Anybody with the slightest literary culture has heard of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s life was anything but normal, but some may say that had actually helped him in becoming one of the most celebrated American authors. Heavily influenced by German Romantic Ironists, Poe left his mark in Gothic fiction, as well as the modern detective genre and he also wrote highly influential literary criticism. He saw himself as a poet, however he is indisputably one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Edgar Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins - two actors. His father left when he was one and his mother died of tuberculosis when Poe was three. Poe was sent to Richmond, Virginia to live …show more content…
However, tragedy struck when his wife’s health was rapidly decreasing due to tuberculosis, which caused Poe to drink even more heavily. This in turn, caused Poe to not maintain a steady job and he couldn’t afford food for his family. On January 30, 1847, Virginia died, and what remained of Poe’s mental health, deteriorated. Poe commonly had violent mood swings and drugs and alcohol were wearing away at his well being. Poe made an attempt to rehabilitate and he traveled to Richmond in 1849, and also found relations with a former friend. However, shortly after their engagement, tragedy struck. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, and "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him. Four days later, on October 7, 1849, Poe died. Not once during those four days was he ever coherent enough to explain what happened to him, and the only thing they learned was that the clothes he was wearing, were not his own. Nothing remains of Poe’s death and a cause was never official. To this day, there are many arguments to how he died, you couldn’t count them on your hands. Poe’s burial had so little show up that the priest didn’t bother with a sermon, and it didn’t last more than 3