The Life and Times of Edgar Allen Poe

Upon a recent trip the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, the Tiger Times Roving Reporters were given the chance to delve into the life of the infamous writer and poet. Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts; however, the family moved to Richmond shortly after his birth. For this reason, Poe often referred to himself as “a Virginian." Poe was the second child to two actors. Poe's father abandoned the family when Edgar was two years old, and Poe’s mother, Eliza, died the following year of tuberculosis, leaving Edgar to be taken in by John and Frances Allan. Due to a strained relationship with Mr. Allan, Poe was never officially adopted by the family, and the author’s middle name became Allan. Growing up, Poe traveled with Mr. Allan, a tobacco explorer and trader. Poe’s trips to Scotland and England reflected on his later works. Poe was able to incorporate English literature into much of his work. As a young adult, Poe was very athletic, and when the he was not setting school records, the young writer spent his free time writing love letters and poems to young women. This is something Poe continued to do in his later years as well. One of the major subjects of Poe’s love poems was his fiancé, Elmira Royster Shelton. In fact, Poe’s infamous poem, “Annabel Lee," was written about Elmira. While attending the University of Virginia, Poe wrote many love letters to Elmira; however, since Elmira’s father disapproved of the couple’s relationship, he intercepted all of Poe’s letters, leaving Elmira to believe that Edgar had forgotten about her. Upon Poe’s return from school, he discovered that she had married someone else. This resulted in the dark turn of Poe’s writing. In Poe’s early work, the writer became fascinated with the death of women theme. Poe idolized the cynical writing of Lord Byron and began to reflect his work. Poe’s tortured love life was very influential to his writing. After the death of his first and most beloved wife, Virginia, Poe became suicidal, and the deterioration of his mind began to show in his writing. After the death of his wife, Poe encountered Elmira once again, this time as a widow and widower. The two made plans to be married once more. Unfortunately, before the wedding, Poe disappeared for five days before turning up in Baltimore, Maryland, with no recollection of how he had gotten there. Poe died shortly afterwards in a Baltimore hospital on October 3, 1849, ten days before his wedding. During his lifetime, Poe was not just a cynical writer; he was also a brutal critic. Poe worked for The Southern Literary Messenger as an editor and literary critic. His critique was usually very harsh and resulted in Poe having many enemies. One of Poe’s biggest enemies was Rufus Griswold, a writer and critic whom Poe slandered in one of his many reviews for The Messenger. Driven by his hate for Poe, Griswold wrote an article slandering Poe’s work and character shortly after the writer’s death. The perspective and image of Poe’s character today came about as a result of Griswold’s article. Many say that Griswold’s article was Poe’s first biography, and it is the one thing Rufus Griswold is famous for today, despite his other works.