POE Edgar Allan

POE Edgar Allan (January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA - October 7, 1849, Baltimore, Maryland, USA), an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is famous for his tales of mystery and the macabre. He was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre

Both Poe’s father and mother died before the poet was three years old and Edgar Allan was raised as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. Poe later enlisted in the Army in 1827. It was at this time his publishing career began, although humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian". 

After his early attempts at poetry, Poe had turned his attention to prose. He spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin.

In January 1845 Poe published his poem, "The Raven", to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.

Edgar Allan Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields. He is considered as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction. He is also credited as the “architect” of the modern short story. As a critic he was one of the first writers to put emphasis on the effect of style and structure. He was thus a forerunner to the "art for art's sake" movement. Poe is particularly respected in France, in part due to early translations by Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work throughout Europe.

Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an annual award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre.

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