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Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849 |
Born in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe was a contemporary of Longfellow, Whittier, and Holmes, but his gothic imagination took him in an entirely different direction. An orphan abused by his foster parents, he published his first poetry at eighteen, joined the army, and began drinking. At twenty-six he married his thirteen-year-old cousin. He was publishing poetry and horror stories in magazines, but his drinking made it difficult to get and hold a job. At thirty-six he sold “The Raven” for $9. His wife was coughing blood but they were unable to pay a doctor, and with no income, they were slowly starving. She died when he was thirty-eight, and he died of alcoholism two years later.
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Immortal Poets: Their Lives and Verse, by Christopher Burns |