Edgar Allan Poe
Matt Morin
Poe's Childhood
Poe had a short, sad childhood filled with sickness and death, which would be reflected through his writing on almost every occasion . When Poe was 2 years old his father left him and his mother died of tuberculosis . Poe was sent to an orphanage and was adopted by a wealthy family named the Allan's. Poe began writing poetry and scary stories at a young age.
Poe's Life as an Adult
Poe struggled with debt and drinking throughout his life, and though he did well in school and learning two languages, he eventually has to quite because his father only gave him about a third of what he needed to get by. Poe also struggled to become a writer, writing many short stories and poems, his first story being "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle", written in 1835. Poe entered this story in a contest with the newspaper and won $50. Poe eventually got a job at the newspaper but still struggled with drinking. Even when Poe wrote some of the most popular novels of the time he was still very poor. When he published his most popular work ,"The Raven" in 1845, he only saw about $15 of the profit. Most of books Poe wrote would fall under the genre of mystery or horror and consisted of death and loss. Poe probably wrote about these topics because that was all he knew.
Poe's Death
Poe died of mysterious causes. He was on his traveling and then he disappeared for five days. No one could find him until he was stumbled upon in a tavern. He was taken to Washington College Hospital where his last words were,"Lord help my poor soul!"