Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809. Poe was best known for his poetry and short stories. He faced many tragedies in his childhood that influenced him as a writer, so it would be understandable to why he chose horror and mysteries to write about. In 1811, Poe’s dad abandoned him and his family, and to make things worse in December of 1811 his mother died of tuberculosis. Edgar was soon adopted by Mr. John and Mrs. Rosalie Allen. When Edgar started attending the University of Virginia, The Allen’s only gave him a third of what he needed. He was doing good in French and Latin, but he began drinking and he soon became in debt. When he had no money or a job, Edgar went to Boston to join the U.S. Army in 1827. He did good in the Army and then attended West Point, he did not stay …show more content…
In 1831, Poe went to New York City to try to submit stories, but they were all rejected and he had no money or a job. He asked John for help but he declined, and in 1834 when he died he didn’t leave Edgar in his will. Soon after that in 1835, Poe got his first job as an editor after winning a contest in the newspaper for his story “ The Manuscript found in a bottle”. In 1840, Poe published his first detective story “ The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Since Poe’s life had been so depressing it inspired dark stories like that one to get published. The story became popular and the copies went from 5,000 to 35,000. In 1842 Edgar wanted to start his own magazine, but when that failed he published booklets with a few of his stories and he won 100 dollars for his book called “ The Gold Book” and a few other stories. Poe still didn’t have enough money to support his family, and could barely make a living. In 1845,