Kelder Monar December 7, 2003 Language Arts-4th
The Life of Poe
Edgar Allan Poes life was a short forty years of poverty, anxiety, and almost unbelievable tragedy. Despite this, he managed to write 48 poems, about 42 short stories, and one novel, the Narrative of Arthur Gorgon Pyn. He has since become one of the best known American authors. Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston. Unfortunately, his father deserted his family when Poe was only a year and a half old. Before he was three, Poes mother died. Wealthy tobacco exporter John Allan and his wife Frances raised Poe as a foster child in Richmond, Va., though they never adopted him. Between 1815 and 1820, Poe and his foster family lived in England, where he attended a private school near London. Poe never had a good relationship with his foster father. In 1826, while Poe attended the University of Virginia, John Allan sent him barely the money on which to survive, despite his outstanding academic performance. Thus, Poe was forced to gamble to win money for such rudimentary items as books and clothing. The debts Poe accumulated caused Allan to withdraw him from the university. The two quarreled frequently about Poes future, because although Allan wished for Poe to attend law school, Poe was determined to follow a literary path. He left Virginia for Boston, where he ended up doing neither. At the age of eighteen, Poe did not know what to do with his life. At the crossroads of boyhood and manhood, Poe enlisted in the military under the alias Edgar A. Perry. He did well, and by the time he was honorably discharged two years later in 1829, Poe had attained the rank of sergeant major. He moved to Baltimore with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and cousin, Virginia Clemm. When his stepmother died, Poe entered West Point in 1830 to gain John Allans favor. Allan, however, remarried, and Poe concluded he would never receive inheritance from Allan and gave up on reconciling. He deliberately broke West Point regulations, forcing the Military Academy to dismiss him. Poe began his literary career in 1827 with two poetry volumes, titled Tamerlane and other Poems and Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. In
1831, he wrote Poems, and although it included three of his best works, it failed to garner him any recognition. Poe subsequently became discouraged and started writing short stories. Poe won a $50 prize for MS Found in a Bottle. Soon afterward, he took a job editing the Southern Literary Messenger, which increased readership from 500 to over 3,500 during his tenure. On Sept. 15, 1835, Poe secretly married his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and it was made public eight months later. Poe continued to have economic problems. Unable to support his wife and aunt on his $10-a-week magazine salary, he moved to New York City in 1836. He published his novel, the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pyn. Poe then moved to Philadelphia in 1838, where he edited two magazines and continued to write. He and his family often went underfed because of Poes meager salary. He published a collection of his short stories, which yet again failed to bring him any money or fame, called Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Poe moved once more to New York City in 1844, where he lived the remainder of his life. Things finally started to look up for Poe at the age of 35. In 1845, he wrote The Raven, his most famous poem, as well as publishing twelve short stories. James Russell Lowell wrote the first essay-length praise of Poe as a writer, also in 1845. He complemented Poe as the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic on imaginative works who has written in America. Just as Poe emerged as a major writer, his life took a turn toward tragedy. After a five-year struggle with tuberculosis, his wife died in 1847. This led Poe toward alcohol as a way to alleviate his grief. Unfortunately, Poe had a very low tolerance for alcohol, so any drinking at all brought him trouble. Unlike gossip at the time claimed, he never abused drugs, nor was he a drunkard, and in fact was reported to be sober, responsible, courteous, and hard-working most of the time by his business associates. Poe proposed to his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Royster Shelton, in 1849. When traveling through Baltimore to bring his Aunt Clemm to the wedding, he stopped in the city. He was found lying on the ground outside a voting place on October 3. He died in delirium after four days. Ironically, his odd and mysterious demise shared many qualities with his stories. It is a fitting end for a man who so greatly mattered to American literature.
