Edgar Allan Poe

History

Edgar was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1809, His father David Poe Jr and Mother Elizabeth Hopkins Poe where actors, David died in 1810 and a year later Edgar's mother followed him they left three children behind one of whom was Edgar. After their deaths Edgar was taken into the home of John Allan a merchant, Edgar's bother William Poe died at a young age and his sister Rosalie became deranged. Even in this darkness Edgar showed brilliance at the age of five he was able to recite passages from English poems and stories, it was even said that he was born to be a poet. Poe attended Stoke Newington that would later spurn one of his stories (William Wilson). A few years later Poe Joined University of Virginia but was expelled for gambling debts and this lead to a disagreement between Edgar and Allan (his adopted father) who had refused to pay of Edgar's debts and Edgar was disowned. Now 1826 Poe had found love with a young women named Wlmira Royster, but it was not to be as Elmira's parents broke of the wedding. 

During this time Edgar had written a few tales and had them published not none of them took to fame. A year after his engagement had been broken Poe joined the U.S Army under the name of Edgar A. Perry , Edgar was sent to Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, which provided settings for 'The Gold Bug' (1843) and 'The Balloon Hoax' (1844). Tamerlane and Other Poems(1827) which where all published at his own expense. The small books sold poorly and till this day remain one of the rarest to collect. Now 1830 Poe was tired of life as a normal solider and wished to move up the ranks, with a little help from John Allan Poe found himself at Westport. The Army life did not suit and shortly after Poe was dishonourably discharged the following year due to neglect of his duties.

Three years later Poe had been living with his sister, during this time poe won a prize for his writing (MS Found In a Bottle) and began working for various magazines, perhaps the most notable Southern Literary Messenger which he was later forced to leave due to an alcoholism. Poe moved from magazine to magazine, Burton's Gentleman Magazine and Grahams Magazine. It was at this time that Poe produced some of his best work . In 1836 ten years after his last engagement Poe married his 13 year old cousin Virginia Clemm, At 19 Virgina burst a blood vessel and became an invalid until she died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. The grave site where she was buried was destroyed many years later but William Fering Gill one of Poe's first biographers saved her remains , keeping them under his bed until he could rebury them in 1885.

Edgar turned to drink and drugs after Virginia's death and found his pain lost with other women, perhaps his most famous affair was with the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who said it was very hard for people who did not know Edgar to truly understand him. Now 1849 Poe was once again engaged to Elmira Royster 26 years after their first engagement, During this time Elmira had changed her name to Mrs. Shelton who Poe addressed the informs poem "Annabel Lee" which tells the tale of a beautiful women's death! One year later Poe released Tales of The Grotesque and Arabesque. Containing: Fall Of The House Usher and perhaps the most famous of all of Edgar's stories The Raven.

It is said that poes best work was done in this time line and now at the height of his fame Poe was approached by Thomas Wyatt's a good friend and writer who wished for Poe to place his name on the front of his book The Conchologist First Book. Wyatts had trouble selling this book under his own name due to the high price and beloved that if Edgar placed his name on the front cover that he would be able to sell it. Poe agreed and the book first editions sold out within two months. The Raven shot poe to new heights and fame in the US.in a lecture in Boston the author said that the two most effective letters in the English language were o and r - this inspired the expression "nevermore" in 'The Raven', and because a parrot is unworthy of the dignity of poetry, a raven could well repeat the word at the end of each stanza. Lenore rhymed with "nevermore." The poems has inspired a number of artists. Perhaps the most renowned are Gustave Doré's (1832-1883) melancholic illustrations. 

In his supernatural fiction Poe usually dealt with paranoia rooted in personal psychology, physical or mental enfeeblement, obsessions, the damnation of death, feverish fantasies, the cosmos as source of horror and inspiration, without bothering himself with such supernatural beings as ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and so on. Some of his short stories are humorous, among them 'The Devil in the Belfry,' 'The Duc de l'Omelette,' 'Bon-Bon' and 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head,' all of which employ the Devil as an ironic figure of fun. - Poe was also one of the most prolific literary journalists in American history, one whose extensive body of reviews and criticism has yet to be collected fully. James Russell Lowell (1819-91) once wrote about Poe: "Three fifths of him genius and two fifths sheer fudge."

Poe's greatest muse was also his greatest enemy, Depression lead him to attempt suicide in 1848, in September of that year Poe vanished from his birthday party for three days. After those events he went to Richmond to visit his new fiancée and then left for New York. Before he left he asked his Mother In Law to send a letter to Philadelphia addressed to Pseudonym EST. Grey. Poe never reached New York and was found in Ryan's Inn and Tavern Baltimore. Poe was crazy and delirious. There is a myth that follows Poe's death! Poe had a great fear of being buried alive and had written in his will that he be buried with a piece of rope attached to a bell that would sit above his grave. It has been said that Poe was acting crazy due to a snake bite that later left him payalrised and thought dead, Poe was then buried and as the burial moved so fast the will was not checked till after so Poe was buried without his bell and perhaps alive! But the facts are as follow Poe died in October 1849 at the age of 40 Poe was buried in Westminster Prebyterian, His funeral was attuned by four people and was conducted by Reverend William and mourned by, T.D. Clemm, Nelson Poe, Henry Herring , Dr. Joseph Snodgrass and a former classmate Z. Collins Lee all attended the poets resting place.

Year later Poes work still inspires people today and many of his poems and short stories have been made into Movies, Comics and TV shorts. Edgar himself has even made the transgression onto the comic page in a spin off from the comic Sandman where he has a crush on Misery the sister of death, Prehaps most notable was the work by MAX Comics who produced a full series of Edgar Allan Poes Stories a cover of which can be seen to the left. The Stories where titled Haunt Of Horror and lasted three issues the art was done by Richard Corben who brought a real dark feel to the stories.