Edgar Allan Poe lived a short and hard life. He only lived to be forty years old. People that he cared about kept dying around him. It is believed that his stories gradually got darker as more people he loved died. Poe hardly ever made any money from his writing. Besides when he lived with his foster parents, he was always poor.
Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809. His parents were David Poe and Eliza Arnold. David Poe abandoned the family while Edgar was still a toddler. His mother died of tuberculosis before he was even three years old. John and Frances Allan became his foster parents. They were the ones who added “Allan” as his middle name (Meltzer 23). John Allan was a wealthy tobacco exporter, and he sent Edgar to some of the best boarding schools. He also attended the University of Virginia when he was sixteen and a half. However, he was forced to leave the school less than a year later because he was unable to pay debts he owed from gambling. His relationship with John Allan fell apart, and he stopped giving him money.
In the year of 1827 Edgar Allan Poe enrolled in the United States Army. He probably enrolled for the money, which he definitely needed. That same year he published his first booklet, “Tamerlane and Other Poems”. Unfortunately, it received almost no notice at all. In the preface Poe claimed that he wrote the poems when he was only thirteen years old. Also in the preface, it says “They were of course not intended for publication; why they are now published concerns no one but himself”. Surprisingly, Poe never signed himself as the author of the booklet. Instead it was signed as By a Bostonian (The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore). Today there are only twelve known copies of “Tam...
... middle of paper ...
...ter friend, James K. Paulding, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Navy, to find him a job in his department: “anything, by sear or land-to relieve me from the miserable life of literary drudgery to which I now, with a breaking heart, submit, and for which neither my temper nor my abilities have fitted me.” But this too, as with all his efforts to find a job that didn’t call for writing, came to nothing.
Works Cited
Claxton, Rebecca. "Poe's 'The Raven.'" Wikispaces Classroom. N.p., 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
Cole, Diane. "Investigate Tales of Edgar Allan Poe." U.S. News & World Report 2008: n. pag. Print.
"Edgar Allan Poe." Academy of American Poets. Academy of American Poets, 1997-2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Meltzer, Milton. Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group, 2003. Print.
Edgar Allan Poe lived a very horrifying life. In his early childhood, his father left and his mother died when he was only three years old. He would write poetry on the back of newspapers, then later published some of his most famous works and became a literary sensation. Some stories Poe wrote are, The Tell Tale Heart and The Raven. By the age of 13, Poe had written enough stories that he could’ve published his own book. Edgar Allen Poe’s stories are
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado. Mankato, MN : The Creative Company, 2008. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "Annabel Lee." Poetry Foundation. Ed. Poetry Foundation. Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two, so Poe was taken into the home of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Although his middle name is often misspelled as "Allen," it is actually "Allan" after this family. After attending the Misses Duborg boarding school in London and Manor School in Stoke Newington, London, England, Poe moved back to Richmond, Virginia, with the Allans in 1820. Poe registered at the University of Virginia in 1826, but only stayed there for one year. He was estranged from his foster father at some point in this period over gambling debts Poe had acquired while trying to get more spending money, and so Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private using the name Edgar A. Perry on May 26, 1827. That same year, he released his first book, Tamarlane and Other Poems. After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant-major, Poe was discharged. In 1829, Poe's foster mother Frances Allan died and he published his second book, Al Aaraf. As per his foster mother's deathwish, Poe reconciled with his foster father, who coordinated an appointment for him to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His time at West Point was ill-fated, however, as Poe supposedly deliberately disobeyed orders and was dismissed. After that, his foster father repudiated him until his death in March 27, 1834.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809. He was born to two poor actors, David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. David Poe was born to a good Baltimore family. He was known as a heavy drinker, and soon after Edgar was born, left his mother and Edgar’s two other siblings. Elizabeth was thought to be charming and talented, but she died an early death. She died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four. Edgar was only three years old. The death of his mother ruined Edgar for the rest of his life. Edgar’s brother, WIlliam Henry Leonard Poe, also came to be a poet, but he had a n early demise. His sister, Rosalie Poe, grew up to teach penmanship. Edgar and his siblings were separated from each other after the death of their parents).Shortly after, Edgar was taken in by John and Frances Allan. John was a successful tobacco merchant. Edgar moved to England with the Allans and went to school in England from 1815 to 1820. Edgar and David did not see eye to eye at all. John wanted Edgar to be a businessman and a Virginian gentleman, but Edgar aspired to become a writer. By the time Edgar began college at the University of Virginia in 1826, he barely communicated or received support from the Allans. Edgar was a wonderful student but a terrible gambler. He soon accumulated a considerable amount of debt because John sent him to university with a measly amount of money. He did not have enough for expenses which led him to gambling. He was so poor and desperate that he burned his furniture to keep warm. Humiliated, he returned home to Richmond to discover that his fiancée, Elmira Royster, was engaged to another man. His stay at the Allan mansion was cut very short because of the increasing tension b...
