(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); One man burying another man alive, a cat exposing the fact that his master had murdered his wife, and the beating heart of a dead man that only the murderer could hear- these were only a few of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous works of literature. Many of these stories were banned when they were written because of their scary subject matter. Even though they were banned, these and other works by Poe remain popular today. Edgar Allan Poe was born January, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the second of three children. In 1810, Edgar Allan Poe parents separated and Poe went to live with his mother Elizabeth. When Poe was two his mother died and his father deserted him.
Edgar Allan Poe became John Allan’s ward when he was just two years old. John Allan was a very rich merchant. The Allan family was able to live in the United Kingdom for five years. In 1820, they moved back to Richmond, Virginia. Poe went to school when he was in the United Kingdom and continued when they went back to Richmond.
Edgar Allan Poe went to The Academy of William Burke when he was fourteen years old. At William Burke he did very well in athletics. In 1826, he enrolled with the University of Virginia. He had gambling debts and John Allan refused to pay them off. He then had to drop out of school because he had no money. At one point Poe was so poor that he had to burn his own furniture to stay warm.
When Poe was eighteen, he enrolled in the United States Army. He attained the rank of sergeant major when he was nineteen. In 1829, Poe returned home because Mrs. Allan died. This made John Allan and Poe forget their differences. In that same year Poe applied to West Point, a U.S. Military Academy. John Allan supported him going to West Point by giving money. In 1831, Poe deliberately was expelled for neglecting his duties.
Poe submitted stories to a magazine in 1832, but they were all rejected. In 1833, he sent a desperate letter asking for the help to John Allan, who ignored it. In that year John Allan died and did not include Poe in his will. But in 1835, things got a little brighter for Poe; he got a job by winning a contest by writing “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle”. After that he married Virginia Clemm, when she was thirteen and he was twenty-seven. Even though Poe and Virginia were so far apart in age, their marriage was a very happy one.
Edgar Allan Poe was always a good student and had a talent for writing. He published his first book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. This first book of poetry was published in 1827, and Poe was eighteen years old. Two years later Poe published a second book of poems, but he was not happy with his work.
Even though magazines rejected some of his early works, Poe won a contest with his short story “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle”. The prize for winning this contest was a job, which Poe needed badly. A few years later, Poe published a book of short stories called “Grotesque and Arabesque” but received no money for it. A year later, Poe wrote one of his most successful short stories called “The Gold Bug”.
Poe and his wife lived in Baltimore and Philadelphia, but ended up moving to New York City. It was there that Poe wrote some of his most famous pieces of literature. In 1843, he published one of his most famous short stories called “The Tell-Tale Heart”. In 1845, Poe’s poem “The Raven”, was published. Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849 on October seventh, he was forty years old. The cause of his death is still uncertain. During Edgar Allan Poe’s life he faced many hardships. Poe lost both parents at an early age, had a difficult relationship with his stepfather, and faced drug and alcohol problems. Despite how popular he is today, he lived a hard life as a writer because he did not make much money while he was alive. Today Poe is one of the most popular and well respected authors of all time. His stories and poems will always be popular with future readers because they are so entertaining.