Edgar Allan Poe Biography

Edgar Allan Poe short biography: Edgar Allan Poë was an American poet, short story writer, literary critic, and editor who was a member of the American Romantic Movement. Poe was one of the first American practitioners of the short storey, well renowned for his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is credited with creating the detective fiction genre as well as contributing to the burgeoning science fiction genre. He was the first well-known American writer to try to make a living solely via writing, which led to a financially challenging life and career. Although his poem The Raven, published in January 1845, was well-received, it did not bring him any money.

The gloom that pervaded many of Poe's works appears to have its origins in his personal life. Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and was quickly abandoned by his parents. He was taken in as a foster kid by John and Frances Allan, although they never formally adopted him. Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin, married in 1835; sadly, she contracted tuberculosis in 1942 and died five years later. Poe was devastated by her illness and death. Poe died in Baltimore two years later, at the age of 40, under odd circumstances. His death has been attributed to a variety of causes, including alcohol, cerebral congestion, cholera, narcotics, heart illness, rabies, suicide, TB, and other agents.

Poe's works, both in terms of form and topic, continue to be popular and influential. His fascination with death and violence, the loss of a loved one, the possibility of reanimation or life beyond the grave in some physical form, and macabre and tragic mysteries continues to fascinate readers all over the world, reflecting human curiosity about life after death and a desire to know the truth. His research and efforts in fields like cosmology and encryption demonstrated an intuitive intelligence and concepts that were ahead of their time. Poe's work can be found in literature, music, filmmaking, and television.

In this article, we are going to discuss Edgar Allan Poe biography in detail, his life, marriage and also get to know more about Edgar Allan Poe’s achievements.

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Information About Edgar Allan Poe Biography

When is Edgar Allan Poe’s Birthday?

Edgar Allan Poe DOB: January 19, 1809

Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S

Deathdate: October 7, 1849

Place of Death: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S

Age: 40 years old

Spouse: Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe ​(m. 1836; died 1847)

Edgar Allan Author’s Early Life

Edgar Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, to actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. William Henry Leonard Poe, his older brother, and Rosalie Poe, his younger sister, were his siblings. His father abandoned his family in 1810, and his mother died of consumption a year later. Poe was then transferred to the home of John Allan, a prosperous Scottish businessman in Richmond, Virginia, who dealt in tobacco, cloth, wheat, tombstones, and slaves, among other things. The Allans were his foster parents, but they never officially adopted him, despite giving him the name "Edgar Allan Poe."

Edgar Allan Poe Education

Poe was christened in the Episcopal Church by the Allan family in 1812. John Allan alternated between spoiling and scolding his foster kid. In 1815, the family sailed to England, including Poe and Allan's wife, Frances Valentine Allan. Poe briefly attended a grammar school in Irvine, Scotland (where John Allan was born) in 1815 before returning to London with his family in 1816. Until the summer of 1817, he attended a boarding school in Chelsea. He was then enrolled in the Reverend John Bransby's Manor House School in Stoke Newington, a neighbourhood four miles (6 kilometres) north of London at the time.

In 1820, Poe returned to Richmond, Virginia with the Allans. In March 1825, John Allan's uncle and business patron William Galt died, leaving Allan numerous acres of land. Galt was reputed to be one of Richmond's wealthiest men. The value of the inheritance was believed to be $750,000. Allan celebrated his vast income by purchasing Moldavia, a two-story brick mansion, in the summer of 1825. Poe may have been engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before enrolling at the one-year-old University of Virginia to study languages in February 1826. Despite his academic success, Poe lost connection with Royster and became separated from his foster father due to gambling troubles and his foster father's inability to cover all of his costs throughout his stay there. Poe dropped out of school after barely a year and moved to Boston in April 1827, surviving on odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper writer. He didn't feel welcome in Richmond, especially after learning that his sweetheart Royster had married Alexander Shelton. He began adopting the pseudonym Henri Le Rennet at some point. In the same year, he published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, a 40-page anthology of poetry with the byline "by a Bostonian." Only 50 copies of the book were printed, and it attracted very little notice.

Contribution of Edgar Allan Poe in Military

Poe entered as a private in the United States Army on May 27, 1827, since he was unable to support himself. He pretended to be 22 years old under the name "Edgar A. Perry," despite the fact that he was only 18. He began his military career at Boston Harbor's Fort Independence. On November 8, 1827, Poe's regiment was assigned to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, and proceeded there via ship on the brig Waltham. Poe's monthly wage was doubled once he was promoted to "artificer," an enlisted artisan who made artillery ammunition. Poe wanted to conclude his five-year enlistment early after serving for two years and earning the rank of Sergeant Major for Artillery (the highest rank a non-commissioned officer may obtain).

