Essay, Biography or Paragraph on “Edgar Allen Poe” great author complete biography for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Edgar Allen Poe

(1809 – 1849)

Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, January 19, 1809. His father, the son of a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary army, was educated for the law, but having married the beautiful English actress, Elizabeth Arnold, he abandoned law, and in company with his wife, led a wandering life on the stage. The two died within a short time of each other, leaving three children entirely destitute. Edgar, the second son, a bright, beautiful boy, was adopted by John Allen, a wealthy citizen of Richmond. Allen, having no children of his own, became very much attached to Edgar, and used his wealth freely in educating the boy. At the age of seven he was sent to school at Stoke Newington, near London, where he remained for six years. During the next three years he studied under private tutors, at the residence of the Allen’s in Richmond. In 1826 he entered the University of Virginia, where he remained less than a year.

In 1829 he published Al Aaraaf, and Minor Poems. In 1833 Poe won two prizes of 5100 each for a tale in prose, and for a poem. John P. Kennedy, one of the committee who made the award, now gave him means of support, and secuied employment for him as editor of the Southern Literary Messenger at Richmond. After a short but successful editorial work on The Messenger, his old habits returned, he quarrelled with his publishers and was dismissed. While in Richmond he married his cousin, Virginia Clem, and in January 1837, moved to New York. Here he gained a poor sup-port by writing for periodicals. His literary work may be summed up as follows: In 1838 appeared a fiction entitled The Narrative of Arthur Gorden Pym; 1839, editor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, Philadelphia; next, editor of Graham’s Magazine; 1840, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, in two volumes; 1845, The Raven, published by the American Review; then sub-editor of the Mirror under employment of N. P. Willis and Geo. P. Norris; next associ-ate editor of the Broadway Journal. In 1848 he published Eureka. The most remarkable of his tales are The Gold Bug, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders of the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, A Descent into Maelstrom, and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. The Raven and The Bells alone would make the name of Poe immortal. The teachers of Baltimore placed a monument over his grave in 1875.