On January 19, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. Before Poe was three years old, his professional actor parents passed away, and he was reared as a foster kid in Richmond, Virginia by John and Frances Allan. Poe was sent by wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan to the best boarding schools and then to the University of Virginia, where he did exceptionally well academically.
Nevertheless, Allan’s refusal to settle Poe’s gambling debts prompted him to quit the institution after less than a year of study. Additionally, reading this article can help you learn more about Edgar Allan Poe.
An overview of Edger Allan Poe in brief
Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer, is renowned for his poetry and short stories, particularly those involving mystery and macabre. He is a central figure in Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States and American literature. Poe is considered the inventor of detective fiction and a significant contributor to science fiction. As the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, he faced financial difficulties throughout his career.
However, Poe was a renowned literary critic, who worked for literary journals and periodicals, focusing on prose. He moved between cities and married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, but she died of tuberculosis in 1847. Poe’s poem “The Raven” was published in 1845, and he planned to publish his journal The Penn, later renamed The Stylus. Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, under mysterious circumstances, attributed to various causes including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide. His works influenced literature worldwide, cosmology, cryptography, and popular culture. His homes are dedicated museums, and the Mystery Writers of America awards the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre.
Early life and education of Edger Allan Poe
Edgar Poe, born in Boston, Massachusetts, was the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. Poe’s family moved to Richmond, Virginia, after his mother passed away from pulmonary disease in 1810. Poe was raised by John Allan, a prosperous businessman, who never legally adopted him but acted as a foster family, giving him the name “Edgar Allan Poe.” Poe’s family had a rich and diverse history.
Poe was baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1812 by the Allan family. He attended grammar school in Irvine, Scotland, before returning to London in 1816. He studied at a boarding school in Chelsea and later at Reverend John Bransby’s Manor House School in Stoke Newington. After experimenting with poetry, Poe turned to prose, likely influenced by John Neal’s critiques in The Yankee magazine. He published a few stories and began working on his drama Politian. In 1833, he won a prize for his short story “MS. Found in a Bottle” in the Baltimore Saturday Visitor.
This story led to the introduction of Poe to John P. Kennedy, a Baltimorean, and Thomas W. White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond.
These are a few of Edger Allan Poe’s best works
The poems “To Helen” (1831), “The Raven” (1845), and “Annabel Lee” (1849); the short tales “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846) about crime and immorality; and the supernatural horror tale “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) are among of Edgar Allan Poe’s most well-known compositions.
Unquestionably, he is the originator of crime fiction, which is arguably the most popular narrative genre in the contemporary day. Disregard the legend surrounding Poe’s life; instead, we ought to commemorate his bicentennial by revisiting his vast and significant body of work.
Although, Poe produced a great deal of poetry and short tales during his career, but just one novel. His art belongs to the “Dark Romantic” subgenre that the Transcendental Movement gave rise to. According to the New York Public Library, Poe is well-known for “his dark tales of horror, psychological terror, and madness.” According to the library, “Murder, death, madness, grief, and psychological horror were common themes in his work, which fit the dour spirit of the Victorian age.”
