Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, literary critic, and editor, a representative of American Romanticism. He became best known for his “dark” tales. Poe was one of the first American writers to create works in the form of short stories, and is regarded as the creator of the detective-fiction genre in literature. His work contributed to the emergence of science fiction.

Poe was born in Boston. His parents, Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe, were actors in a traveling troupe. David Poe left the family when Edgar was still very young; he soon died. Nevertheless, during their brief life together his parents had several children: Edgar had an older brother, William Henry, and a younger sister, Rosalie. Edgar’s mother’s fate was also short-lived: she died on December 8, 1811.

Edgar was taken in by Frances and John Allan. They had known the boy’s mother before her death; with his new family Edgar began living in Richmond, Virginia. His sister was adopted by another family, while William was taken in by the parents of their deceased father.

Edgar’s childhood was spent in an atmosphere of love and luxury. The Allans had no children of their own, and they treated Edgar with special care. They spared no expense on his upbringing, and although their affairs were sometimes unsuccessful (there were times when they were even threatened with bankruptcy), the boy did not feel it: he was dressed “like a prince,” and had his own horse and his own dogs. When Edgar was six, the Allans went to England and placed the boy in an expensive boarding school in London, where he studied for five years. After the Allans returned to the United States in 1820, Edgar entered college, which he completed in 1826. He was then sent to continue his education at the university in Richmond, which had only recently been founded.

Edgar developed early: at the age of five he was reading, drawing, writing, reciting, and riding horseback. At school he studied well and acquired a large body of knowledge in literature, especially English and Latin, in general history, in mathematics, and in certain branches of natural science, such as astronomy and physics. Physically Edgar was strong, took part in all his companions’ pranks, and at university in all their revels as