What Edgar Poe Wrote. Edgar Allan Poe Short Biography

Edgar Allan Poe great American writer and poet. He was also an editor, critic and creator of the detective-fiction genre in literature. Representative of American Romanticism.

Edgar Allan Poe born January 19, 1809 in Boston, USA. His parents, actors of a traveling troupe, died when Edgar was only two years old. Edgar's mother, was an Englishwoman, Edgar's father, David Poe- Irish American. The boy was adopted and adopted by a wealthy merchant from Virginia, John Allan.

Childhood

Edgar's childhood passed in a rather rich environment. The Allans spared no expense for his upbringing, and although sometimes their affairs were unsuccessful (sometimes they were even threatened with bankruptcy), the boy did not feel this: he was dressed “like a prince”, he had his own horse, his own dogs. When Edgar was six years old, the Allans went to England and sent the boy to an expensive boarding school in London, where he studied for five years. Upon the Allans' return to the United States in 1820, Edgar entered college at Richmond, graduating in 1826. Edgar was sent to finish his education at the University of Richmond, then just founded.

Edgar developed early: at the age of five he read, drew, wrote, recited, rode horseback. At school, he studied well, acquired a large stock of knowledge in literature, especially English and Latin, world history, in mathematics, in some branches of natural science, such as astronomy, physics. Physically, Edgar was strong, participated in all the pranks of his comrades, and at the university - in all their revels. The character of the future poet from childhood was uneven, passionate, impulsive. There were many strange things in his behavior. From an early age, Edgar wrote poetry, was fond of fantastic plans, loved to make psychological experiments on himself and others. Conscious of his superiority, he made others feel it.

Life in wealth ended for Edgar when he was not even 17 years old. He stayed at the university for only a year. In the autumn of 1826 there was a break between John Allan and his adopted son. Who was "guilty" is now difficult to find out. There is evidence unfavorable for Edgar. For example, it is confirmed that he forged bills signed by John Allan, that one day, drunk, he said rude things to him, waved a stick at him, etc. On the other hand, it is not known what the brilliant young man suffered from the wealthy patron (John Allan received an unexpected inheritance , which turned him into a millionaire), alien to the questions of art and poetry. Apparently, only Mrs. Allan sincerely loved Edgar, and her husband had long been dissatisfied with the eccentric foster child. The reason for the quarrel was that Allan refused to pay Edgar's gambling debts. The young man considered them "debts of honor" and saw no other way to save this "honor" than to leave the rich house where he was brought up.

Youth

For Edgar Allan Poe began a wandering life. After leaving the Allan house, he went to his native Boston, where, under the pseudonym "Bostonian", he published a collection of poems "Tamerlane and Other Poems", which was never published. This edition probably consumed all the young man's savings. Having no shelter, he decided to take a drastic step - and joined the army under an assumed name. He served for about a year, was in good standing with his superiors, and even received the rank of sergeant major. At the beginning of 1828, the poet, however, could not stand his position and turned to his adoptive father, asking for help, and, probably, expressed remorse. John Allan, perhaps at the request of his wife, took pity on the young man, paid for the hire of a deputy, and secured Edgar's release. But, having arrived in Richmond, Edgar no longer found his patroness: Mrs. Allan had died a few days before (February 28, 1829).

Having received freedom, Edgar Allan Poe again turned to poetry. He again visited Baltimore and met his paternal relatives there - with his sister, grandmother, uncle George Poe and his son Nelson Poe. The latter could introduce Edgar to the editor of the local newspaper, William Gwin. Through Gwyn, Edgar was able to reach out to the then prominent New York writer John Neal. Both Gwyn and Neil the novice poet presented his poems to the court. Review, with all the reservations, was the most favorable. The result was that at the end of 1829 a collection of Poe's poems was republished in Baltimore under his name, entitled "Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Small Poems". This time the book arrived in stores and in the editorial office, but went unnoticed.

Meanwhile, John Allan insisted that Edgar complete his education. It was decided that he would go to the Military Academy at West Point. In March 1830, at the request of Allan, Edgar was nevertheless admitted to the number of students, although he did not fit in age. His adoptive father signed an obligation for him to serve in the army for five years. Edgar reluctantly went to the academy. Normally, he could not leave its walls. With his usual vehemence, he set to work and managed to achieve that in March 1831 he was expelled. This young poet again regained his freedom, but, of course, again quarreled with John Allan.

