Life and Career of Edgar Allan Poe
Life and Career of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe’s whole fifteen-year career was a constant struggle for survival. He received only ten dollars for “The Raven” which was first published in 1845, and, within a few months, read, and recited wherever the English language was spoken. Less than a year later his brother poet, N. P. Willis, issued this touching appeal on the behalf of the Edgar.
"Here Born in poverty at Boston, January 19 1809, dying painfully in Baltimore, October 7, 1849 is one of the finest scholars, one of the most original men of genius, and one of the most industrious of the literary profession of our country, whose temporary suspension of labor, from bodily illness, drops him immediately to a level with the common objects of public charity. There is no intermediate stopping-place, no respectful shelter, where, with the delicacy due to genius and culture, be might secure aid, till, with returning health, he would resume his labors, and his un-mortified sense of independence." {An Appreciation}
Edgar's father, a son of General David Poe, the American revolutionary patriot and friend of Lafayette, had married Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an English actress and pursued the stage as a profession for himself. Alcoholism destroyed his acting career and he abandoned his wife and three children of which Edgar was the infant. Edgar’s mother fell ill while performing in Richmond Virginia and died on December 8, 1811, at the age of twenty-four. Her three children, who would maintain contact with one another throughout their lives, were sent to live with different foster families. Apparently the future poet was to be cast upon the world’s homeless. Fate decreed that a few glimmers of sunshine were to occur in his life for he was adopted by John Allan, a wealthy merchant of Richmond, VA. Other foster homes cared for his brother and sister.
In his new home Edgar found all the luxury and advantages money could provide. He was spoiled and shown off to visitors and friends of the household. In Mrs. Allan he found all the affection a childless woman could bestow. Mr. Allan took much pride in the little boy. At the age of five he recited, with fine form, passages of English poetry to visitors of the Allan household. Although never formally adopted by them, Poe regarded the couple, especially Mrs. Allan, as parents, and he took...