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His parents, who were actors, died when Poe was a small child. Poe was then adopted and raised by John Allan, a tobacco exporter, and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia (Magill, 1640). Poe was sent to the best schools because of Allan’s job. When Poe was six years old he was sent to private school. Poe kept studying and went to the University of Virginia for one year. After one year in the University Poe quit school because Allan refused to pay his debts, and he did not have money to pay for Poe’s education. Later, Poe left Boston in 1827 where he enlisted in the army. Poe served two years in the military after he quit school. After two years in the military Poe was dismissed for neglect of duty. His foster father then disowned him permanently. He stayed very little time there because Allan, once again, refused to send Poe any money. (Hoffman, Daniel)
Meyers, J. (1992). Edgar Allan Poe: his life and legacy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Frank, F. S. (1997). The Poe encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press..
Ingram, John Henry. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life, Letters, and Opinions. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
First one needs to know some background information on Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was born in Boston, Massachutes, to David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold. He lost both his father, who abandoned the family, and his mother, who died of tuberculosis, at a very young age. He was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy business man. As Poe aged, he and his father relationship became very strained. In 1826, while attending the University of Virginia, Poe and his father had a falling out over his supposed drinking and his gambling debts. In 1827, Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army. After two years of service, his father helped him get accepted into West Point Military Academy. It was only a few months before Poe was expelled from school and disowned by his father. In 1832 he moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, and Cousin Virginia. Four years later Poe and his young cousin were married. She soon became very sick and suffered from repeated illness until she died in 1847.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: The Modern Library 1992
Edgar Allan Poe had a devastating childhood and a dark life as an adult. He was born January 19,1809, under the name of Edgar Poe. His father soon abandoned Poe and his fate is unknown. When Poe was two years old his mother died. John Allan who was part of the Ellis and Allan Tobacco Merchants then adopted him. Poe attended many schools because he could never manage to stay in one school very long. In 1826, he went to the University of Virginia for not even one year and was kicked out because he never paid his gambling debts. Poe started living a dark life after he was kicked out because he had to live on the streets. He married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836. He was happy until 1847 when Virginia Clemm died. He was so unhappy that a year later he attempted suicide. The circumstances of Poe’s death remain a mystery. But after a visit to Norfolk and Richmond for lectures, he was found in Baltimore in a pitiable condition and taken unconscious to a hospital where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849. He was buried in the yard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
Poe, Edgar Allan, Andrew Barger, Harry Clarke and Gustave Dore´. Edgar Allan Poe. [Memphis, Tenn.]: BottleTree Books, 2008. Print.
Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. book.
Edgar Allen Poe had a very complicated life from his birth. To begin with Edgar was born on January 19, 1809. (Britannica, 2013) In the meantime his father disappeared. Yet no one knows what ever happened to him. Then at age two he went on tour with his mother where he watched her die. (Britannica, 2013) To be more specific she kept spiting up blood and soon died of Tuberculoses. Afterwards Edgar was adopted by Frances and John Allan.