Edgar Allan Poe

1. Edgar Allan Poe By: Amelia Westervelt, Joey Beach, and Jake Oleksiak

2. Early Life • Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. • His father was David Poe Jr. and his mother was Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. • Both parents were actors. • Edgar had an elder brother named William Henry Leonard Poe and a younger sister named Rosalie Poe. • Elizabeth Poe died in 1811, when Edgar was 2 years old. • When she died, Henry went to go live with his grandparents while Edgar was adopted by Mr. And Mrs. John Allan. • Rosalie was adopted by another family.

3. When Poe was six years old, he went to England for five years and he learned Latin and French as well as math and history. In 1826, when he was 17, he went to the University of Virginia. Although John Allan had a lot of money, he only gave a third of what Poe needed to go to college. Even though he had done well in Latin and French, he started to drink heavily and quickly became in debt. He had to quit school less than a year later. Early Life Continued

4. Poe in the Army • Since Poehad no money, no job skills, and had been shunned by John Allan, he decided to join the U.S. army in 1827. • He attained the rank of sergeant major and did reasonably well. • In 1829, Mrs. Allan died and John decided to be friendly and sign Poe’s application to West Point. • In 1830, Edgar entered West Point as a cadet and didn’t stay long because John wouldn’t send him money. • He was soon dismissed since he purposely broke the rules and ignored his duties.

5. A Struggling Writer • In 1831, Edgar went to New York City and had some of his stories published. He submitted stories to a number of magazines and they were all rejected. • He had no friends, no job, and was in financial trouble. He sent a letter to John Allan begging him for help but none came. • John Allan died in 1834 and didn’t mention Edgar in his will. • In 1836, Poe married his cousin named Virginia Clemm, before her 14th birthday. • In 1845, Edgar became an editor at the Broadway Journal. • A year later, the company ran out of money and Poe was out of a job once again. • Edgar started to become very distressed by Virginia’s fading health. • She ended up dying in 1847, 10 days after Edgar’s birthday. • After losing his wife, he collapsed from stress but returned to health later that year.

6. Final Days • In June of 1849, Poe left New York and went to Philadelphia to visit his friend John Sartain. • When he left Philadelphia in July, he went to Richmond and joined “The Sons of Temperance” in an effort to stop drinking. • On September 27, Poe left Richmond for New York and took the wrong train to Baltimore. • On October 3, he was found at Gunner’s hall and he was taken to the hospital. • He lapsed in and out of consciousness but no one was ever able to explain what happened to him. • Poe died in the hospital on Sunday, October 7, 1849.