Edgar Allan Poe was born Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth ("Eliza") Poe. A year after his birth, Poe's father abandoned the family and his mother died soon thereafter. Poe was subsequently taken in (though not formally adopted) by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia (thus providing him with a middle name). Poe had a tense relationship with his foster family, often arguing with John Allan over finances. Poe attempted to become a soldier, enlisting in 1827 under an alias, but he was forced to leave cadet training at West Point and began concentrating more heavily on his writing. Poe's earliest stories were published anonymously in 1827 but soon after leaving the military, he began publishing works under his own name and contributing articles on literary criticism to local journals and newspapers. In his brief but prolific career, he produced dozens of short stories, poems and essays. He migrated from city to city, living at times in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. In 1836, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, who died of tuberculosis eleven years later. Poe would use Virginia and her death as the inspiration for many of his dark tales of loss and yearning. Poe was known for his macabre and morbid fiction, his short stories and poems often featuring haunted characters, cursed houses, murder, mayhem and often gory and disturbing assaults. He is also known as the inventor of "detective fiction" for his creation of the Sherlock Holmes prototype C. Auguste Dupin. A lifelong alcoholic who often suffered from severe bouts of depression and mental illness, Poe was found wandering about the streets of Baltimore on October 3, 1849 and was brought to Washington Medical Hospital where he died four days later. His cause of death has been widely speculated upon as being from liver failure, cholera, meningitis, syphilis or, possibly, a combination of factors. Edgar Allan Poe remains one of America's most celebrated and widely-read authors and his works have been adapted into dozens of films and dramatic productions.
