Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and lost both his parents at a very young age; his father ran away and his mother died shortly after. He was brought up by another couple who never adopted him and were often unfriendly with him when he was an adult. Poe went to the University of Virginia, but soon left, saying he could not afford the fees because his ‘father’ did not send him enough money. He joined the Army but could never pass the officer’s exams. Poe’s ‘father’ only allowed him to leave the Army after the death of his ‘mother’. Then, he decided to become a journalist and write fiction. His poem, ‘The Raven’, is one of the most famous works of horror ever written and his short stories are masterpieces, although his only novel, Poe said himself, was laughably bad. However we see his work now, Poe could never get enough money from it to give up his job. His wife, only thirteen when he married her, died of tuberculosis and Poe became more confused and alcoholic than he was before. His death is one of the greatest mysteries in literary history: he was found lying in the street in another man’s clothes and with his fingers blackened. He died in 1849, without speaking clearly enough to explain how it happened. He was only 40.