Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, on January 19^th, 1809. His parents, David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold, both died when Poe was young. In 1811, John and Frances Allan, who were from Richmond, Virginia, took him in, though they never officially adopted him. Frances was kind to him, but John disapproved of his ambitions to become a writer.

 In 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. Allan gave him a scant allowance, so Poe attempted to procure money through gambling. This attempt failed, and Poe went into debt. Allan withdrew him from the university, and the two had a quarrel. Poe then went back to Boston, where he published his first book of poems, Tamerlane, in 1827. Later in the same year, he enlisted in the Army.

He was discharged in 1829, and went to Baltimore. There he lived with his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm. He then published his second book of poems, Al Aaraaf. He joined the Military Academy at West Point, at John Allan’s urging. When Allan remarried, Poe left the academy, as he had no hope of becoming Allan’s heir. He began to write prose tales for a Philadelphia newspaper.

In 1835, he became an editor for a local newspaper. He married his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1837. In the early 1840s, publishers started to recognize his ability, and included some of his short stories and poems in newspapers. Many of Poe’s stories, like The Gold Bug, were precursors to modern mystery novels.

 Very little is known about the last years of Poe’s life. The little we know is that his wife died in 1847, and he was greatly saddened by it. He died in Baltimore in 1849. The circumstances of his death are disputed even today. Some say that the cause of his death was rabies, while others say that he died of an alcohol overdose. No matter what the cause of his death, Poe contributed a lot to society. I believe he will be remembered for many years to come.