Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
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| Full name at birth | Edgar Poe
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| Claim to fame | The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ; Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque; The Raven and Other Poems; ...
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| Date of birth | 19 January 1809
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| Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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| Date of death | 7 October 1849
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| Age | 40 (age at death)
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| Place of death | Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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| Cause of death | Undetermined (some suggested alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents as the cause of his death)
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| Occupation | Short story writer, poet, essayist, novelist, dramatist, editor, and literary critic
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| Height | 5' 8" (173 cm)
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- Has two siblings; brother William and sister Rosalie. His parents, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, were touring actors.
- Studied in England during the years 1815-20.
- Poe didn't earn a cent from his most famous poem, "The Raven", having published it first in a newspaper for free and thereby losing any and all future copyright monies. The original title of "The Raven" was "To Lenore" but upon having dinner with Charles Dickens and learning of the great writer's recently deceased pet bird, which just happened to be a raven, Poe reworked the poem to include the black bird as a central figure. Poe wrote "The Raven" with the intent of creating what he called an "adult fairy tale" and when asked why he didn't start the poem with the traditional "Once upon a time" but used "Once upon a midnight dreary" Poe replied, "In my 'time' it's always 'midnight dreary.'" All of Poe's stories took place at night, or if a day scene was required, it was the bleakest, foulest day of the year.
- Born Edgar Poe, raised in Richmond, Virginia by the Allan family.
- Virginia Clemm (b.1822) was his cousin/niece
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