Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents who were itinerant actors (Martin). His father, David Poe Jr. disappeared around 1810, and his mother Elizabeth Hopkins Poe died in 1811, leaving three children. Edgar was taken in by a wealthy Richmond merchant, John Allan and his wife Frances. The other two children were taken in by foster parents. His brother William died young and his sister Rosalie later became insane.
Poe was brought up partly in England, and then attended the University of Virginia in 1826, where he was a good student, both academically and athletically, but was expelled for not paying his gambling debts (Martin). He gambled because John Allan did not give him enough money to maintain his position as a student. He had drunk and gambled away $2000 in debts. John was upset about his dismissal, and early next year, Edgar went off on his own, with no money even for food and John would not send him any. Edgar went back to Boston and published his first work, Tamerland and Other Poems, but it got him little attention and money (Martin). He then joined the army, until his æMaÆ passed away in Boston and he quit, and he moved in with his Aunt Clemm, who had a daughter, Virginia. While there he wrote At Aaraaf, Tamerland, and Minor Poems. This got him some attention and he joined West Point Academy in New York. However, he had the same problems at West Point as at the University of Virginia, and was court martialed. In 1831 and released from the school.
Poe went with his aunt and Virginia to see John, but John would not see him (Martin). John died in 1834, but did not name Edgar in his will. In 1836, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm (Edgar). In 1847, she died of consumption, which sent Poe into a tailspin of drinking and erratic writing. He never recovered. He fought alcohol from then on, and it influenced his writing, coming into his stories either as alcoholic...