Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer best known for his macabre short stories. Poe is considered the first writer of detective fiction. Many of Poe's stories, for example the Pit and the Pendulum, the Fall of the House of Usher, and the Raven, remain very popular and have entered popular culture through movies and allusions in other works. Here you will find a complete collection of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Advertisements

Edgar Allan Poe, noted poet, born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 19, 1809 ; died Oct. 7, 1849. He lost his parents when only two years of age and was adopted by John Allan, a wealthy merchant of Richmond, Va. His father was a man of good family and his mother was a professional actress. He attended school in England from 1816 until 1821, and at the age of seventeen entered the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, where he showed distinguished ability as a student, but left the university at the end of one session principally because he had a great passion for card playing and contracted many debts.

This conduct caused a quarrel with Mr. Allan, and Poe joined the U. S. army as a private under the name of Edgar A. Perry. Edgar Allan Poe returned to Richmond in 1829, and, after remaining at home a year, entered the West Point Military Academy as a cadet. His ambitions at that time were wholly for literature, thus causing him to neglect his duties and disobey orders until he was finally dismissed from the United States service. From West Point he again returned to his home, but in the meantime Mr. Allan had become a widower and married a second time.

At the death of Mr. Allan, in 1834, the estate was left to his young son, while Poe was not mentioned in the will. Edgar Allan Poe was now thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood and became engaged wholly in literary work, contributing to various newspapers and magazines in Richmond, New York, and Philadelphia. Poe's first regular contributions were made to the Southern Literary Messenger, in Richmond, which he edited for some time, but in 1837 he removed to New York and had charge of editorial work on the Quarterly Review. The following year he edited Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia, and remained its principal write for four years. The entire literary career of Poe embraces fifteen years, most of which time he was connected with periodicals in some manner, but at intervals wrote many criticisms and some choice poetry. His first remarkable success was achieved in 1833, when he secured a cash prize of $100 by contributing the tale, "A Manuscript Found in a Bottle," under a competitive test to a Baltimore magazine. The best known poem from his pen is "The Raven," which he published in 1845.

Critics have differed widely on Edgar Allan Poe's significance as a writer, but all have credited him with with marked ability as a writer of intricate sentences and beautiful verses. Perhaps it is true that his tendency to indulge in gambling and strong drink largely affected his power as a writer. It rendered him sensitive and melancholy, and caused him to waste to a great extent his genius and throw away his life. However, the force with which he appeals to universal sentiments has never been surpassed, his knowledge of the mechanism of composition is truly wonderful. Though his writings were limited, they will endure as representative positions of the 19th century. He married Virginia Clemm, his cousin, in 1832, but she died childless in 1847, and Poe died soon afterwards Baltimore from the effect of excessive drinking.

The best known of his writings include Raven and Other Poems," "The Gold Bug," "The Purloined Letter," "The Mystery of Mary Roget," "The fall of the House of Usher," "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," "Haunted Palace," "To Helen," "The Descent into the Maelstrom," "The Murders of the Rue Morgue," "Annabel Lee," and "The Bells." Among the early biographies are Whitman's "Edgar Allan Poe and His Critics" and Woodberry's "Life of Edgar Allan Poe."

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