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About the Author. Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (January19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
He was an American short story writer, author and poet. He is famous for his stories of mystery and the macabre. He is considered the inventor of the detective fiction.
He was the son of an English actress named Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins and an actor by the name of David Poe. Unfortunately, he was left an orphan at the early age of two.
Poe was then taken to the home of John Allan, a successful merchant, and his wife Frances Valentine, who didn’t have any children. They gave him the name Edgar Allan Poe.
At the age of 6 he was sent to England and Scotland for five years to study grammar, Latin and French. After that, he reunited with his family in Richmond, Virginia, and continued his studies.
The writer was engaged to his sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster, and later enrolled in the University of Virginia. Sadly by now he was drinking and gambling heavily. He only stayed in school for one year. He also found out his fiancée had gotten married; he decided to move to Boston in 1827. It was in this same year he wrote his first book which was a collection of poems entitled “Tamerlane and Other Poems”
John Allan didn’t approve of Poe’s bad habits. Edgar was not welcomed in his house anymore. He was eighteen with no place to go and no money. He thought his answer was to enroll in the Army; where he served two years, becoming a sergeant major.
The Red Feather Literature Second Course