Edgar Poe Discography

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American poet, writer of fiction and critic, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, on the 19th of January 1809. The family was of English origin, but was settled in Ireland, from where the poet`s great-grandfather emigrated to Maryland. His grandfather, David Poe, served with credit as a soldier in the War of Independence, was known to George Washington, and was the friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. His son David Poe was bred as a lawyer, but deeply offended his family by marrying an actress of English birth, Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, neé Arnold, and by himself going on the stage. In 1811 he and his wife died, leaving three children -- William, Edgar, and a daughter Rosalie -- wholly destitute. William died young, and Rosalie became mad. Edgar was adopted by John Allan, a tobacco merchant of Scottish extraction, seemingly at the request of his wife, who was childless. The boy was indulged in every way, and encouraged to believe that he would inherit Allan`s fortune. Allan, having come to England in 1815, placed Edgar in a school at Stoke Newington, kept by a Dr. Bransby. In 1820 Allan returned to Richmond, Virginia, and Edgar was first placed at school in the town and then sent to the university of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1826. Here the effects of a very unwise training on a temperament of inherited neurotic tendency were soon seen. He was fond of athletics, and was a strong and ardent swimmer; but he developed a passion for gambling and drink. His disorders made it necessary to remove him, and he was taken away by Allan, who refused to pay his debts of honor. He enlisted on the 26th of May 1827 at Boston, and served for two years in the United States Army. As a soldier his conduct must have been exemplary, for he was promoted sergeant-major on the 1st of January 1829. It is to be noted that throughout his life, when under orders, Poe could be a diligent and capable subordinate. In May 1829 Allan secured his discharge from the army, and in 1830 obtained a nomination for him to the West Point military academy. As a student he showed considerable faculty for mathematics, but his aloofness prevented him from being popular with his comrades, and he neglected his duty. When court-martialled he made no answer to the charges, and was expelled on the 6th of March 1831. Allan`s generosity was now exhausted. The death of his first wife in 1829 had doubtless removed an influence favorable to Poe. A second marriage brought him children, and at his death in 1834 he left his adopted son nothing. A last meeting between the two, shortly before Allan`s death, led only to a scene of painful violence.

In 1827 Poe had published his first volume of poetry, Tamerlane and other Poems, at Boston. He did not publish under his name, but as "A Bostonian." In 1831 he published a volume of Poems under his name at New York. His life immediately after he left West Point is very obscure, but in 1833 he was living at Baltimore with his paternal aunt, Mrs. Clemm, who was throughout life his protector, and, in so far as extreme poverty permitted, his support. In 1833 he won a prize of $100 offered for the best story by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor. He would have won the prize for the best poem if the judges had not thought it wrong to give both rewards to one competitor. The story, MS. found in a Bottle, is one of the most mediocre of his tales, but his success gave him an introduction to editors and publishers, who were attracted by his striking personal ap