The world has seen many great writers in its time, but one in particular, is believed to have changed it all. He is known for his rather dark works, filled with everything from mystery to tragedy to romance. This writer is also said to have not even been in his right mind whilst writing this large collection of short stories and poems, for his words are so compelling. Deep yet psychotic, many wonder how he’d even got this way, developed these thoughts that drove him to create stories that would later be known all around the world.
Edgar Allan Poe was born into a family of actors, though he’d never exactly know his parents well. His mother, Eliza, gave birth to Poe in Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1809, his father abandoning the family shortly after. At age three, Eliza Poe died of tuberculosis, leaving Poe and his siblings with no recollection of her, but a foster family to give Edgar the proper childhood that Eliza, unfortunately, could not.
The foster family consisted of John and Frances Allan, residing in Richmond, Virginia. John was very successful as a tobacco merchant, providing for his wife and now, Edgar. Because of the Allans, Poe got exactly what his mother has always hoped for, a normal, steady childhood. But Poe did not care much for a career like John Allan’s later in life. His real passion would always be writing.
In 1826, Poe attended the University of Virginia. Shortly after arriving, he went into debt and couldn’t seem to pay the school the money he promised he would. John Allan refusing to help, Poe turned to gambling, which only left him further in debt. When Edgar decided to leave and return to the Allans, he found his childhood crush, that he was actually engaged to, a fiancee to someone else. He decided to leave Richmond again, frustrated with all he’d dealt with in his past, though his troubles were only just beginning.
A year passed and Poe found his writings denied; he believed that joining the army would be a good idea. A military academy in West Point interested him greatly, so finally, with John Allan’s help, Edgar got into West Point, only to be kicked out a year later.After all of this, Poe made up his mind to travel whilst focusing on his one true love: writing.
Settling in Baltimore with his aunt Maria Clemm and cousin, Virginia. He had become infatuated with Virginia and the two married when she was only 13 years old. She would become an inspiration for a numerous amount of writings he would later create.
Poe had a steady job as a critic for a magazine, even publishing his novel through it at one point, but he left the magazine in 1837, still writing a generous amount of his time. But everything changed for him when Virginia, his lovely young wife, died of tuberculosis, the same way his mother passed. Grief stricken, he continued writing stories with the same contents as most of the other. All his stories seemed to show a pattern of death and loss and someone being so distraught and suffering from losing someone. It hadn’t now seemed too ironic, considering everything in his life that he’d lost.
October 7th, 1849, a man is found half conscious on a street in Baltimore. He was identified to be Edgar. There are many theories of his death, but none are for certain. Still, he left a tremendous impact on the way we write today. His stories leaving us in awe, his life inspiring us to do great things despite our obstacles. Edgar never gave up on his passion, and his legacy will forever live on.
