Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, where his mother
had been employed as an actress. Elizabeth Arnold Poe died in
Richmond on December 8, 1811, and Edgar was taken into the family of
John Allan, a member of the firm of Ellis and Allan, tobacco-
merchants. After attending schools in England and Richmond, young Poe
registered at the University of Virginia on February 14, 1826, the
second session of the University. He lived in Room 13, West Range. He
became an active member of the Jefferson Literary Society, and passed
his courses with good grades at the end of the session in December.
Mr. Allan failed to give him enough money for necessary expenses, and
Poe made debts of which his so-called father did not approve. When
Mr. Allan refused to let him return to the University, a quarrel
ensued, and Poe was driven from the Allan home without money. Mr.
Allan probably sent him a little money later, and Poe went to Boston.
There he published a little volume of poetry, Tamerlane and Other
Poems. It is such a rare book now that a single copy has sold for
$200,000.00 In Boston on May 26, 1827, Poe enlisted in The United
States Army as a private using the name Edgar A. Perry. After two
years of service, during which he was promoted to the rank of
Sergeant-major, he secured, with Mr. Allan's aid, a discharge from
the Army and went to Baltimore. He lived there with his aunt, Mrs.
Maria Poe Clemm, on the small amounts of money sent by Mr. Allan
until he received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point.Meanwhile, Poe published a second book of poetry in 1829: Al
Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. After another quarrel with Allan
(who had married a second wife in 1830), Poe no longer received aid
from his foster father. Poe then took the only method of release from
the Academy, and got himself dismissed on March 6, 1831.Soon after
Poe left West Point, a third volume appeared: Poems by Edgar Allan
Poe, Second Edition. While living in Baltimore with his aunt, Mrs.
Clemm, young Poe began writing prose tales. Five of these appeared in
the Philadelphia Saturday Courier in 1832.With the December issue of
1835, Poe began editing the Southern Literary Messenger for Thomas W.
White in Richmond; he held this position until January, 1837. During
this time, Poe married his young cousin, Virginia Clemm in Richmond
on May 16, 1836.Poe's slashing reviews and sensational tales made him
widely known as an author; however, he failed to find a publisher for
a volume of burlesque tales, Tales of the Folio Club. Harpers did,
however, print his book-length narrative, Arthur Gordon Pym in July
of 1838.Little is known about Poe's life after he left the Messenger;
however, in 1838 he went to Philadelphia where he lived for six
years. He was an editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine from July,
1839 to June, 1840, and of Graham's Magazine from April, 1841 to May,
1842. In April, 1844, with barely car fare for his family of three,
[including his aunt, Virginia's mother, who lived with them], Poe
went to New York where he found work on the New York Evening Mirror.
In 1840, Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in
two volumes in Philadelphia. In 1845, Poe became famous with the
spectacular success of his poem "The Raven," and in March of that
year, he joined C. F. Briggs in an effort to publish The Broadway
Journal. Also in 1845,Wiley and Putnam issued Tales by Edgar A. Poe
and The Raven and Other Poems. The year 1846 was a tragic one. Poe
rented the little cottage at Fordham, where he lived the last three
years of his life. The Broadway Journal failed, and Virginia became
very ill and died on January 30, 1847. After his wife's death, Poe
perhaps yielded more often to a weakness for drink, which had beset
him at intervals since early manhood. He was unable to take even a
little alcohol without a change of personality, and any excess was
accompanied by physical prostration. Throughout his life those
illnesses had interferred with his success as an editor, and had
given him a reputation for intemperateness that he scarcely deserved.
In his latter years, Poe was interested in several women. They
included the poetess, Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, Mrs. Charles
Richmond, and the widow, Mrs. Sarah Elmira Shelton, whom he had known
in his boyhood as Miss Royster.The circumstances of Poe's death
remain a mystery. After a visit to Norfolk and Richmond for lectures,
he was found in Baltimore in a pitiable condition and taken
unconscious to a hospital where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849.
He was buried in the yard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in
Baltimore, Maryland. In personal appearance, Poe was a quiet, shy-
looking but handsome man; he was slightly built, and was five feet,
eight inches in height. His mouth was considered beautiful. His eyes,
with long dark lashes, were hazel-gray.
-- Anonymous, January 21, 2004