Edgar Allan Poe

4 Pages 1081 Words

Every story that was conceived from the mind of Edgar Allan Poe contained a part of himself on each page. This left the reader with a better understanding of Poe’s life. Through his stories and pomes Poe displayed his greatest achievements and his worst disappointments. In this research paper I will reveal facts about Poe’s life and define hidden meanings throughout his works.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s parents were David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an actor and actress that worked in the city of Baltimore (Britannica). Shortly after Poe’s birth, his father abandoned the family and left Poe and his mother to fend for themselves. In 1811 when Poe was two his mother died. That left him with his second depressing loss in only his first two years of life (540). After his father ran off and his mother’s sudden death, Poe was left with his godfather, John Allan. John Allan was a wealthy merchant based in Richmond, Virginia with the means, knowledge, and affluence to provide a good life for Poe. Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia in 1826 (Britannica). For the first time in his life things were starting to go well. Upon entering college it took Poe no more time to unpack his bag then it did for him to become involved in, immoral acts of gambling and drunkenness. He developed gambling debts from 2,000 to 2,500 dollars, which caused some friction between John Allan and himself (Quinn 130). After eleven months in college Poe dropped out, due to his debts (Britannica). Upon arriving at home Poe was invited to a party hosted by Sarah Elmira Royster, his sweetheart before going away to college. When he arrived at the party, he learned that it was Elmira’s engagement party. This was heart braking to Poe (540). After John Allan and Poe had a huge fight over Poe’s gambling addiction, Poe joined the army under the alias of “Edgar Allan Perry” (Britannica). It was not t...