From West Point, Poe left for New York, where he hurried to publish a third collection of poems, called, however, the “second edition”: “The Poems of Edgar A. Poe. Second Edition". Funds for the publication are collected by subscription; many comrades from the academy have subscribed, expecting to find in the book those verse pamphlets and epigrams on professors for which the student Allan Poe became known at school. But they had to be disappointed. There were no buyers for the book, valued at two and a half dollars.

In 1831, he had to turn to his adoptive father to give out cash benefits. But they were extremely small.
Poe married his thirteen-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. Her early death influenced some of the poet's works.

From autumn 1831 to autumn 1833 - the most difficult period for Poe. In the summer of 1831, Edgar lived in Baltimore with his aunt Mrs. Clemm - the mother of that Virginia, who later became the poet's wife. Since the autumn of 1831, his traces have been lost. By the end of this period, Edgar Allan Poe had fallen into extreme poverty.

There is no doubt that during these years the young poet worked hard. He wrote a number of short stories - the best in the early period of his work. In the fall of 1833, the Baltimore weekly announced a competition for the best story and the best poem. Edgar Allan Poe sent six short stories and an excerpt in verse "The Colosseum". The jury members unanimously recognized both the story and Poe's poems as the best. However, not considering it possible to give out two prizes to the same person, only the story “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle” (eng. MS. Found in a Bottle) was awarded, for which the author was given one hundred dollars. The money arrived on time. The author was literally starving.

1830s - 1840s

In the period from 1833 to 1840, the author published many poems and short stories, and worked in the Southern Literary Messenger magazines in Richmond. From 1841-1843 he lived with his family on the outskirts of Philadelphia and worked for Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine. In Philadelphia, Poe also intended to publish his own magazine, The Stylus (or The Penn), but this idea failed.

However, a serious test soon lay in wait for him. After singing, Virginia burst a blood vessel and she was dying (she was ill with tuberculosis).

In addition, in 1846, the New York Broadway Journal, with which he collaborated, closed, and Poe lost his livelihood. The miserable life resumed.

last years of life

The last years of Edgar Poe's life, 1847-1849, were years of throwing, semi-madness, high successes, sad falls and constant slander of enemies. Virginia, dying, took an oath from Mrs. Shew, Edgar's girlfriend, never to leave him. Edgar Allan Poe was still captivated by women, imagined that he was in love, there was even talk of marriage. In life, he behaved strangely, but he managed to publish several more brilliant works.

But the illness was already destroying the life of the poet; bouts of alcoholism became more and more painful, nervousness increased almost to a mental disorder. Mrs. Shew, unable to understand the poet's morbid state, found it necessary to withdraw from his life. In the autumn of 1849 the end came. Full of chimerical projects, believing himself to be a bridegroom again, Edgar Allan Poe gave a lecture on the "Poetic Principle" in Richmond in September of this year with great success. Poe left Richmond with $1,500 in his pocket. What happened next remains a mystery. Maybe the poet fell under the influence of his illness; maybe the robbers drugged him. Edgar Allan Poe was found unconscious, robbed. He was brought to Baltimore, where Poe died in hospital on October 7, 1849.

A plaque erected at approximately the location in Boston where Edgar Allan Poe was born.

Having received freedom, Edgar Allan Poe again turned to poetry. He again visited Baltimore and met his paternal relatives there - with his sister, grandmother, uncle George Poe and his son Nelson Poe. The latter could introduce Edgar to the editor of the local newspaper, William Gwin. Through Gwyn, Edgar was able to reach out to the then prominent New York writer John Neal. Both Gwyn and Neil the novice poet presented his poems to the court. Review, with all the reservations, was the most favorable. The result was that at the end of 1829 a collection of Poe's poems was republished in Baltimore under his name, entitled " Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and small poems". This time the book arrived in stores and in the editorial office, but went unnoticed.

