His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Poe is best remembered for his tales of terror and haunting poems, but he is also credited as one of the earliest writers of short stories, the inventor of the modern detective story, and an innovator in the genre of science fiction.
His works include short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and numerous essays and book reviews.
Poe is considered America’s first well-known professional writer (and thus, starving artist); he eked out his living as the country’s first great literary critic and theoretician.
He was born Edgar Poe in Boston in 1809; his parents were both actors. His parents were performing in Shakespeare’s King Lear the year he was born, leading to speculation that he was named for the play’s Earl of Gloucester's son, Edgar.
Poe was the middle child of three. His brother, William Henry Leonard Poe, was also a poet, his sister Rosalie Poe was a teacher of penmanship.
Before Edgar reached the age of 4, his parents died and he was taken in by a wealthy merchant named John Allan and his wife, Francis. They lived in Richmond, Virginia, and christened the boy with the name Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe started on a college career, but with little financial support from the miserly Allan, Poe embarked on a long journey of poverty and debt. Money problems haunted him and tensions with his foster father prompted him into determination to become a successful writer.
He published his first book, "Tamerlane," when he has 18.
When Allan died, Poe was living in poverty .. but he was left out of the will, which nonetheless provided for an illegitimate child who Allan hadn't even ever met. Ouch.
He married his first cousin, Virginia Clemm (left), when she was 13 and he was 27. (OK, so maybe that's a bit odd by today’s standards.) She died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis.
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