 Born in Boston  The son of traveling actors  Brother Henry and Sister Rosalie

 Mother died, father deserted him at the age of two  Fostered by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan  He grew up with wealth and a good education  constant disagreements with his step-father

 Studied briefly at the University of Virginia  Drinking and gambling difficulties kept him from continuing at UVA

 Poe moved back to Richmond to live with his cousin Virginia, brother Henry and his invalid grandmother.  Poe’s brother dies of tuberculosis

 Received an appointment to West Point, but he provoked his own dismissal  Caused a final separation between Poe and his step- father

 In 1836 married his 14 year old cousin, Virginia  In 1845, The Raven was published and was enormously popular  Last 12 years of life worked as a journalist, editor, and creative writer

 In 1846 wife died after a long illness  Lived in poverty stricken conditions

 Sometimes strange special effects have been linked to his addiction to opium  Addiction not uncommon in the 1800’s, because of frequent use of laudanum, an opium based medicine, to treat headaches and stomach pains

 Three days before he died he was found roaming the streets in a drunken stupor  Died in Baltimore of unknown causes

 Much of what we “know: today about Poe’s death came from a rival (Griswold)  Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain”- caused by alcoholism

 Adding to the mystery of Poe’s death, an unknown visitor referred to as the Poe Toaster would visit the grave and leave three roses  Likely the Poe toaster is several people

 Every January 19, Poe’s birthday, in the early hours of the morning, the man can be seen toasting at the grave with Cognac

Known for:  Tales of mystery and terror stories  Introducing the modern detective story

 Short Stories  The Tell-Tale Heart  The Cask of Amontillado  The Black Cat,  The Pit and The Pendulum  Poems:  The Raven  Annabel Lee  To Helen  Lenore

 supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action  High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror  use of words indicating fear, mystery, etc.: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright, fainting