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The Life of Edgar Allan Poe

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The Mysterious Mr. Poe ” All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream” (http://quotations.about.com/cs/morepeople/a/bls_edgar_allen.htm), this quote is one of many Poe’s famous sayings. He was known as the inventor of the modern detective story and innovator of the science fiction genre. Although, many people know him because of his tales of horror as well as his haunting lyric poetry there is a whole other side to him other than a morbid, mysterious creature lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries. His childhood was very tragic and his adult life full of sorrow. This death though, was something to for everyone to think about. Poe, I believe is one of the most unique characters in the literary world. Edgar Poe (his original name), was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston. Within three years of his birth, both of Poe’s parents had died. His two siblings, Henry and Rosalie, moved away to live with other families. Poe, however, went to live with a wealthy tobacco merchant, Mr. John Allan, (hence, acquiring the middle name Allan). Poe had always dreamed since his childhood to be a writer, but, Mr. Allan wanted him to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman. Because of Poe’s immense interest in poetry, by the time he was thirteen, he had acquired enough poetry to make a book. In 1826, Poe left for the University of Virginia. While excelling in his classes he had also accumulated a considerable amount of debt. Because of Poe’s debt, he had taken up to gambling to pay off his debts. Since gambling had not solved any of Poe’s problems, he dropped out of school. Furious and humiliated, Poe went to his fiancé, Elmira Royster only to find that she had an affair with another man. Even more infuriated and broken, Poe set out for a quest for becoming a great author and adventure. He accomplished his first objective by publishing his first book Tamerlane, at the age of eighteen. After that Poe enrolled into the United States Military Academy at West Point. At West Point, Poe heard that Allan had gotten a second marriage without him knowing of it. He threatened Allan and told him he’d get expelled if he got married again. Eight months later, Poe was expelled. Poe moved back to his first father’s house and met his Aunt Clemm who was willing enough to let him stay with her at her own home. Clemm’s daughter, Virginia, soon became Poe’s fiancé. While Poe was in Baltimore, he became the magazine writer for the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. His sensational stories and scathing book reviews caused the Messenger to become instantly popular. He was known for being a critic that furiously attacked the author’s work and the author. At the age of twenty seven he married his fourteen year old fiancé, Virginia. After a year in New York, Poe moved to Philadelphia for better pay. He worked for a number of magazines and was slowly was becoming famous. He also published another book called Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. He wanted to change the face of the magazine industry but failed for the lack of necessary funding. In January 1845, Poe probably made his biggest success. With the publication of The Raven, Poe became a household name. he had also published two other books that year and started running his own magazine, the Broadway Journal his career was at it’s peak. However, rumors about his relationship with another woman and his wife’s deteriorating health made him leave the city in 1846. The year after Poe left Philadelphia, Virginia died. He was devastated and had a major writer’s block for a couple of months. Most critics believed after this incident Poe would be done- for good. The critics were right, Poe lived for only two more years giving lectures and writing for his latest magazine The Stylus. After staying a long time in Philadelphia, Poe went to Baltimore. He met his first fiancé and later had disappeared for five days. Poe was found dead in a bar room in a public house. Poe spent his last days in a hospital near the public house and was surrounded by strangers. He died on October 7, 1849 at the age of fourty. The exact causes of Poe’s death remains a mystery though some think it may have been because of alcoholism or that he was just too overwhelmed and distraught over everything that had happened. The cause of his death is probably the most mysterious and eerie thing in Poe’s life. Edgar Allan Poe has been known as the king of the horror and Goth genre. People have had theories of his stories and believe that “no human mind can conjure such horrible things”. (http://www.enotes.com/authors/edgar-allan-poe). Some have even said that Poe had done terrible murders and crime and has seen supernatural images. Though his stories seem terrifyingly realistic no one can prove that those things had actually happened to him. Poe, I believe, is the most fascinatingly interesting writer I have ever known. Works Cited
~ ”Poe’s Life”. http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php 2010,Edgar Allan Poe Museum
~ “Edgar Allan Poe”. http://www.enotes.com/authors/edgar-allan-poe
~ “Biography of Edgar Allan Poe”. http://poestories.com/biography.php 2005, Poe Stories

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