Meanwhile, John Allan insisted that Edgar complete his education. It was decided that he would go to the Military Academy at West Point. In March 1830, at the request of Allan, Edgar was nevertheless admitted to the number of students, although he did not fit in age. His adoptive father signed an obligation for him to serve in the army for five years. Edgar reluctantly went to the academy. Normally, he could not leave its walls. With his usual vehemence, he set to work and managed to achieve that in March 1831 he was expelled. With this, the young poet regained his freedom again, but, of course, he again quarreled with John Allan.

Literary creativity

Poe began his literary activity with poetry, publishing a volume of poems in Boston in 1827. "Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and other poems"("Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and other poems"). As a prose writer, Poe spoke in 1833, writing "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle" ( "A manuscript found in a bottle").

Poe's work was influenced by romanticism, which was already completing its journey in the West. “Gloomy fantasy, gradually disappearing from European literature, flared up again in an original and bright way in“ scary stories ”. For that was the epilogue of romanticism” (Fritsche). Poe's work was strongly influenced by English and German romantics, especially Hoffmann (no wonder Poe was fond of German literature and idealistic philosophy); he is related to the sinister-gloomy shade of Hoffmann's fantasies, although he declared himself: "The horror of my stories is not from Germany, but from the heart." Hoffmann's words: "Life is a crazy nightmare that haunts us until it finally throws us into the arms of death" express the main idea " scary stories Po - an idea that, together with the peculiar style of its expression, was already born in Poe's first stories and only deepened, processed with great skill in his further artistic work.

In the poem "Ulyalum" a hero wandering together with his soul Psyche through a mysterious area gray skies and dry leaves, comes to the crypt where a year ago he buried his beloved Ulyalum. He recalls the "October night without a light" when he brought the "dead burden" here. But the main thing in the poem is not a vague plot, but hypnotic music, immersing the reader in the world of shadows, rustles, eternal autumn, ominous lunar flicker. And again the refrain sounds like a spell:

In The Bells, Poe's sound writing reaches the limit of sophistication. In each of the four parts of the poem, the ringing of “silver” sleigh bells for merry sleighing, “golden” wedding bells, “copper” alarm bells, and “iron” funeral bells are melodically recreated. And each of them corresponds to some stage in a person's life: the joy of childhood, the happiness of love, the suffering of the adult world and death. The ringing of bells symbolically embodies the tragic fate of man. The great Russian composer S.V. Rachmaninov wrote music for the Russian text of the poem - a poem for orchestra, choir and soloists.

(V. G. Prozorov)

Life Fears

The hopeless horror of life, reigning supreme over man, the world as the realm of madness, death and decay as the lot of man predetermined by a cruel supreme power - such is the content of Poe's "terrible stories". Death as a manifestation of the supernatural (the death of a beautiful woman in a mysterious setting) is the theme of the story "Ligeia" (Ligeia,), one of Poe's best stories.

It poses the problem of overcoming death, the miraculous, mysterious resurrection of Ligeia. In the story "Berenice" (Berenice), the contemplative hermit Aegeus was imbued with the manic idea that he should have the beautiful teeth of his dying bride Berenice, and breaks them out, committing this blasphemy over the still living, still trembling body. In other stories, the theme of the loss of a beloved (“Eleonora”, “Morella”, etc.) is given, which arose long before the death of Poe's beloved wife - Virginia (d. in).

The problem of the struggle between good and evil, the splitting of the psyche, a person’s craving for evil is posed in the story about the double “William Wilson” (William Wilson), the same craving for crime, evil and destruction characterizes the heroes of the stories “The Imp of the perverse” (Demon of perversity, ), "Metzengerstein" (Metzengerstein), "The black cat" (Black cat,), "The tell-tale heart" (The tell-tale heart,) and others. Metampsychosis, the transmission of thoughts at a distance, is the theme of the story "The Tale of the Rocky Mountains" and an essential component of one of Poe's most impressive stories - "The fall of the house of Usher" (The Fall of the House of Usher). In an ancient, gloomy castle full of some special oppressive atmosphere, its last owner lives - Roderick Asher; with a painfully nervous, sophisticated susceptibility, through the noise of a thunderstorm, he hears how his sister, who was buried alive by him in the family crypt, is trying to escape from the coffin, but is unable to go and help her - he has a manic "fear" of horror. The sister appears in a bloody shroud, horror kills her brother, they both die, and Asher Castle falls, destroyed by a thunderstorm.

