Edgar Allen Poe Biography

Movies may not have been such an exciting profession to be in, if it were not for a gentleman called Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar Allen Poe is best known for his poems and short fiction; he deserves more credit than any other writer for the creation of the psychological thriller genre.

Edgar Allen Poe is the original Stephen King. He is the father of edge the seat entertainment. Edgar Allen Poe also produced some of the most influential literary criticism of his time, important theoretical statements on poetry and short stories.

Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, Jan. 19, 1809. Edgar’s parents, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, were touring actors. Unfortunately David and Elizabeth died before Edgar was 3 years old.

Edgar was adopted by a prosperous merchant in Richmond by the name of John Allan. Poe next took up residence in Baltimore with his widowed aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia, and turned to fiction as a way to support himself.

Edgar Allen Poe’s efforts seem to pay off in July 1827 when "Tamerlane" was published. But this was also the time when Edgar enlisted for a position in the U.S. Army. He was not old enough to get in but he managed to get in by giving his age as 22 under the name of Edgar A. Perry.

Edgar had quite a few reasons to join the army, his grandfather's association with the revolutionary army, his own service in the Morgan Junior Riflemen, and Tamerlane also seemed to have a preference for the armed forces. But most importantly this meant that Edgar was economically self sufficient.

After 6 months of service Poe apparently contrived to be dismissed from West Point for disobedience of orders. Probably some realization hit Poe that it was writing that was his true calling. In 1832 the Philadelphia Saturday Courier published five of his stories. Most of his stories at that time were satiric in nature.

A year later Poe, his aunt, and Virginia moved to Richmond. 1835 was a break through year for Edgar Allen Poe because he not only did he become editor of the Southern Literary Messenger but he also married Virginia, who was not yet 14 years old.

Edgar Allen Poe was now ready to take on the world. Harper and Brothers in New York published Poe's first book of fiction. It was a 200 page book called "The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, of Nantucket". As a result of the depression and recession in the economy, the publishing was delayed but pirated versions were beginning to surface in Europe. The fact that people were ready to resort to piracy to read his work was a testament to Edgar Allen Poe’s popularity.

"The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" seemed to have been inspired by Poe’s own life. Friends turn out to be enemies, enemies turn out to be friends, people in motion seen from afar turn out to be rotting corpses when seen from a shorter distance. Indirectly Edgar Allen Poe addressed some of the social malaises of the day. Readers are constantly led into an alternating world of fantasy and reality.

Edgar Allen Poe went on to write approximately 90 book reviews. It was during this period that Edgar Allen Poe released "The Fall of the House of Usher". It was a classic horror story with conventional Gothic features such as stealthy servants, sounds of heavy iron doors, and collapsing buildings. Though the story itself seemed to have cliched Poe’s treatment of it was nothing short of divine. This book signaled the arrival of Edgar Allen Poe in the upper echelons of the literary world.

Poe’s next book was called "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". It was published in 1841. This book is supposed to be the first modern detective story ever written. Edgar Allen Poe referred to this new literary style as "tales of ratiocination", there was a good reason for this - the word detective did not exist at the time. "The Murders in the Rue Morgueâ" received stupendous success all across the United States; one of the reasons could be that people were tired and terrified of the escalating crime rate in the country.

Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most famous alcoholics of his time. His incessant drinking sullied his reputation. Edgar Allen Poe’s death seems straight out of one of his novels, he was discovered lying outside a pub in Baltimore, trembling and raving. Poe slipped into a coma soon after he was admitted to the hospital. He snapped out of it two days later and spoke lucidly to visitors.

Poe suddenly grew delirious and violent. On Oct. 7, 1849 Edgar Allen Poe died in Baltimore. At the time it was assumed that alcohol was the main culprit but research conducted subsequently reveals that rabies could be the cause.