Edgar Allen Poe was the child of an actress and an actor ... Elizabeth Arnold Poe, and David Poe, Jr. He was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts.His mother died rather tragically when Edgar was only two years old. The young Edgar Allen went to live with his godfather, John Allen, and his wife.
In 1815, his godfather sent him to England and Scotland to begin his classical education.
When he returned to Richmond, Virginia in the United States, he studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian ... He did well, but while at the university, he gambled so excessively, that John Allen discontinued his collage education.
After returning to Richmond, he was devastated to find his girlfriend, Elmira Royster, engaged to another man ... He left home once more, this time going to Boston where he published a pamphlet of poems entitled Tamerlane and Other
He soon found that publishing small works did not bring in the amount of money he had gotten used to living with.
Because of his financial shortcomings, he decided to join the army under a false name. Edgar A. Perry ... When his foster mother died, John Allen then purchased a release for him from the army, and helped to get him appointed at a United States Military Academy at West Point ... Before leaving for military school, he published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Shortly after, Edgar Allen got expelled from West Point for being absent from all drills and classes for a straight week.
In 1835, Edgar Allen Poe became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond and made a name for himself as a critical reviewer.
Then, in his mid-twenties, Poe fell in love with his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, and married her. His poem, "To My Mother", was really written to Virginia's mother, Mrs. Maria Clemm, now his aunt/mother-in-law.
Poe did not drink often, but when he did he drank a lot. Usually his drinking was in a public place, and he had a habit of making a scene ... As a result, he was fired from his job as editor because of this. At this point in his life many people began thinking he was also a drug addict, but actually he had a brain lesion. It was this illness that was responsible for his fevered dreams and intense nightmares.
Poe went on to write for and edit many papers and magazines. He was published often, and his name became more and more dominant in the world of literature.
During 1845 Edgar and a famous, yet older poet, Frances Sargent Locke Osgood, began a rather close relationship. His young wife, Virginia, didn't object.
His wife, Virginia, died in January of 1847 ... A year later, Poe left for Providence, Rhode Island to pursue another poet, Sarah Ellen Whitman ... They were engaged briefly; it seems he had many close platonic relationships with a great multitude of women, of whom he seemed to favor poets.
In 1849, Poe returned to Richmond where he was reunited with his lost love Elmira. She had been widowed, and he finally got engaged to he. And notwithstanding, even after finding the love of his life, he had yet another relationship with a poet by the name of Susan Archer Talley.
On October 7, 1849 ... Edgar Allen toasted a lady's birthday in Baltimore ... For the rest of the night he began to drink heavily. He died that day. Many believe his heart was weak and couldn't take the stress of over indulgence in alcohol ... Yet officially he died of: "excessive nervous prostration affecting the brain" or lobar pneumonia. Poe was buried in West Minister Presbyterian church yard in Baltimore.
... My favorite poems ...