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EDGAR ALLAN POE (18og-1849)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 876 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDGAR See also:ALLAN See also:POE (18og-1849)  , See also:American poet, writer of fiction and critic, was See also:born at See also:Boston, See also:Massachusetts, on the loth of See also:January 1809 . The See also:family was of See also:English origin, but was settled in See also:Ireland, whence the poet's See also:great-grandfather emigrated to See also:Maryland . His grandfather, See also:David See also:Poe, served with See also:credit as a soldier in the See also:War of See also:Independence, was known to See also:Washington, on the See also:Southern See also:Literary Messenger of See also:Richmond, on the New and was the friend of See also:Lafayette . His son David Poe was bred as a lawyer, but deeply offended his family by marrying an actress of English See also:birth, Mrs See also:Elizabeth See also:Hopkins,nee See also:Arnold,and by himself going on the See also:stage . In 1811 he and his wife died, leaving three See also:childrenSee also:William, See also:Edgar, and a daughter Rosalie—wholly destitute . William died See also:young, and Rosalie became mad . Edgar was adopted by See also:John See also:Allan, a See also:tobacco See also:merchant of Scottish ex-See also:traction, seemingly at the See also:request of his wife, who was childless . The boy was indulged in every way, and encouraged to believe that he would inherit Mr Allan's See also:fortune . Mr Allan, having come to See also:England in 1815, placed Edgar in a school at Stoke Newington, kept by a Dr Bransby . In 182o Mr Allan returned to Richmond, See also:Virginia, and Edgar was first placed at school in the See also:town and then sent to the university of Virginia at See also:Charlottesville in 1826 . Here the effects of a very unwise training on a temperament of inherited neurotic tendency were soon seen . He was fond of athletics, and was a strong and ardent swimmer; but he See also:developed a See also:passion for gambling and drink .

His disorders made it necessary to remove him, and he was taken away by Mr Allan, who refused to pay his debts of See also:

honour . He enlisted on the 26th of May 1827 at Boston, and served for two years in the See also:United States See also:army . As a soldier his conduct must have been exemplary, for he was promoted sergeant-See also:major on the 1st of January 1829 . It is to be noted that throughout his See also:life, when under orders, Poe could be a diligent and capable subordinate . In May 1829 Mr Allan secured his See also:discharge from the army, and in 183o obtained a nomination for him to the See also:West Point military See also:academy . As a student he showed considerable See also:faculty for See also:mathematics, but his aloofness prevented him from being popular with his comrades, and he neglected his See also:duty . When See also:court-martialled he made no See also:answer to the charges, and was expelled on the 6th of See also:March 1831 . Mr Allan's generosity was now exhausted . The See also:death of his first wife in 1829 had doubtless removed an See also:influence favourable to Poe . A second See also:marriage brought him children, and at his death in 1834 he See also:left his adopted son nothing . A last See also:meeting between the two, shortly before Mr Allan's death, led only to a See also:scene of painful violence . In 1827 Poe had published his first See also:volume of See also:poetry, Tamer-See also:lane and other Poems, at Boston .

He did not publish under his name, but as " A Bostonian." In 1831 he published a volume of Poems under his name at New See also:

York . His life immediately after he left West Point is very obscure, but in 1833 he was living at See also:Baltimore with his paternal aunt, Mrs Clemm, who was throughout life his See also:protector, and, in so far as extreme poverty permitted, his support . In x833 he won a See also:prize of $See also:loo offered for the best See also:story by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor . He would have won the prize for the best poem if the See also:judges had not thought it wrong to give both rewards to one competitor . The story, MS. found in a See also:Bottle, is one of the most mediocre of his tales, but his success gave him an introduction to editors and publishers, who were attracted by his striking See also:personal See also:appearance and his See also:fine See also:manners, and were also touched by his See also:manifest poverty . From 1833 till his death he was employed on different magazines at Richmond, New York and See also:Philadelphia . His famous poem " The See also:Raven " was published first in 1845, and soon became extraordinarily popular; but Poe only got £2 for it . The facts of his life have been the subject of very See also:ill-judged controversy . The acrimonious See also:tone of the See also:biography by See also:Rufus See also:Griswold, prefixed to the first collected edition of his See also:works in 185o, gave natural offence, and attempts have been made to show that the biographer was wrong as to the facts . But it is no real kindness to Poe's memory to deny the sad truth that he was subject to chronic alcoholism . He was not a boon See also:companion, and never became callous to his See also:vice . When it seized him he drank raw See also:spirits, and was disordered by a very little .

But when he was See also:

free from the maddening influence of See also:alcohol he was See also:gentle, well-bred, and a hard worker on the See also:staff of a See also:magazine, willing and able to write reviews, answer correspondents, See also:pro-See also:pound See also:riddles or invent and solve cryptograms . His value as a contributor and sub-editor secured him successive engagements York Quarterly See also:Review, and on See also:Graham's Magazine at Philadelphia . It enabled him in 1843 to have a magazine of his own, the Stylus . His See also:mania sooner or later See also:broke off all his engagements and ruined his own venture . In 1835 he married his See also:cousin, Virginia Clemm, a beautiful girl of fourteen years of See also:age . A false statement as to her age was made at the See also:time of the marriage, She died after a See also:long decline in 1847 . Poe made two attempts to marry See also:women of fortune—Mrs See also:Whitman and Mrs See also:Shelton . The first of these engagements was broken off . The second was terminated by his death in See also:hospital at Baltimore, Md., on the 7th of See also:October 1849 . His life and death had many precedents, and will always recur among Bohemian men of letters and artists . What was individual in Poe, and what alone renders him memorable, was his narrow but profound and See also:original See also:genius (see AMERICAN LITERATURE) . In the midst of much hack-See also:work and not a few failures in his own See also:field he produced a small See also:body of See also:verse, and a handful of See also:short stories of rare and See also:peculiar excellence .

The poems See also:

express a See also:melancholy sensuous emotion in a penetrating See also:melody all his own . The stories give See also:form to horror and fear with an exquisite exactness of See also:touch, or construct and unravel mysteries with extreme dexterity . He was a conscientious literary artist who revised and perfected his work with care . His See also:criticism, though often See also:commonplace and sometimes ill-natured, as when he attacked See also:Longfellow for See also:plagiarism, was trenchant and sagacious at his best .

End of Article: EDGAR ALLAN POE (18og-1849)
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