BASIC INFORMATION
An American author, poet, and literary critic, Edgar Allan Poe experienced a mysterious life. Edgar Poe, born to David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, was a foster child to the Allan Family at a very early age. Elizabeth Hopkins delivered Edgar on January 19 in 1809, Boston, MA. David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins also had two other children, William, Edgar’s older brother, and Rosalie, Edgar’s younger sister. At a young age, William, Rosalie, and Edgar became orphaned, after his father left them and his mother passed away. John and Frances Valentine Allan adopted Edgar Poe, and they changed his name to Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Poe and his foster father, John Allan, constantly had tense dynamics between each other. As his foster son was at school, John Allan was not generous in the allowance given Poe to sustain him. On returning home in March of 1827, Poe found that John Allan refused to cover the school debts. Immediately, a bitter quarrel ensued the father and son. With the death of Frances Allan on February 28, 1829, a shared grief seemed to have changed their difficulties and came together on the loss. A new complication was added when John Allan remarried on October 5, 1830, for the second Mrs. Allan had no affection for Edgar. When John Allan took his last breath on March 27 of 1834, his will made no mention of Poe, according to www.eapoe.org.
Edgar Allan Poe seemed to have had a complex education and military experience. He briefly attended the University of Virginia and West Point before achieving his first successes as a poet and writer of short stories. Edgar did not pay much attention to his foster father’s money or his business and Edgar suffered from loneliness and the terrible feeling that he was unwanted. He felt awkward and ashamed by his adoption status, growing quiet and sullen over the years. Edgar felt eager to learn and he could easily read Latin and French, especially by the French playwright, Moliére. In February 1826, John Allan sent Edgar to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. A university education would provide Poe with a good start to a life as a right-minding citizen, probably a businessman. Additionally, John Allan would look like a benevolent foster father. Allan gave Edgar a bit of spending money, but he spent it all very soon, and his father also gave him reminders to study hard. At the University of Virginia, Poe read French and Italian writers, and received admiration for translating Latin poetry. He recited his poetry to anyone whom would listen, on any subject they chose. His writing earned him nothing and Edgar could not pay for the necessities of the student life with the left over money that John Allan gave him. At age 17, Poe ran into debt for his clothing and books. Eventually he made friends that gambled and he joined them, though he usually lost. He had borrowed money from many of his classmates to make up his debts. Discovering that the life at the university was not difficult studies and good times with friends, but rather fights, beatings, vandalism, riots, and cheating students that got drunk at night, Edgar felt abandoned. After a year at college, Edgar returned home and John Allan refused to lend him more money to harm himself, and his family’s reputation with gambling, drinking, and money trouble. Promptly, Edgar Allan Poe dropped out of the University of Virginia. Poe wanted to go to West Point, a military academy in New York. When enlisting himself in the United States Army as a private soldier, he entered as Edgar A. Perry, born in Boston, age twenty-two. Edgar Allan Poe joined West Point in 1830 and was a good soldier in the U.S. Army from two years. Not long after joining West Point, John Allan refused to send any money to Poe, and it is thought that Poe purposely declined all his duties and rebelled against all the rules to be dismissed. During his time at West Point, Edgar Allan Poe excelled at all of his studies, but soon, he was kicked out for his ‘poor handling of his duties as a soldier.’ At this time, Poe had been continually fighting with his foster father. As a young adult, John Allan would steer Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had always wished of being a writer. Inspired by one of his childhood heroes, the British poet, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe wrote poetic verses that were found on the back of Allan’s ledger sheets, revealing the slight interest that Poe had in the tobacco business. At the time that Poe had been thirteen years old, he had created enough poetry for a book, but his school headmaster suggested to his father to decline all of Poe’s efforts to the book and to not let him create it, states, www.poemuseum.org.
Similar to his childhood, Edgar Allan Poe lived a tumultuous adult life. At the age of 27, Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, in May of 1836. Poe experienced a various amount of jobs throughout his life. In 1831, Edgar Allan Poe made his way into New York City and he had some of his poetry published. Submitting his stories to various magazines, Poe was rejected from all of them. After four years, Edgar got a job as an editor of a newspaper for a contest he had one with one of his stories. Admirably, he had been managing the paper, but a year later, Poe had decided to part ways because of his low pay. Not before long, he had explored his way back to the New York and wrote different works of literature, since he could not find any careers. Following New York, Poe had took a new journey to Philadelphia and wrote his first volume of short stories. Finally, Edgar Poe had found a job as an editor for Graham’s Magazine. During the two years that Poe worked for Graham’s Magazine, he had published his first detective story and challenged readers to send in cryptograms. In 1842, Poe left Graham’s Magazine because he decided that he wanted to create his own magazine, The Stylus, but failed soon after. Subsequent to all of his jobs, his wife’s health was collapsing and Edgar was in misery and depression by it. Virginia died in 1847, 10 days after Edgar's birthday and Poe fell into lots of stress, but steadily returned to his stable health later in that year.
