston to Virginia. In , Elizabeth Poe died of tuberculosis in Richmond, Virginia, leaving orphaned Edgar, his infant sister Rosalie, and his older brother Henry. David Poe, apparently had abandoned his wife and children earlier and was not present when she died.

    The three children were separated and raised by different families. Edgar was taken in by the successful Richmond merchant John Allan, and his frail wife Frances. The Allans had no children of their own. They raised Edgar as part of the family and gave him their middle name, but never legally adopted him.

    In , Edgar traveled with the Allans to England and Scotland, where John Allan planned to expand his tobacco business. Edgar attended boarding schools throughout the five years the family lived overseas. After John Allan’s business venture failed, he moved the family back to Richmond, Virginia in

    From University of Virginia to West Point

    Edgar continued his studies in Richmond. He entered the University of Virginia in at the age of During the year he attended the university, Edgar excelled in his studies of Latin and French. He was unable to complete his studies at the university because Allan refused to pay debts Edgar had incurred during the school year. Allan and Edgar quarreled over the debts, of which a large portion was incurred from gambling.

    Shortly after his quarrel with his foster father, Edgar Allan Poe left Richmond for Boston where he hoped to pursue a literary career. His first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems was published there. U

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