Edgar Allan Poe'S Life Essay

Did you know that Edgar Allan Poe may have been named after a Shakespearean character? Me either! Did you know that he also got kicked out of West Point on purpose? This happened because he showed up to role call butt naked. He also was obsessed with cats. Everytime he wrote he would have a cat sitting on his shoulder. Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous writers from the 19th century. He is most known for his mystery, detective, and horror short stories. Edgar Allan Poe was a great American writer, editor, and literary critic and through his childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and his literary influence, which changed the American literary landscape.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849. He is the son of David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. Both of his parents were professional actors. He had an older brother and a younger sister. By the time that Edgar was three years old, he and his siblings were orphans. Each of the children were sent to different families. Edgar then moved to Richmond, Virginia and lived with John and Frances Allan. He later took the name of Allan as his middle names. John and Frances Allan were wealthy people, because John was a industrious merchant. However, they never adopted him but he was always treated like a son until he entered his teenage years and wanted to become a writer.

John Allan was disappointed and disapproved of him becoming a writer, gambling, drinking, and believed he wasn’t living up to his potential. He was so against him becoming a writer that it seems that he may have cut Poe out of his will. It was a rough patch for Poe, and he turned to gambling when it came to needing money. In about eight months he had lost two-thousand dollars, or in today’s value about forty-thousand dollars.

In 1827, Poe signed up for a five-year term in the United States Army. Not only did he enlist in the army, around the same time he published his very first book. A couple years later, after enlisting in the U.S. Army, he was given notice that Frances Allan was dying of tuberculosis. By the time Poe had arrived back in Richmond she had passed away. After he had come home, he made peace with John and John helped Poe get an appointment with the United States Military Academy at West Point. While Poe was at West Point, he had fought with his foster father about him getting remarried and not telling Poe about it.

Even though Poe had excelled outstandingly at West Point, he ended up getting kicked out like I had recently mentioned earlier on. In between the years of him enlisting in the Army and getting accepted into West Point he had published his second book. After he had been kicked out of West Point, he published his third book. Along with publishing his third book, he went on to win a short story contest in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. The Baltimore Saturday Visiter was a weekly periodical in Baltimore that published some of Poe’s works. If it weren’t for his great education he never would have become such a excellent writer.

Edgar Allan Poe was taken in by a wealthy family but not adopted as you already know. What most people don’t know is that his foster family put him through private academies to give him the best education he could possibly get. Not only did he attend private academies, but he went and stayed in England/Scotland for 5 years and given a classical education. After being across the world for five years, he came back and attended the University of Virginia for eleven months, in 1826. During this time, he was having money issues as I mentioned earlier on and he got into gambling. This did not help him however as I have already told you. He enlisted in the U.S. Army again. After this, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. Along with his education helped him become a great literature influencer.

Edgar Allan Poe is a great American literary influencer. He was a writer from the 19th century but he is still a well known writer in the 21st century. Poe still has a great impact on writer of today’s society. Edgar was one of the first writers to develop the genre of both detective fiction and horror, which set him off from different writers during this time. Poe’s work is not only known by Americans, but became an influence overseas such as the French, Italians, and writers in Spanish and Portuguese in the Americas acknowledge and demonstrate their debts to Poe in technique and vision. He has many short stories that are still being read in today’s english classes. Many people are still learning from his short stories and learning a whole lot.

Edgar Allan Poe was a great, American writer, editor, and literary critic due to his early life, his adulthood, his education, and his literary influence on the American literary landscape. Edgar is one of the most famous writers from the 19th century that we still learn from today. Poe wrote great mystery, detective, and horror short stories. He may not have grown up with his birth parents due to them passing away but he had a very well educated childhood and a very nice home to stay with. He had turned to gambling when his foster father took him out of his will when he found out that Poe wanted to be a writer. Edgar then enlisted into the army for 5 years. Around the time he enlisted into the army he had published his very first book. His foster father then helped him get into West Point Military Academy, which he ended up getting kicked out due to the fact that he showed up to role call butt naked. Poe may have died in 1849 but he will always be known as one of the greatest American writers and he will always be a great American literary influencer. He not only influenced in the Americas but all over the world.

As Poe often said, “Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.” This quote pretty much means what it says, believe only half of what you see no matter where it is at and don’t believe anything you hear because people change stories around to make them more interesting.

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