Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe had one brother, William, and one sister, Rosalie. When Poe was three years old, both of his parents died; him and his siblings were split up and taken in by different families. Poe was taken in by John Allan. In 1826 Poe attended University of Virginia, but did not stay for long because he was in so much debt. To earn money, Poe joined the US army in 1827. When Poe was eighteen, he published his first book Tamerlane. Poe eventually moved to Baltimore, where he entered a short story contest that he won. After winning the contest, Poe published more short stories and later acquired an editorial position at a magazine. Poe then switched to focus on writing poetry, submitting works to literary journals and newspapers. In January of 1845 Poe wrote "The Raven" arguably Poe's most famous poem. Poe was visiting Lowell, Massachusetts when he met Nancy Richmond, the woman who inspired some of his greatest poems, such as "For Annie". Edgar Allan Poe became known for his unique writing style that was all his own.


In 1847 Poe's wife died of tuberculosis. Soon after, Poe died as well. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7th, 1849 at 40 years old. The cause of his death is still a mystery. An obituary was written for Poe that portrayed him as a drunk with no morals. However, this piece about Poe drove the sales of his books higher than ever. In total, Poe published over 30 short stories and over 50 poems. Edgar Allan Poe is still a legend to this day whose work is highly regarded by all.

My first impression of Poe's poems were that they were dark and dreary. A huge theme that I found in his poems is death. Poe has also written many poems regarding dreams. After reading about Poe's life, I can completely understand why he wrote so much about death; he did not have a very happy life to say the least. Poe has a way a capturing the reader with his words. Although I do not consider myself someone who likes to read poetry, especially poetry about death, I felt hooked while reading Poe's poems.

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