On July 1, 1830, Poe arrived at West Point and matriculated as a cadet. John Allan married Louisa Patterson, his second wife, in October 1830. The foster father eventually disowned Poe after the marriage and harsh quarrels with him about the children born to Allan as a result of affairs. Poe made the decision to quit West Point by getting court-martialed on purpose. He was charged with flagrant negligence of duty and disobedience of commands for refusing to attend formations, classes, or worship on February 8, 1831. Poe purposefully pled not guilty in order to avoid being fired, knowing full well that he would be found guilty.

In February 1831, he moved to New York and published his third collection of poems, simply titled Poems. The book was funded with the support of his fellow West Point cadets, who may have anticipated lyrics similar to those Poe had written about commanding authorities. It was designated "Second Edition" and had a page that read, "To the United States Corps of Cadets, this volume is respectfully dedicated." It was printed by Elam Bliss of New York and was labelled "Second Edition." The long poems "Tamerlane" and "Al Aaraaf" were reproduced in the book, along with six previously unpublished poems, including early versions of "To Helen," "Israfel," and "The City in the Sea."

Marriage

On September 22, 1835, Poe married Virginia, his cousin, in secret. She was 13 at the time, despite the fact that she is listed as 21 on the marriage certificate. They performed a second wedding ceremony in Richmond on May 16, 1836, this time in front of the public.

Virginia developed the first signs of consumption, now known as tuberculosis while singing and playing the piano one evening in January 1842. It broke a blood vessel in her throat, according to Poe. Poe began to drink more extensively as a result of his wife's sickness, and she only recovered partially. Poe relocated to a cottage in the Fordham neighbourhood of The Bronx, New York, in 1946. On January 30, 1847, Virginia died there.

Poe attempted to pursue poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who lived in Providence, Rhode Island after his wife's death made him increasingly unstable. Poe's drinking and unpredictable behaviour are said to be the reason for their breakup. There is evidence, however, that Whitman's mother intervened and sabotaged their connection. Poe then returned to Richmond and rekindled his romance with Sarah Elmira Royster, his boyhood sweetheart, whose husband had died in 1944.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Achievements and Career

Poe was the first well-known American novelist and poet to attempt to support himself only through his poetry. He did so during a challenging period in American publishing. The lack of an international copyright law handicapped him. Rather than paying for fresh work by Americans, publishers frequently copied copies of British works. The Panic of 1837 had an especially negative impact on the sector. Despite a surge in American journals at this time, fuelled in part by new technology, many did not survive more than a few issues, and publishers frequently refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised.

Following his early attempts at poetry, Poe shifted his focus to prose. He sold a few articles to a Philadelphia journal and began work on Politian, his one and only drama. In October 1833, the Saturday Visitor, a Baltimore newspaper, gave Poe a prize for his short storey "MS. Found in a Bottle." John P. Kennedy, a wealthy Baltimorian, became aware of him as a result of the narrative. He introduced Poe to Thomas W. White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, and helped him place some of his works. In August 1835, Poe was hired as the periodical's associate editor; however, he was fired after being caught inebriated many times.

Poe returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother after being reinstated by White after promising good behaviour. He worked at the Messenger until January 1837, and during that time he published various poetry, book reviews, criticism, and short stories. Its circulation climbed from 700 to 3,500 during this time.

In 1838, Arthur Gordon Pym's Narrative was published and received a lot of attention. Poe joined Burton's Gentleman's Magazine as an assistant editor in the summer of 1839. He wrote a slew of essays, stories, and reviews, further cementing his image as a scathing critic forged at the Southern Literary Messenger.

He quit Graham's and looked for a new job, aiming for a government position for a while. He returned to New York, where he briefly worked at the Evening Mirror before becoming the editor of the Broadway Journal and, eventually, the sole proprietor. He separated himself from other writers by openly accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism, despite Longfellow's refusal to respond. His poem "The Raven," which first appeared in the Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845, became a huge hit. Despite the fact that it made Poe a household name almost immediately, he was only paid $9 for it. In 1846, the Broadway Journal went out of business.

Death

Poe was discovered delirious on the streets of Baltimore on October 3, 1849, by Joseph W. Walker, who described him as "in severe misery" and "in need of rapid aid." On Sunday, October 7, 1849, he was brought to the Washington College Hospital, where he died. Poe was never able to explain how he came to be in such a bad state, and he was dressed in clothes that were not his own. All of his medical records were destroyed, including his death certificate.