The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 1 By Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan
Poe (January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet,
editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short
stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely
regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of
American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest
practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the
inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with
contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first
well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone,
resulting in a financially difficult life and career.Poe was born in
Boston, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His
father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following
year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of
Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he was with
them well into young adulthood. Tension developed later as Poe and John
Allan repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by
gambling, and the cost of Poe's education. Poe attended the University
of Virginia but left after a year due to lack of money. He quarreled
with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the United
States Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at this time that his
publishing career began with the anonymous collection Tamerlane and
Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan
reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife in
1829. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a
firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with
Allan.Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years
working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his
own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among
several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. He
married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1836, but Virginia
died of tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845, Poe published his poem
"The Raven" to instant success. He planned for years to produce his own
journal The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), but before it could be
produced, he died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, at age 40.
