Edgar Allan Poe may be one of the least understood and mysterious writers
to ever have come from American literary ranks. Poe was born on January
19, 1809, in Boston, to parents who were both actors. His father
disappeared when Poe was but eighteen months old. His mother, aged only
24, died in 1811, leaving Poe, who was not yet three, alone with a
younger sister. It is assumed that Poe watched his mother waste away,
while they lived in squalor, and her beauty and the mysterious malady
(most likely 'consumption'--today known as Tuberculosis) which consumed
her were to be immortalized by her son's genius in later poems such as,
Berenice, Morella, Madeline, Eleonora and Ligeia.
Poe was adopted by family friends, John and Frances Allan, whose name he
added to his own. The following years were traumatic for Poe, who never
seemed to quite 'fit in,' and he quickly became an alcoholic, later to
become addicted to opium, as well. Still plagued by visions of his dead
mother, in 1835 he secretly married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia
(although the marriage was later consecrated by a minister, on May 16th,
1836--and the general consensus is that Poe never consummated their
marriage). Virginia no doubt brought his dead mother back to life, but
she too was ill, and while she lingered on in ill health for years, on
January 30th, 1847, Virginia also died of consumption.
Some six months before Virginia's death, Poe wrote the first draft of one
of his most well known poems, 'Annabel Lee,' thought to have been penned
for his dying wife. (See this month's Book Review for a copy of this
poem).
Poe was a short story writer, a poet, an editor and critic, who is best
known for his tales of the macabre. He wrote what was possibly the first
American detective story, "The Purloined Letter," as well as crime and
gothic fiction. He died at the early age of 40, on January 19th, 1849,
of 'unknown' causes. Part of the tragic mystery of Poe's life is that he
was missing for several days before being found wandering, delirious on
the streets of Baltimore, just days before his death. There is still no
accurate record of what happened to him during those missing days,
although it is assumed he went on another of his drug and alcohol binges.
And, while the exact cause of his death is also an unexplained mystery,
it is suspected that he too succumbed to consumption, as did so many of
those he loved and lost.
