Edgar Allan Poe

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Edgar Allan Poe

• 1809-1849

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• Born in Boston to David Poe, an alcoholic
  traveling actor, and Elizabeth Arnold, also an
  actress
• David deserted his wife and child when Edgar was
  a baby
• His mother died while on tour in Richmond,
  leaving Edgar an orphan before his 3rd birthday

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• Poe was taken in, but never formally adopted, by
  John and Frances Allan, wealthy merchants who had
  no children of their own
• The Allans provided for Poes education and in
  1826 he entered the University of Virginia
• Poe was forced to leave school after racking up
  large gambling debts which his adopted father
  refused to pay

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• Poe joined the Army under an assumed name and in
  1827 published a volume of poetry Tamerlane and
  Other Poems
• In 1829, he published a second volume, Al Aaraaf

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• In 1830, John Allan helped him get into West
  Point Military Academy, but was expelled for
  academic violations within a year
• This behavior caused a severe break in the
  relationship with John Allan
• It is believed that Poe got himself expelled on
  purpose because Allans wife had died and he had
  remarried a younger woman who could still have
  children. Poe thought that there was no way that
  he could be Allans heir, so he quit the military
  life that Allan wanted him to have

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• Poe moved in with his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm
• In 1835 he married her 13-year-old daughter,
  Virginia
• Poe supported his family by working as an editor
  at various magazines and wrote when he could find
  the time

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• Although he wrote many poems, and one full-length
  novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, it was
  his short stories that had the great effects on
  people

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• Although many of his works were greatly acclaimed
  by critics, he was never able to escape poverty
• He died two years after his wife, alone and
  unhappy