Edgar Allan Poe; Fame Inspired by a Tragic Life

Edgar Allen Poe was bone in Boston on January 19 1809 to David and Elizabeth Poe. He lost his parents at the age of two years and had to be adopted by John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan. John Allan was a very wealthy man but he only gave Edgar a third of his school requirements and this alienated him from Edgar. When Allan’s wife dies Edgar also decides to move out because he could not put up with John Allan. Edgar loved poetry from a tender age. He even wrote verses to girls that he developed feelings for. He could have had his first poetry book published by the age of 14 years but there was no support both from his teachers and his adoptive parents. In the course of his life Edgar became an alcoholic and mentally disturbed and this enhanced his writing skills. He created his characters trough imagination to show mystery and adventure.

Another aspect of Poe's life, which greatly affected his writing, was his poverty. Silverman agrees saying that, poverty was a consistent thread throughout his entire life (except his time with the Allans). In his early years, his mother's career as an actress often left them with little more than donations from people who pitied the family.(10) Also, later in his

Poe was raised by his God parents after his parents died at the age of three. He was involved in Gambling and he also drank a lot. According

The life of Edgar Allan Poe is not a tale of ease. Poe’s life was full of personal and fiscal disaster. These disasters help to mold some of the most ominous and intellectually challenging poetry ever written. For the short duration of Poe’s life, he was seen as a literary critic rather than an author. To the modern generation his unbeknown status seems bafflingly inconceivable, considering his now acclaimed publications. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing was very much dictated by his life. The mournful tone of Edgar Allan Poe’s life created his literature; death and all his friends narrated Poe’s life. Edgar Allan Poe shows his life’s constant despair through his poetry and short story writings.

Poe’s troubled childhood contributed to many difficult relationships with others. He did not get along with his foster father John Allan, as their strong personalities conflicted often, leading to general distrust between the two. Allan described Poe as lazy, ungrateful, “miserable, sulky, & ill-tempered” (Allan, John. Received by Henry Poe, 1 Nov. 1824.). Allan could not provide enough money to support Edgar at university, so Poe resorted to gambling, and ended up in debt. This enraged his foster father, and he refused to help Poe financially. Later on, Poe’s foster mother, Frances Allan, died, separating a connection between the two men. Poe’s gambling and drinking that led to his deliberate expulsion from West Point also angered his father. Later, Poe became engaged in more family issues and eventually his foster father disowned him. However, the breaking point of their relationship occured when Poe wrote to Sergeant Samuel Graves, stating that “Mr. A[llan] is not very often sober” (Poe, Edgar Allan. Received by Sergeant Samuel Graves, Richmond, 3 May 1830, Richmond.). Allan learned of this and sent an undocumented letter to Poe, who replied accusing his father of abuse:  “I wrote to you for some more money, and for books — You replied in terms of the utmost abuse — if I had been the vilest wretch on earth you could not have been more abusive than you were” (Poe, Edgar Allan. Received by John Allan, West Point Military Academy, 3 Jan. 1831, West Point Military Academy).

A man famous for his darker writing styles. Almost all of his numerous poems and writings include a darker element. This can be contributed to his childhood. As he grew up his childhood was not as easy and laid-back as other children. His family was almost completely broke and living in Boston. On top of that, by the time the poet was three parents were both dead. His father had left him when he was two and his mother had died when he was three. He may have gotten his artistic influences from his parents, who were both professional actors. Poe was the put in the care of a man named John Allan and a woman named Frances. John was a prosperous tobacco trader and Poe had a well supported child hood. He went to the first rate boarding schools. He went above and beyond expectations in grades. He soon graduated and went to the University of Virginia. However, only one year of school he was forced to return home because John refused to pay his gambling debts. Because of this he fell into the habit of heavy drinking and married a 13 year old girl. He then lost his beloved wife and began writing more and more depressing stories. He tried to start up a magazine but he failed. As he grew more and more into the habit of drinking his writing grew slower. He soon died at the age of 40 from supposed alcohol

