Research Paper - Edgar Allan Poe

            Edgar Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. He was born to Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe, Jr. His parents were traveling actors, so he didn't really know them. By 1811, his father had abandoned the family; Poe was two years old at the time. That forced Elizabeth Poe to raise Edgar, his elder brother Henry, and his infant sister Rosalie alone. Things seem to get worse for Poe. On December 8 1811, Elizabeth died of consumption (today known as tuberculosis). Later news arrived that David Poe had died days later from the same disease. All of the three Poe were split up. Edgar was then adopted by the family of John and Frances Allan. Poe then made his foster family's name his own, becoming Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar was more attached to his foster mother, Frances, instead of his foster father. Poe enrolled in at the University of Virginia in 1826. However, Poe suffered from a bad gambling addiction, which put in a two thousand dollar debt. Poe's foster father refuse to pay. .
             Poe then ditched the Allans and decided to move to Baltimore with some relatives. Then there came a big twist in Po's biography, he fell in love with his thirteen year old first cousin, Virginia Clemm. Virginia soon became Edgar's wife. However in January 1842, Virginia began to bleed from the mouth, which is a symptom of tuberculosis. Five years later, she died from the deadly disease. The same disease that killed his parents and his older brother had also taken his beloved wife. Poe was so trouble with grief that people thought that he was gone go in insane. However Poe denied it-"I was never really insane, except on occasions where my heart was touched." He later said-but his wife's death sent him into a downward spiral of drinking and depression from which he could never recover from. Edgar Allan Poe's severe alcohol abuse combined with the unsupportive family played a large role in the development of Poe's unique writing styles.