Roderick is, in fact, Poe's main and only hero, repeated in different ways in other stories: he is a nervous, painfully receptive contemplative, loving rare books, a hermit who is afraid of life; he is just as conventional as the beloved heroine Po - a mysterious, mysteriously wise, fading beautiful woman. Heroes of Po - in the power of fate, which predetermined their death; they are weak-willed, they do not have the strength to protest against life, felt as a nightmare and evil. Each of them is a victim of some kind obsession, they are not living people with real feelings and passions, but abstract figures, almost schemes, to which only the exceptional skill of the artist gives vitality.

Poe is trying to overcome the lack of will of his heroes: endowing them with the power of thought, he glorifies the will. The words of Joseph Glanville: "Man would not have yielded to the angels, nor to death itself, if it were not for the weakness of his will," he put the epigraph to Ligeia. But if the most unnatural and incomprehensible, developing with strict logical sequence in Poe's stories, makes the reader believe in the incredible, then Poe's skill did not help here - his heroes remained weak-willed. But he is inattentive to the average human character, to the psychology and life of an ordinary person, he is only interested in the unusual, the abnormal. From the very first line of the work, all the elements of style - composition, choice of words, logic of narration - are aimed at achieving a certain, pre-calculated effect that strikes the reader at the climax of the story - it is not for nothing that such terrible moments as premature burial, immuring alive, etc. .

Science for Po is only a means of manifesting the incomprehensible, helping to give this incomprehensible (a ship growing like a body, an abyss absorbing ships at the South Pole, etc.) a greater degree of probability through the use of accurate geographical data, chemical recipes, information about maritime affairs and etc. Science plays a decorative role here, since Poe seeks only to be scientific and to mystify the reader, and in science fiction stories the same theme of the inevitable death of heroes unfolds. Poe, being the finalist of romanticism in horror stories and poetry, influenced a number of Western European writers in the field of fantasy. From the Golden Beetle with treasure hunts and cryptograms, literature comes to Stevenson's Treasure Island, from Hans Pfall to Journey to the Moon by J. Verne, to the geographical decorativeness of a number of novels, etc.

Poe's propensity for speculative analysis, for a sequentially logical unfolding of events, even incredible ones, was clearly manifested in his detective stories - "Murder in the Rue Morgue" ( The Murders in the Rue Morgue, ), "The Secret of Marie Roger" ( The Mystery of Marie Roget, ) and "The Stolen Letter" ( The Purloined Letter, ). As in science fiction, Poe tries to give his detective stories the character of the facts that took place in reality, introducing police reports into the narrative, exact dates, references to periodicals, etc. A tangle of contradictions, opposite to each other, tangled facts is gradually unraveled thanks to a coherent system of logical analysis, before which any riddles are powerless. It is characteristic that the motif of private property, which is undividedly dominant in the bourgeois detective genre, does not find a place for itself in Poe's stories. Also, he is not interested in questions of morality, the psychology of a criminal and a crime - he is only interested in the technical side of the matter (one of his stories is called “Fraud as one of the exact sciences”), the plot knot of the riddle and leading the reader to the moment of solution, which plays the role of a culminating item "scary stories". In his detective stories, Poe tried to get closer to reality, but instead it turned out to be an escape into the realm of analytical thought. His Dupin is the forerunner of both Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Chesterton's pastor Brown, and Nero Wolfe, and Hercule Poirot.

Standing apart in Poe's work is his "Eureka" (Eureka,), in which he gave a mystical-pantheistic system, outlining the foundations of his philosophy. At the same time, it is interesting to note that this poem outlined the Big Bang hypothesis, which became a generally accepted theory only in the 20th century.

It should be noted a number of critical articles by Poe, who fought against the bourgeois literature of the North - against Lowell, Longfellow and others.

Creativity score

The originality of Poe's style found no followers in America. At the same time, Poe's work was reflected in the poetry of the French symbolist Baudelaire, who translates Poe, introduces Europe to him, and from here Poe's influence on the literature of decadence and symbolism begins - on Villiers de Lisle-Adam, Mallarme, Maeterlinck, Wilde, Howard Phillips Lovecraft , Evers, etc., up to the Russian symbolists.

