Edgar Allan Poe, the American Writer.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809, to David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold. Both were actors and his mother was so determined to act that she did not leave the stage until ten days before his birth, and returned just three weeks later. Poe's father's acting career was going down the drain and in the summer of 1809 he left his acting career and his family forever. Elizabeth, better known as Eliza, died just one month before Poe's third birthday. When she died, she left three children, William Henry, Rosalie, and Edgar Allan Poe. She was only 24 years-old and she had been orphaned, widowed, remarried and deserted all in her short life time.
Edgar Allan Poe, now an orphaned child, was sent to live with John and Fanny Allan, in Richmond, Virginia. Poe had a very hard childhood. At age six he was forced to move to England and was placed in a private school. Just five years later, in 1820, they returned to the United States and Poe continued attending private schools. After graduating high school, Poe registered at the University of Virginia.
While Attending the University of Virginia, he was an active member of the Jefferson Literary Society and got good grades all the while he attended. .
This lasted only a year because in 1827, his foster father John Allan refused to pay his debts. These debts occurred because Poe was very into drinking and gambling and had dug himself into a hole. Since Poe did not have any money, he was forced to work as a clerk and live on his own. Poe hated his job, quit and moved back to Boston.
Once in Boston, Poe went to work writing his first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems. Once completed in 1827, he anonymously published it. Tamerlane alone was a 1,500 word poem. Today a single copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems is so rare, selling price is $200,000! Shortly after the release of his first book of poems Poe decided to join the U.