Struggling with debt, David Poe turned to the drink, left his wife, and died of Tuberculosis shortly thereafter in 1811. The same year, Edgar Poe lost his mother to the same disease as his father. A wealthy Richmond family named the Allan 's took Poe in and raised him as their own (although never formally adopting him). As a young child, Poe enjoyed a spoiled life and expensive education, learning many languages and reading literature from an early age. According to his teachers and tudors, Poe excelled in literature of every kind. While living in England for five years, he looked to a schoolmate’s mother named Jane Stanton for love (Meltzer 27). Her death by tuberculosis, devastated a young Poe who became unhappy and depressed. At sixteen, Poe attended the University of Virginia where he studied the modern and ancient languages of French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin (Meltzer 34). After a year, however, Poe’s relationship with his foster parent, John Allan, had quickly decayed. Poe gambled and wasted Allan’s money while in school. After returning to his home, Poe severed ties with Allan completely by leaving the Allan home permanently while Allan promised never to finance Poe or his education again. Poe left, alone, for his birth city, Boston. The absence of loving parental figures characterized many of Poe’s future writings.

Edgar Allan Poe is the most morbid of all American authors. Poe made his impact in Gothic fiction, especially for the tales of the macabre of which he is so renowned for. “How can so strange & so fine a genius & so sad a life, be exprest [sic] & comprest in on line — would it not be best to say of Poe in a reverential spirit simply Requiescat in Pace [?]” — (Alfred Lord Tennyson’s reply to the Poe Memorial committee, February 18, 1876). Poe’s own life story sheds light on the darkness of his writings.

So when Poe visits his deathly father to say goodbye one last time, Poe is abruptly told to leave by John Allen’s second wife. Nevertheless Poe continues to say a farewell to his father but John Allan, using what little strength was left of him, “raised his cane, & threatened to strike him if he came within his reach, ordered him out; upon which Poe withdrew, & that was the last time they ever met” (Poe Log, p. 137). When John Allan died on March 27, 1834, his will made no mention of Poe.

While Poe was believed to be mentally deranged he still is one of the greatest authors to date. He had no parents, and lived with a foster family. He never finished college and fell into great debt. As he became a rising author the fame was short lived as he was criticized by many. With some of the scariest stories to date and one of the best authors throughout history Poe is a very noteworthy author. As Poe had really began his career in debt he also ended his life in debt. For many years to come Poes various spine tingling stories shall live

Edgar Allan Poe went to private schools and did well in his studies. He quickly became fascinated with writing. Poe went on to study at the University of Virginia. At the university, Poe drank and gambled too much that his father, John Allan, was cut off from all funds. Poe then moved to Boston in hopes to become a great writer.

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, and led a very traumatic life. Both of his parents died of consumption when he was two years old, and then “Mr. John Allan, a very wealthy gentleman of Richmond, Virginia, took a fancy to me, and persuaded my grandfather, General Poe, to suffer him to adopt me” (Symons 3). Though he never legally adopted him, John Allan gave him the name “Edgar Allan Poe.” Poe and his adoptive father never had a healthy

Edgar Allan Poe’s writing had certainly been impacted by his life. Poe was born to his mother, Eliza Poe, in 1809. However, his alcoholic father, David Poe Jr., had left him. His mother later died of Tuberculosis when he was still young. Although he had joined the Allan Family, this absence of his parents brought him to be lonely. His foster father, John Allan, raised Poe as if he was his own, but Poe and his

Allan had sent Poe to college with less than a third of the funds he needed.(Famous 5). By the end of his first term he was so desperate that he took up gambling and sold his possessions(Famous 5). Poe was forced to drop out of school which caused great strife between John Allan, his foster parent (Famous 5).

Before discussing the topic proper, the reader must understand the writing style of Edgar Allan Poe. His father abandons the family leaving his mother to raise 3 children on her own. Both of the parents die leaving the children, at very young ages, homeless. A man named John Allan takes in Poe and raises him. However, after Allan’s firm fails he refuses to financially support Poe. Edgar Allan Poe begins to drink and fall into deep debt. His resolution is to gamble, but he ends up losing even more money. He loses around “$2000, around $30,000 in current value” (Baym 629). Being forced to drop out of his first year in college, he