Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author and poet famous for his gothic style of writing. His poem "The Raven" is one of the best known poems in the Western world. His short stories, such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat, are almost equally famous. Poe is also known for writing the first detective stories. His fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, first appeared in the short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Edgar Poe was born January 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were both actors and his father left soon after Poe was born. His mother died in 1811. Poe was taken in by the tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances, but was never legally adopted.

The Allan family and Poe traveled to England in 1815 and spent the next five years in England and Scotland. In 1820 they returned to Richmond, Virginia. Poe attended the University of Virginia but dropped out of school within the first year, possibly because of gambling debts.

In 1827, Poe joined the army. That same year, he published his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems. Two years later he left the army. In 1830 he enrolled at West Point. Again, Poe left before the year was out. He spent some time in New York City and published another book of poetry.

Poe took a job editing for the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia in 1835. Later that year, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia. Poe left the magazine in 1837 and went to work for Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. In 1838 he published his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

From 1840 to 1845, Poe worked for several magazines and wrote some of his most famous works, including the C. Auguste Dupin stories and The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. In 1845, the publication of "The Raven" made Poe an instant celebrity. It was published in the magazine The Evening Mirror and in the poetry collection The Raven and Other Poems.

In 1847, Poe's health was failing and his wife, Virginia, died of tuberculosis. A letter written by Poe in 1848 indicated that he may have attempted suicide. The next year, Poe was on his way to Philadelphia when he fell unconscious. He died four days later. He is buried in Baltimore, Maryland.