On January 19, 1809, poet, author and literary critic is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
By the time he was three years old, his father had and his mother had died, leaving him in the care of his godfather John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. After attending school in England, Poe entered the University of Virginia in 1826. After fighting with Allan over his heavy gambling debts, he was forced to leave school after only eight months. Poe then served two years in the U.S. Army and won an appointment to West Point. After another falling out, Allan cut him off completely and he got himself dismissed from the academy for rules infractions.
Dark, handsome and brooding, Poe had published three works of poetry by that time, none of which had received much attention. In 1836, while working as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He also completed his first full-length work of fiction, Arthur Gordon Pym, published in 1838.
Poe lost his job at the Messenger due to his heavy drinking, and the couple moved to Philadelphia, where Poe worked as an editor at Burton鈥檚 Gentleman鈥檚 Magazine and Graham鈥檚 Magazine. He became known for his direct and incisive criticism, as well as for dark horror stories like 鈥淭he Fall of the House of Usher鈥 and 鈥淭he Tell-Tale Heart.鈥 Also around this time, Poe began writing mystery stories, including 鈥淭he Murders in the Rue Morgue鈥 and 鈥淭he Purloined Letter鈥濃攚orks that would earn him a reputation as the father of the modern detective story.
In 1844, the Poes moved to New York City. He scored a spectacular success the following year with his poem 鈥淭he Raven.鈥 While Poe was working to launch The Broadway Journal鈥攚hich soon failed鈥攈is wife Virginia fell ill and died of tuberculosis in early 1847. His wife鈥檚 death drove Poe even deeper into alcoholism and drug abuse. After becoming involved with several women, Poe returned to Richmond in 1849 and got engaged to an old flame. Before the wedding, however, Poe died suddenly. Though circumstances are somewhat unclear, it appeared he began drinking at a party in Baltimore and disappeared, only to be found incoherent in a gutter three days later. Taken to the hospital, he died on October 7, 1849, at age 40.
