Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who were itinerant actors. His father David Poe, Jr. died about 1810. His mother, Elizabeth Hopkins Poe, died in 1811, leaving behind three children. Edgar was taken into the home of a Richmond merchant John Allan. Never legally adopted, Poe took Allan's name for his middle name. The remaining children were cared for by others. Poe's brother William died young and sister Rosalie later became insane. At the age of five Poe could recite passages of English poetry. Later one of his teachers in Richmond said: "While the other boys wrote mere mechanical verses, Poe wrote genuine poetry; the boy was a born poet." Poe was brought up partly in England where he attended Manor School at Stoke Newington. Poe attended the University of Virginia in 1826 and 1827, but was expelled for not paying his gambling debts. This led to a quarrel with Allan, who refused to pay the debts and Allan later disowned him. In 1826 Poe became engaged to Elmira Royster, but her parents broke off the engagement. During his stay at the university, Poe composed some tales, but little is known of his apprentice works. In 1827 Poe joined the U.S. Army as a common soldier under assumed name, Edgar A. Perry. He 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 Poe published at his own expense, sold poorly. It has become one of the rarest volumes in American literary history. In 1830 Poe entered West Point. He was dishonorably discharged next year, for intentional neglect of his duties – apparently as a result of his own determination to be released. In 1833 Poe lived in Baltimore with his father's sister Mrs. Maria Clemm. After winning a prize of $50 for the short story "MS Found in a Bottle", he started career as a staff member of various magazines, among others the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond (1835-37), Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in Philadelphia (1839-40), and Graham's Magazine (1842-43). During these years he wrote some of his best-known stories. In 1836 Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm. After a blood vessel burst in 1842 she remained a virtual invalid until her death from tuberculosis five years later. When the cemetery where she was buried was destroyed, William Fearing Gill, one of Poe's earliest biographers, rescued her remains and stored them in New York in a box under his bed. Her remains were reburied in 1885.
After the death of his wife, Poe began to lose his struggle with drinking and drugs. He had several romances, including an affair with the poet Sarah Helen Whitman. In 1849 Poe become again engaged to Elmira Royster, who was at that time Mrs. Shelton. To Virginia he addressed the famous poem "Annabel Lee" (1849) – its subject, Poe's favorite, is the death of a beautiful woman. Poe's first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, appeared in 1840. It contained one of his most famous works, "The Fall of the House of Usher". The dark poem of lost love, "The Raven", brought Poe national fame when it appeared in 1845. Poe suffered from bouts of depression and madness and he attempted suicide in 1848. In September the following year he disappeared for three days after a drink at a birthday party and on his way to visit his new fiancée in Richmond, Virginia. On September 26 or 27, Poe left Richmond on his way to New York. He had asked his mother-in-law to send him a letter in Philadelphia addressed to the pseudonym E.S.T. Grey. Poe never reached New York. He was found in a delirious condition at Ryan's Inn and Tavern in Baltimore. He died in a Baltimore hospital on October 7, 1849, and was buried at the Westminster Hall Burial Ground.
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