During the time of Edgar Allan Poe, there were many authors and writers, just as there are today. One of the well known authors around Edgar Allan Poe’s time is Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens is an English writer that is considered as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. In 1810, at age one, Edgar’s parents separated. Edgar’s mother, Elizabeth Poe, takes the children and soon, Elizabeth Poe passes away leaving her three children alone. As soon as Edgar’s mother passed away, Rosalie and Edgar were fostered by two different families and William had moved in with their grandparents. After a few years, the war of 1812 started and during the war of 1812, the British forces burn Washington D.C. in the United States. When Edgar Allan Poe was 24 years old, slavery was banned in Great Britain. Some of the information that is familiar to us today, happened in Edgar Allan Poe’s time.
Edgar Allan Poe seemed to have had a complex education and military experience. He briefly attended the University of Virginia and West Point before achieving his first successes as a poet and writer of short stories. Edgar did not pay much attention to his foster father’s money or his business and Edgar suffered from loneliness and the terrible feeling that he was unwanted. He felt awkward and ashamed by his adoption status, growing quiet and sullen over the years. Edgar felt eager to learn and he could easily read Latin and French, especially by the French playwright, Moliére. In February 1826, John Allan sent Edgar to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. A university education would provide Poe with a good start to a life as a right-minding citizen, probably a businessman. Additionally, John Allan would look like a benevolent foster father. Allan gave Edgar a bit of spending money, but he spent it all very soon, and his father also gave him reminders to study hard. At the University of Virginia, Poe read French and Italian writers, and received admiration for translating Latin poetry. He recited his poetry to anyone whom would listen, on any subject they chose. His writing earned him nothing and Edgar could not pay for the necessities of the student life with the left over money that John Allan gave him. At age 17, Poe ran into debt for his clothing and books. Eventually he made friends that gambled and he joined them, though he usually lost. He had borrowed money from many of his classmates to make up his debts. Discovering that the life at the university was not difficult studies and good times with friends, but rather fights, beatings, vandalism, riots, and cheating students that got drunk at night, Edgar felt abandoned. After a year at college, Edgar returned home and John Allan refused to lend him more money to harm himself, and his family’s reputation with gambling, drinking, and money trouble. Promptly, Edgar Allan Poe dropped out of the University of Virginia. Poe wanted to go to West Point, a military academy in New York. When enlisting himself in the United States Army as a private soldier, he entered as Edgar A. Perry, born in Boston, age twenty-two. Edgar Allan Poe joined West Point in 1830 and was a good soldier in the U.S. Army from two years. Not long after joining West Point, John Allan refused to send any money to Poe, and it is thought that Poe purposely declined all his duties and rebelled against all the rules to be dismissed. During his time at West Point, Edgar Allan Poe excelled at all of his studies, but soon, he was kicked out for his ‘poor handling of his duties as a soldier.’ At this time, Poe had been continually fighting with his foster father. As a young adult, John Allan would steer Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had always wished of being a writer. Inspired by one of his childhood heroes, the British poet, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe wrote poetic verses that were found on the back of Allan’s ledger sheets, revealing the slight interest that Poe had in the tobacco business. At the time that Poe had been thirteen years old, he had created enough poetry for a book, but his school headmaster suggested to his father to decline all of Poe’s efforts to the book and to not let him create it, states, www.poemuseum.org.
Similar to his childhood, Edgar Allan Poe lived a tumultuous adult life. At the age of 27, Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, in May of 1836. Poe experienced a various amount of jobs throughout his life. In 1831, Edgar Allan Poe made his way into New York City and he had some of his poetry published. Submitting his stories to various magazines, Poe was rejected from all of them. After four years, Edgar got a job as an editor of a newspaper for a contest he had one with one of his stories. Admirably, he had been managing the paper, but a year later, Poe had decided to part ways because of his low pay. Not before long, he had explored his way back to the New York and wrote different works of literature, since he could not find any careers. Following New York, Poe had took a new journey to Philadelphia and wrote his first volume of short stories. Finally, Edgar Poe had found a job as an editor for Graham’s Magazine. During the two years that Poe worked for Graham’s Magazine, he had published his first detective story and challenged readers to send in cryptograms. In 1842, Poe left Graham’s Magazine because he decided that he wanted to create his own magazine, The Stylus, but failed soon after. Subsequent to all of his jobs, his wife’s health was collapsing and Edgar was in misery and depression by it. Virginia died in 1847, 10 days after Edgar's birthday and Poe fell into lots of stress, but steadily returned to his stable health later in that year.
During the time of Edgar Allan Poe, there were many authors and writers, just as there are today. One of the well known authors around Edgar Allan Poe’s time is Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens is an English writer that is considered as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. In 1810, at age one, Edgar’s parents separated. Edgar’s mother, Elizabeth Poe, takes the children and soon, Elizabeth Poe passes away leaving her three children alone. As soon as Edgar’s mother passed away, Rosalie and Edgar were fostered by two different families and William had moved in with their grandparents. After a few years, the war of 1812 started and during the war of 1812, the British forces burn Washington D.C. in the United States. When Edgar Allan Poe was 24 years old, slavery was banned in Great Britain. Some of the information that is familiar to us today, happened in Edgar Allan Poe’s time.