Edgar Allan Poe

Beatriz Balthazar dos Santos 1
17-March-2010
Edgar Allan Poe Biography

Edgar Allan Poe, a great writer with a dark past. His tragic life starts at the age of 1 when
his father deserts him and his family. About a year later his mother died forcing him to move
with her friend Frances Allan, while his brother went to live with their grandparents and his
sister was taken to another family. Frances Allan took great care of him, and John Allan was a
successful merchant, so Edgar grew up in good surroundings and went to good schools.
At the age of 6 he went to school in England where he learned Latin, French, Math and
History. After 5 years studying abroad he returned to America where he continued with his
studies. At the age of 17 he attended the University of Virginia. Even though John Allan had
enough money to give Poe to study at the University, he only gave one third of what Poe really
needed, causing him to quit school in less than a year because he started to drink heavily and
soon became in debt.
At 18 Poe found himself with no money, not enough job skills (he could speak French
and Latin), and had been neglected by John. In 1827, Poe decided to go to Boston, where he
joined the U.S. Army. He did fairly well in the Army and attained the rank of sergeant major. It’s
said that he wrote his first poetry book during his time in the army. After 2 years Mrs. Allan died
and John Allan tried to be friendly towards Poe and signed his application to West Point. Before
entering West Point, Poe lived with his grandmother and his aunt, Mrs. Clemm. Also living there
was his brother Henry, and young cousin, Virginia. He stayed about a year with them. Poe
entered West Point as a cadet. He didn't stay long because John Allan refused to send him any
17-March-2010
money. It is thought that Edgar purposely broke the rules and ignored his duties so he would be
dismissed.
Once Poe dropped out of West Point, he went to life with his aunt where he began to
write even more stories and devoted most of his time to poetry. Soon he received the notice that
his brother died with the same disease as his mother. He mourned greatly that they didn’t have\
enough memories. After his mourning period was over, he wrote two works: Ligeia and The Fall
of the House of Usher. Shortly after that he published The Raven. The Raven’s main theme is
sorrowful never-ending remembrances, obviously written as a result of his perpetual reflection of
the three deaths he had already had to deal with in his young life.
In 1831 Poe moved to New York City where he was able to publish a few poems. He
submitted some of his stories to numerous magazines whom all rejected his work. Poe was
having financial troubles while he neither had a job nor friends. He sent a letter to John asking
for help, but he never got a reply. John Allan died in 1834 and never mentioned Poe in his will.
After winning a contest with his story The Manuscript Found in a Bottle, Poe was able to
get a job as an editor of a newspaper. He brought his Aunt, Mrs. Clemm, and Virginia to live
with him in Richmond. In 1836, Edgar married his cousin, Virginia. He was 27 and she was 13.
(They were married before her 14th birthday.)

17-March-2010
As the editor of the newspaper Southern Literary Messenger, Poe was able to
successfully increase its circulation from 500 to 3500 copies. In early 1836 Poe left his job
complaining of low payment. In less than a year Poe moved to New York (1837) where he wrote
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, but was unable to find any success financially. The next
year he moved to Philadelphia (1838) where he wrote The Haunted Palace. His first volume of
short stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in 1839. He received the
copyright and 20 copies of the book, but no money.
Sometime in 1840, Poe joined George R. Graham as an editor for Graham's Magazine.
During the two years that Poe worked for Graham's, he published his first detective story, The
Murders in the Rue Morgue and challenged readers to send in cryptograms, which he always
solved. During the time Poe was editor, the circulation of the magazine rose from 5000 to 35,000
copies. Poe left Graham's in 1842 because he wanted to start his own magazine.
Poe started his magazine called The Stylus, but it was a failure. In 1843, he published
some booklets containing a few of his short stories but they didn't sell well enough. He won a
hundred dollars for his story, The Gold Bug and sold a few other stories to magazines but he
barely had enough money to support his family. Often his Aunt, Mrs. Clemm had to help
financially. In 1844, Poe moved back to New York. Even though The Gold Bug had a circulation
of around 300,000 copies, he could barely make a living.

17-March-2010
In 1845 Poe became an editor at The Broadway Journal. A year later the journal went
bankrupt and Poe lost his job. He and his family moved to a small cottage near what is now East
192nd Street, Virginia’s health was becoming worst as time passed making Poe deeply distressed.
During her illness Poe wrote The Conqueror Worm, The Pendulum and, Tell-Tale Heart. 10 days
after Poe’s birthday Virginia passed away. Poe went into a very depressing state. Many say that
Poe wrote Annabel Lee with Virginia in mind, this poem remains one of the saddest and most
poignant laments ever known.
After 2 years, Poe left New York and went to Philadelphia, where he visited his friend
John Sartain. Poe left Philadelphia in July and went to Richmond. He renewed his romance with
Sarah Royster Shelton and made arrangements to marry her in October. Poe left Richmond for
New York. He went to Philadelphia and on September 30, he took the wrong train delaying his
trip forever because he was later found at a public house and sent to the hospital, where he died
and was never able to say what happened to him since he was unconscious the whole time.

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Beatriz Balthazar dos Santos 1

soon became in debt.

sorrowful never-ending remembrances, obviously written as a result of his perpetual reflection of

(They were married before her 14th birthday.)

copyright and 20 copies of the book, but no money.

of around 300,000 copies, he could barely make a living.

poignant laments ever known.

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