Life Of Edgar Allen Poe Essay, Research Paper

The name Edger Allen Poe is known through out the world, some might even consider it a household name. His literary works have sold millions of copies everywhere in the world. Poe never knew of any of these fames during his life. He wasn’t considered popular, he was considered a failure.

On a cold January day in 1809, Edger Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were a pair of touring actors who went by the names of David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. At the very young age of three, his mother passed away. Shortly there after, his father deserted the family and later died.

Left orphan at such a young age, he was put into the hands of a rich, Scottish tobacco merchant, John Allen. Allen lived in Richmond, Virginia with his wife Francis. The couple took Poe in as their own blood and gave him the middle name of Allen.

At the age of 17, Poe left the Allen home to pursue further education at the University of Virginia. Due to the minimal amount of money Poe received form the Allen’s, Poe didn’t have enough money to pay for books, or more importantly food. Poe then started to gamble. He quickly fell into a dept of over 2,500 dollars. This dept made Poe become nervous and unstable, Poe then reached to alcohol.

Because Poe had a low tolerance for alcohol, being intoxicated often made him sick and ill. A very upset Allen quickly pulled Poe out of the university. After returning home, Poe then left, but this time he was heading for Boston. Upon his arrival, Poe enlisted in the army under the name of Edger A. Perry.

After the death of Mrs. Allen, two years after joining the army, Poe received honorable discharge form the army so he could become a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in a final attempt to earn Allen’s favor and become his heir.

When Allen remarried later in the year, Poe lost all faith in becoming his heir. This made Poe neglect all his classes and eight months later the institution dismissed him.

Poe later went on to marry his cousin, Virginia. They were a happily married couple for a while, that is before Mrs. Poe got sick. After surviving for five long years, she finally died of tuberculosis.

Her death led Poe to become severely erratic and depressed. He was left lonely and searching for something that could fill the gap left after his wife passed away. This led to a lot of drinking, to which his body could not tolerate, and it also led him to seek love form other women in a vain like fashion.

Poe’s death is still considered a mystery. No one really knows what happened of the details. Some say he was drunk. Others say he was on drugs. Whatever the case was, it was due to severe loneliness and heartache.