Edgar Allen Poe

            
             Edgar Allen Poe is the most well-known author of his time. Edgar Poe's ancestors were agriculturists and artisans on one side, and actors on the other. Poe was born on Jan. 19, 1809, in Boston ( Encyclopedia Americana Pg. 274). Edgar's future mother was performing in Virginia, where she was being observed by a young man by the name of David Poe. Soon Eliza Arnold, a young actress, fell in love with David, and he with her. Only six months after the death of her first husband, Eliza and David were married. Edgar's father joined Eliza's acting troupe and was greatly criticized by an 1806 notice. "The lady is young and pretty, and is blessed with both singing and acting talents. Her husband is literally nothing." This was not the only time that David was badly criticized. (Soon enough, the same types of criticism would plague Edgar later during his first literary disputes) (Meyers Pg.3). .
             Edgar was born in a humble lodging house near Carver Street, south of Boston Common, on January 19,1809. On the back of a watercolor sketch which Poe treasured, his mother wrote: "For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best, and most sympathetic friends." Later in adulthood however, Poe had a strong dislike for the city. He hated its ruling literary class-their stuffy morality, vague transcendental philosophy, abolitionist movement, and sterile domination of the American literary scene. After becoming extremely poor, the Poe's left five week old Edgar in Baltimore with his paternal grandparents, David and Elizabeth continued their theatrical jobs. .
             David Poe made his last stage appearance in October 1809. By July 1811-when Edgar was two and a half years old, his dad deserted the family, and was neither seen nor heard from ever again. After being deserted, Eliza was left with overwhelming demands from her job, constantly having to move, taking care of her children, and the constant poverty.