Page 40 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

Poe has described his life here very carefully in his famous story of
"William Wilson." "Oh, a fine time were those years of iron!" says he. The

life produced a deep impression on his mind, and molded it for the strange,
weird poetry and fiction which in later years he was to write.

At last, in 1820, the Allans returned with Edgar to their home in Richmond,
Virginia. The lad now added his own name to that of Edgar Allan, and

became known as Edgar Allan Poe.

He was at once sent to the English and Classical School of Joseph H.
Clarke, where he prepared for college. He did not study very hard, but was
bright and quick, and at one time stood at the head of his class with but one

rival. He was a great athlete, too, being a good runner and jumper and
boxer. He was a remarkable swimmer, and it is stated that he once swam

six miles in the James River, against a strong tide in a hot sun, and then
walked back without seeming in the least tired.

He was slight in figure, but robust and tough, and was a very decided
character among his classmates. He took part in the debating society, where

he was prominent, and was known as a versifier of both love poems and
satire. When Master Clarke retired, in 1823, Poe read an English ode
addressed to the outgoing principal.

One of his friends said of him at this time that he was "self-willed,

capricious, inclined to be imperious, and though of generous impulses, not
steadily kind, nor even amiable." Part of this temper on his part may have
come from the fact that the aristocratic boys of the school hinted that his

father and mother had not been of the best people. They knew, however,
that Mr. Allan belonged to the best society; and it was chiefly Edgar’s

imperious manners that made some of them shun him. He had friends,
however, and Mr. Allan gave him money liberally.

It was at this time that he found and lost his first sympathetic friend.

This was Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of one of his younger
schoolmates. When one day he went home with this friend, he met Mrs.