MEET EDGAR ALLAN POE

Edgar Allan Poe

1809-1849

Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809, to David and Elizabeth Poe.  Elizabeth had already left her husband and subsequently died when Edgar was only 2 years old.  He and his brother and sister were all parceled off in different directions, with Edgar being adopted by John and Frances Allan. Poe's education included both the U.K. and America, including a year at the University of Virginia in 1826.  Alcohol and debt became problems, and Edgar Allan left the university less than a year later.  He was successful in his application to West Point, but neither was that endeavor successful.

In 1831, Edgar Allan found himself in New York City.  He had his first poetry published at that time, but there were more rejection than acceptance letters. Edgar got his first  job in 1835 as a newspaper editor in Richmond, Virginia, as a result of his winning a contest with his story The Manuscript Found in a Bottle.  At this point, Edgar sent for his aunt and cousin Virginia, who came to live with him.  Less than a year later, Edgar, then 27, married his cousin who was only 13 years old.

Poe moved from job to job and town to town, taking with him each time his wife and grandmother.  In 1845, Virginia grew ill, and in 1847, she was gone.  Poe became deeply depressed following this great loss.  In 1849, Poe returned to Virginia and became reacquainted with a woman he had known in his youth, Sarah Royster Shelton, and planned to marry her later that year.  He, at about the same time, joined the "The Sons of Temperance" in a struggle to overcome his alcoholism.

Later in 1849, Poe was hospitalized in Baltimore, Maryland.  The circumstances surrounding his hospitalization and death remain mysterious, much as the man himself.

This blog is dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe--to his life, his death and the struggles he had with his personal demons.