Edgar Allan Poe Research Paper

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“In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done” this is a typical Edgar Allan Poe quote (Haugen, 120). Poe’s interesting short stories and poems are recognized all over the world today. He had a great run of success through his well written stories. Poe also faced many challenges during his life. Even though Edgar Allan Poe died unexpectedly at a young age, he had the most complex personality out of all the American authors, and showed the mysterious and dark side of his genius stories.
Edgar Allan Poe had a difficult life growing up. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts as the second child (Loveday, 1). He had an older brother named Henry who also liked to write poems (“Poe’s Life”). Their parents were struggling actors who had little money and battled the hardships of raising their children. The stress from little money for the family caused their father, David Poe, to run away and leave his children with their mother, Elizabeth. Shortly after Poe’s father left their mother had caught an illness that later killed her on December 8, 1811 (Loveday, 2). After Edgar’s mother died he lived with the neighbors, the Allans, who were tobacco merchants (“Poe’s Life”). Edgar had little interest in the tobacco company and showed it by writing poems on the back of Mr. Allan’s ledger sheets. In 1806, Poe left the Allan’s to attend the University of Virginia with barely any money for books. During his first year he accumulated such a large debt that he began to gamble and drink heavily (Loveday, 2). Edgar ended up leaving the University and moved in with his aunt, where he later married his 13 year old cousin Virginia at the age of 27. After their eleven years of marriage, Virginia got tuberculosis and died in January of 1847 (“Poe’s Life”). From the many experiences Poe had in his life, he found tons of inspiration for his poems and stories. Edgar Allan Poe had several memorable stories that are known today and will never be forgotten. Poe not only wrote stories but served in the military for two years (“Poe, Edgar Allan”). After he was dismissed from his duties, Poe had anonymously published his first collection of stories, “Tamerlane and other poems” (Haugen, 208). Poe’s first books were well known, even in the 1830s as a new author in America (Haugen, 14). On December of 1829 Edgar published” Al Aaraad, Tamerlane, and Miner Poems” in Baltimore (Haugen, 208). Other stories that Poe had written after these were published by Southern Literary Messenger, where he had later gotten a job there as an editor in 1835 (Haugen, 209). Within the next ten years Poe published five more short stories and moved to three different magazine editor positions (Haugen, 209). With these many accomplishments Poe had a pitiful death that ended his life much too early.
Edgar Allan Poe had a tragic and sudden death. Edgar was sent on a business trip to New York