Although Poe's short and tragic life is fascinating in and of itself, his writings are what truly characterize him as such an amazing person. In his life Edgar Allan Poe worked in so many different fields of literature. Poetry was his first and true passion. He is America's first major poet. Poe wrote many of his poems while he was young. Almost all of them were done before he was twenty-two years of age. When he reached his twenty-third year, Poe turned away from poetry and began to work at various magazines as editor. Poe did not just edit but was also a journalist and a critic. He also began to write the short stories for which he is

Peeples, Scott. Edgar Allan Poe Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998

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before young Edgar was a year old, leaving Elizabeth to care for three children by herself. She tried to take care of them but fell ill and passed away. Her children were promptly adopted. Edgar went to the home of a wealthy merchant named John Allan. His wife, Francis, had been good friends with Elizabeth Poe and begged her husband to care for the young child. Allan took Poe into his home, but never formally adopted him. Edgar loved his foster mother "Fanny" and she loved her little "Eddie". The two hit it off right away. Poe, however, did not have the same luck with his foster father. Allan and Poe were the most dissimilar people that you would ever find. Allan was a realistic Scotsman, practical and undemonstrative. Poe, on the other hand, was romantic and imaginative. He frequently tried to gain favor with his father, with no luck. This emotional abandonment by two father figures would lead to his antagonism towards men (he had no male friends) and his dependence upon wome!

In the next year Poe wrote the poem "The Raven" and suddenly became an overnight success. Using this newfound success, Poe teamed up with a rich acquaintance named C.F. Briggs to start a new publication called the Broadway Journal. Unfortunately the Broadway Journal fell into financial troubles and Briggs left Poe to handle it by himself. Poe fought hard to keep the paper alive but could not and just as quickly as it began, Poe's career as a publisher ended.

Poe now had no money and no shelter. He found his only choice was to enlist in the U.S. Army. Poe was extremely ashamed of being an enlisted man and used the fake name Edgar A. Perry, which was only one of several assumed names that Poe frequently used. Some others were Henri le Rennet and Edward S.T. Grey. He even tried to cover up his enlistment by telling stories of how he spent four years abroad fighting for Greek independence and that he also traveled to Russia. Poe even allowed such lies to be included in biographical data printed about him. Despite his reluctance to join the army, Poe still was a model soldier. He was able to rise up to the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest noncommissioned rank possible, after only a year and a half of service.

In April of 1844 Poe and his wife left for New York. Poe began to work for various newspapers there. He wrote tales, reviews and character sketches of various New York literati. In the April 13th issue of the New York Sun Poe wrote his infamous Balloon Hoax which dealt with the supposed crossing of the Atlantic by a balloon.

On May 26, 1836 Poe married his 14 year-old cousin Virginia and moved the family to New York. The marriage to Virginia has long been the subject of much speculation and controversy. It cannot be denied that Poe loved Virginia, but his attitude towards her was that of a big brother. He frequently called her his little "sis" or "sissy". It is possible that Poe only married Virginia to keep his aunt close to him at all times. Poe now had two loving women at his side and he didn't want to lose them. It has also been said that Poe never actually had relations with his wife and that they usually slept in separate beds. This, however, is only speculation and can never be proven.

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Approximate Word count = 3009
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)