was an
American writer who lived from January 19, 1809 to October 7, 1849. During his life, he did not
see much financial success as a writer. In 1827, he enlisted in the Army under the name Edgar
A. Perry, and it was during this time he published his first book, Tamerlane and Other
Poems, a forty-page collection of which only 50 copies were printed. Four years
later, he published another collection, entitled Poems, which was
financially backed by his friends from the US Corps.
Thereafter, Poe turned
to writing prose. His short story MS. Found in a Bottle was awarded a literary prize by the
Baltimore Saturday Visiter, which, in turn, landed him the position of
assistant editor at the Southern Literary Messenger. He also subsequently
worked at the Burtons Gentlemans Magazine and the Grahams
Magazine. Although Poes works such as of Nantucket and his
prose collection, of the Grotesque and Arabesque saw publication and were
reviewed widely, Poe made very little money off of them.
In 1845, four years
preceding his death, Poe published in the Evening Mirror and it became wildly popular €“
although Poe was paid a mere 9USD for the piece. Moreover, the Broadway
Journal, which Poe had become the owner of in 1842, failed in 1846. His wife,
Virginia Clemm Poe, died from tuberculosis in 1847. Two years after, Poe passed away at
Washington Medical College. He was rushed there because he was found wandering the streets of
Baltimore, in great distress, and in need of immediate assistance.
Nowadays, Poe is regarded as the forerunner of Romanticism in American literature. He
is also credited with laying the groundwork for modern genres such as the detective narrative
and science . He is known to have influenced notable modern writers such as Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells. Poe is so beloved and respected that a copy of his first
book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, sold for $662,500 USD at Christies, New Yorka record-setting
amount in works of American literature.
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