Poe

          Edgar Allan Poe led a very unhappy and unfortunate life and this very likely bled into his writing and would explain all of his moody, depressing, horrific stories. From a young age he was separated from his siblings, raised by a cold father, and went through financial problems for basically all of his life. 

          Poe's momma died when he was two years old and she had taken him and his two siblings to live on their own. Poe was separated from his brother and sister and raised by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan who   lived with pretty good conditions. Edgar went through elementary school in England and then moved to the US to continue his studies at the University of Virginia when he was seventeen. Poe's foster father was wealthy but he did not share much of his wealth with Edgar so he soon racked up a bunch of debt and started drinking heavily. 

          He had no job and no money so Poe enlisted in the US army when he was 18. He got up to the rank of sergeant major when Mrs. Allan died and Mr. Allan decided to be a little more amiable towards Poe. He signed Poe's application to go to West Point for the army. Poe lived with his grandmother and cousin, Virginia, while waiting to enter West Point. John Allan refused to send Poe money so he didn't stay long and was soon dismissed from the army as well. 

          Poe moved to New York where some of his poetry was published but most of the works he sent to magazines and newspapers were rejected. He even begged John for help again but never heard from him and John Allan died three years later. Poe was one of the only writers trying to make a living off of his writing only instead of having another job and writing as a hobby. His style of writing wasn't popular either because his stories were gruesome and horrifying so they didn't sell and he didn't get much money for the ones that did get published. 

          The last days of Poe's life are a very mysterious mystery. On September 30, 1849 Edgar was supposed to take a train New York but supposedly took the wrong train to Baltimore. Three days later he was found lapsing in and out of consciousness and was taken to the hospital but he couldn't say exactly what had happened to him. Edgar Allan Poe died in the hospital four days later, his life a spiral of depressing events and his death an intriguing mystery.