There is probably no person in the world who does not know the famous writer, poet, novelist and critic Edgar Allan Poe. His story The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a classic literature, popular even in the 21st century. The writer’s works are so mesmerizing that one becomes addicted to them. Still, many people are more familiar with Allan Poe’s work than his life story. Therefore, this article will describe not only Poe’s creative path but also his life. Read more on philadelphia1.one.
Death of parents and adoption
On January 19, 1809, the life of the future writer began. The city of birth was Boston. Edgar Poe’s parents worked as actors and had ancient Irish roots. However, their happiness was short. When the baby was only 2 years old, his mother and father fell ill and died of tuberculosis. The situation was difficult because they left not only Edgar but also two more children.
Poe’s future fate was decided rather quickly due to his young age. Almost immediately he became the named child of the wealthy Scottish merchant John Allan. This happened thanks to the husband’s wife. She was incredibly fascinated by the boy and persuaded the man to adopt him.
At such an early age, Edgar stood out among other children. He was quite a lively and intelligent kid. This became another factor why the woman decided to give him a new home and loving parents.
After all the documents were prepared, Allan’s wife and her sister completely surrounded the child with their love and full care. They tried to give Edgar everything he could want, including financially. The family was wealthy and the boy grew up in a big house.
Life in a new family
Edgar learned to read at the age of 5. This achievement was followed by the ability to write, draw and recite poems. His named mother dressed him like a little prince. Life was quite luxurious. In addition to elegant clothes, the boy had ponies and dogs. His pockets were always full of money and he did not deny himself anything.
If we talk about the named father, even though the desire to adopt the child was not his, he was very proud of his son. He was not a gentle person and had a rather hot-tempered character. The man severely punished the boy for significant misdeeds. Poe understood that it was better not to joke with his father. When he knew that he could not avoid the punishment, Edgar tried to find some way out of the situation.
Education
In 1815, Edgar moved to England with his new family. There, he began studying at a London boarding school. Thanks to this period, the boy first fell in love with English poetry. Later, he began to admire words because they provided the possibility to express feelings, emotions, state of mind, etc. Later, Charles Dickens praised the boy, saying that Poe was the guardian of the purity of the English language.
The stay abroad ended and the family returned to their home in Richmond. In his homeland, the boy went to the English classical school, where he began to study English literature. The teachers were quite experienced and provided a strong educational background. This led to an even greater interest in the writing and development of the talent of the young Edgar Poe.
A change in life
There is a theory that Poe had a big fight with his guardian in 1827. The reason was the debt that Edgar accumulated while studying at the university, apparently because of his passion for gambling. The young man had no money to repay the debt. The only way out was his stepfather, who could solve all the problems. However, the conditions that his father set for him turned out to be impossible for Edgar. Allan Sr. promised to pay the debt but the boy had to obey him and do everything he said.
Edgar’s pride blinded him and he said farewell to his home. He did not want to stay because he understood that the writer’s future could end at the same moment when everything would depend on his father’s decision. Although Poe did not know at the time that this event would lead to famine and poverty.
A new course in life
After Poe left home, he set out for Boston. There he tried to publish his debut collection at his own expense, which was called Tamerlane and Other Poems. However, the first attempt turned out to be a failure because it did not gain popularity.
Probably, Poe thought that he could become famous quickly. However, everything happened exactly the opposite, which led to prolonged poverty. This state of life caused him to turn to alcohol and drugs, as he believed that this way he could escape from his daily problems at least for a while.
Poe was not a bad writer. On the contrary, he devoted himself to writing something new. Edgar invented texts in every free minute. His main problem was that the fees for the work were too small. Another sign was that the writer’s work was not of much interest to connoisseurs of literature.
First recognition and relocation
In 1832, the situation in his life changed. A local magazine announced a competition to which Edgar submitted his manuscript. The popular writer John Kennedy paid attention to the young author. Thanks to this, Poe started to work in the journal Southern Literary Messenger in 1835. Edgar’s reputation changed for the better. However, having a stable job and income, Poe lost the opportunity to create permanently due to the lack of time.
He worked in a magazine for about 2 years. In 1838, he decided to move to Philadelphia. During his stay in our city, he changed 4 houses, one of which even received the status of a National Historic Landmark.
After moving to a new city, Poe published his novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, etc. He also continued to work in the magazine. At that time, it was Graham’s Magazine, where Poe showed himself not only as a successful writer but also as a co-editor.
Death
The death of Edgar Allan Poe, like his works, is surrounded by a mystery. On October 3, 1849, the writer was seen in Baltimore. He was half-conscious. He was quickly sent to a medical college located in Washington. Doctors tried to understand what was wrong with the man but they did not have time to find answers. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849.
Before the writer’s death, they tried to find out why and how he ended up in such a terrible state and not in his belongings. However, they could not get a clear answer. Therefore, all the events that preceded the death remained unclear. Although it was not possible to find the cause of death, especially since all medical documents, including the death certificate, were irretrievably lost.
Newspapers put forward their guesses about this event. They called the cause of death brain overload or brain inflammation. At that time, they tried to cover up death from alcoholism in this way. After all, conscious people knew about Poe’s problems with alcohol and drugs. Despite the fact that after the death of his wife from tuberculosis, he began to abuse alcohol much more often.
However, Edgar Allan Poe left his mark on literature, even with white fever, heart disease, syphilis, cholera, rabies, etc. During his lifetime, he was not so popular. Over time, his texts found their admirers and their number increased. Undoubtedly, the most famous works of the writer were The Gold-Bug, The Raven and The Murder in the Rue Morgue. However, his work contains many high-quality and interesting stories, novels and poems that deserve special attention.