I am looking up information about the towns that poe grew up it. I am wanting to know if they were full of crime and murder, or if there were major diseases going around at that time.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2004

Answers

I know Richmond was a town he spent the majority of his childhood in. None of the cities he lived in where filled with crime or disease. The real problem Poe faced was himself - he was an aspiring writer who had little/no money to take care of himself or his wife. Not to mention his growing addictions with opium and alcohol. But in all reality, if your trying to find outside factors to connect with Poe in an attempt to understand what he wrote and why - good luck. There is no way to fully understand any authors reasoning or motives behind their work, thats just the way it works.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2004

Poe was once convinced he had the plague during a typhoid outbreak. He did not. He "solved" a local mystery, the death of mary Rogers and turned it into one of his detective tales. This was part of the thrill of the times, for the stories of crime and detection in the papers. Poe brought into the realm of fiction with a powerful new form separate and superior to the orniary police work of detection.

otherwise, those times were not too extraordinary. The results of growth, urbanization and social unrest(North/South) were just beginning in a sense.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2004

Edgar Allan Poe's neihborhood was one of simplicity and serenity. It was not such as is today - a busy rural area, although it did contain residents who were prosperous economically. Although impoverished, Poe still mantained a classy lifestyle, despite the fact that for the duration of two weeks of a time he and his family were living off of hard bread and mollasses. It is hard to answer with regard to the crime rate and hazard level of his Massachusetts hometown, but Poe would've been more worried about his enemies than his fellow citizens. Because of his numerous sentimental relationships with a variance of women, Poe no doubt drew many enemies to himself. His harsh critism towards other's literature also brought some discontenment from fellow writers. But regardless, Poe's location throughout his life was serene and safe (not including disease and other dangers that all townships and cities withhold).

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2004

Get a life.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2004

Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe’s Early Life, education, what influences he had on other authors and his death. I. Intro II. Early Life A. Born January 19, 1809 1. Town Of Boston 2. Edgar Poe Original Name B. Parents Came From US 1. Both Actors Mother Died 1811 2. Father Left at His Birth 3. Gained the Name Allen by Foster Parents 4. Went to England for 4 Years III. Education A. First schooling 1. Was 8 years old in London 2. Father didn’t want to pay for it 3. Passed with A’s In Every subject B. After Elementary School 1. Registered at University of Virginia, Feb 14, 1826 2. Studied Latin, Dancing, Spanish, Italian 3. Active Member of Jefferson Literary Society IV. Accomplishments A. Books 1. Boston Published a Little Volume “Tamer lane And Others” 2. Second book in 1829 B. Influences on other Authors 1. Nabokovs 2. Scott Fitzgerald 3. Melville V. Death A. Just Before Death 1. He gave lectures at local Colleges 2. Drank Him self stupid B. Causes of Death 1. Rabies? 2. Liver Cancer VI. Conclusion A. Restate areas of interest

Edgar Allen Poe

The life of Edgar Allen Poe was a hard one. Many things did not come to him easily but yet he still made things work out for himself, he went through school, paying his own debts, working hard to get his school work done, and helping the nation by joining the US army. In my mind Edgar Allen Poe, was the greatest author of poems and stories ever. This man’s early life was a difficult one. His name was Edgar Poe. He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. He had two siblings Rosalie and William. Both parents were stage performers, and it has been suggested, that Eliza's greater public popularity may have resulted in a marriage break between Edgar's mother and father. Eliza Poe died in Richmond, Virginia, on December 8, 1811. Historians believe Eliza died of tuberculosis, but there is nothing to suggest that Edgar Poe's mother, Eliza Poe, died of tuberculosis. She most likely died of pneumonia. Edgar was about three years old at the time of his mother's death. After the death and loss of his father, he was adopted by John and Frances Allen, though he was never legally adopted. (Poesmuseum.org, Pg 1) John and Frances had no other children. In 1815, John took his family on a trip to England and there Poe went through important schooling. From 1815 to 1820, Poe’s godfather sent him to England and Scotland to begin his classical education. Enrolled in boarding school at nine in Stroke Newington, Poe’s success was described as superior to boys older than him by John Bransby, the head master. (Buranelli, Pg 16) After regular school years, and graduating from boarding school, he went back to Richmond, Virginia, and enrolled in the University of Virginia, where he studied Greek, Spanish, French, Latin, and Italian. He was brilliant, but while at the university, he gambled so much that John Allen took him out and wouldn't let him continue. (Leone, Pg 7) Poe was also an active member of The Jefferson Literary Society. While there, he took little part in the debates. A few meetings after joining he read an essay at the Society on "Heat and Cold." He had the opportunity of once substituting as temporary secretary, but the Society can hardly claim him as an official. Within a year the seventeen-year-old Poe was expelled for not paying his dues. Upon returning to Richmond from the university, Edgar Allen Poe was heartbroken to find his girlfriend, Elmira Royster, engaged to another man. He left home once more, this time going to Boston where he published a pamphlet of poems entitled “Tamerlane and Other Poems.” Some of the poems in this collection compared to his lost Elmira. The second book he published was in 1829: Al Aafaaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. Poe wrote not only tales of horror and supernatural but also many humorous stories (Ashby, Pg 105). One of Edgar Allen Poe’s best accomplishments is his influences on other author’s stretches far. One well known author he influenced was Melville with Moby Dick, Poe’s opening sentence: “My Name Is Arthur Gordon Pym” is close to Melville’s “Call Me Ishmael.” Nabokov’s best novel, Lolita (1955), shows Poe’s influence most strongly. He originally called it the Kingdom by the Sea, an allusion to “Annabel Lee.” (Leone, Pg 50) Many authors even said: “Poe is one of my influences on my work.” Before his death he gave lectures at local colleges, and also he went back to his college and showed new students how great University Of Virginia was and how it helped his life. Poe had earned a local reputation as a writer of grotesque horror stories. He had little reputation among the authors of the time. Poe was discovered lying unconscious on September 28 on a wooden plank outside Ryan's saloon on Lombard St. in Baltimore. His death was sad for many of his friends. He would always drink; thus most people think that he died of brain inflammation combined with alcoholism, almost 147 years after his death, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center consider that author Edgar Allan Poe may have died as a consequence of rabies, not from complications of alcoholism. Poe's medical case was reviewed by R. Michael Benitez, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. His review is published in the September 1996 issue of Maryland Medical Journal. Poe was 39 years old when he died on October 7, 1849. Edgar Allen Poe’s life was complicated and was full of hardships, but he worked through them to achieve many established undertakings. His poetry was often negatively criticized but like many poets, his poetry gained recognition after death. Even though he has been dead for 155 years his poetry still lives on.

Works Cited Ashby, Martha. Classic Mystery Writers. Chelsea House Publishers, 1995 Leone, Bruno, ed. Edgar Allen Poe Greenhaven Press. Inc. 1998. Buranelli, Vincent. Edgar Allen Poe. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977 Poe Museum.org. 5 May 2004. Edgar’s Childhood http://www.poemuseum.org/poes_life/index.html “Did Rabies fell Edgar Allen Poe?” Science News Nov. 2, 1996: v150n18p282.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2004