The Writer: Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), one of the greatest American writers and poets, was a master of the psychological thriller and inventor of the detective story. Born in Boston to parents who were itinerant actors, Poe was an orphin by the age of two. After completing successful studies in England, Poe became a journalist in the United States and achieved widespread celebrity after the publication of his poem, The Raven (1845). Falling through periods of severe depression and alcoholism, Poe attempted suicide a year after the death of his young wife (who also happened to be his cousin) from tuberculosis (1847). In 1849, Poe was found delirious and insane in a Baltimore gutter. He died soon afterward. But his work and name have lived on evermore. Poe's first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840), contains one of his most famous works, The Fall of the House of Usher.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), one of the greatest American writers and poets, was a master of the psychological thriller and inventor of the detective story. Born in Boston to parents who were itinerant actors, Poe was an orphin by the age of two. After completing successful studies in England, Poe became a journalist in the United States and achieved widespread celebrity after the publication of his poem, The Raven (1845). Falling through periods of severe depression and alcoholism, Poe attempted suicide a year after the death of his young wife (who also happened to be his cousin) from tuberculosis (1847). In 1849, Poe was found delirious and insane in a Baltimore gutter. He died soon afterward. But his work and name have lived on evermore. Poe's first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840), contains one of his most famous works, The Fall of the House of Usher.