The French poet Charles Baudelaire, a nature related to Poe, described this situation in this way: “The United States was for Poe only a huge prison through which he feverishly rushed about like a creature born to breathe in a world with more clean air, - a huge barbaric corral, illuminated by gas. A. J. B. Shaw put it this way: "Poe didn't live in America, he died there."

Particularly much attention was paid to Russian decadents (“The Raven”, translated by D. Merezhkovsky, in the “Northern Messenger”, , Ї 11; “Ballads and Fantasies”, “Mysterious Tales”, translated by K. Balmont,; “Raven”, translated by V Bryusov, in "Questions of Life", , Ї 2). Especially popular among the decadents was the size of the "Crow" (Balmont, Bryusov, "Althea" by V. Golikov).

  • A crater on Mercury is named after Edgar Allan Poe.
  • Every year, on Poe's birthday, a secret admirer visits his grave.
  • The Beatles' song, I Am The Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour album) mentions Edgar Poe.

Bibliography

  • The Virginia, ed. by J. A. Harrison, 17 vv., Boston, ;
  • E. C. Stedman a. G. E. Woodberry, 10 vv., N. Y., ;
  • Sobr. sochin., 2 vols., ed. Panteleeva, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Extraordinary Stories, 2 vols., ed. Suvorina, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Mysterious stories, trans. K. D. Balmont, M.,;
  • Sobr. sochin., 2 vols., ed. "Messenger foreign literature", St. Petersburg,;
  • The same, trans. K. Balmont, 5 vols., ed. “Scorpio”, M., - (in the last volume, an essay on the life of E. Poe, compiled by K. Balmont, and letters from E. Poe);
  • Poems in the best Russian translations, St. Petersburg,;
  • Stories, 3 vols., trans. M. A. Engelhardt, ed. "World Literature", Berlin, ;
  • Stories, trans. K. D. Balmont, Rostov-on-Don, ;
  • Complete collection of poems and poems, trans. and foreword. Valery Bryusov with a critical and bibliographic commentary, ed. "World Literature", M.-L.,;
  • The Last Joke, Stories, ed. "Spark", M.,;
  • Whitman S. H., E. A. Poe and his critics, N. Y., ;
  • Gill W. F., Life of E. A. Poe, 5th ed., N. Y., ;
  • Lauvrière E., Un génie morbide, 2 vv., P., ;
  • Woodberry G. E., Life of E. A. Poe, 2 vv., Boston, ;
  • Seylaz L., E. Poe et les premiers symbolistes français, P., ;
  • Mauclair C., Le genie d'E. Poe. La légende et la vérité, Paris, ;
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  • Allen H., Israfel, The life a times of E. A. Poe, 2 vv., N. Y., ;
  • Lloyd J. A. T., The murder of E. A. Poe, L., ;
  • Lemonnier L., E. Poe et les poètes français, P., ;
  • Krasnoselsky According to A., In the fight against the prose of life, "Russian wealth", XI-XII;
  • Gorlenko V. G., New labor about E. Poe, in the author's book "Reflections", St. Petersburg,;
  • Anichkov E.V., Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, "The Modern World", 1909, II (reprinted in the author's book "Forerunners and Contemporaries", vol. I, St. Petersburg,);
  • Baudelaire C., Edgar Allan Poe, transl. L. Kogan, Odessa, 1910;
  • Brazol B. L., Critical Facets, St. Petersburg, 1910;
  • Friche V. M., Poetry of nightmares and horror, M.,;
  • Bryusov V., Edgar Poe, in the book "History of Western Literature" (-), ed. prof. F. D. Batyushkova, vol. III, M.,;
  • Dinamov S., Science Fiction Novels by Edgar Allan Poe, "Literature and Marxism", , III;
  • His own, Novels by Edgar Allan Poe, "30 Days", XI-XII;
  • His own, Edgar Allan Poe - the artist of death and decay, "October", , IV.

Works by Edgar Allan Poe

By Edgar Allan (1809-1849), American writer.

Born January 19, 1809 in Boston in a family of itinerant actors. He became an orphan very early: in 1810 Edgar's father disappeared, and two years later his mother died. The boy was taken in by the family of Richmond merchant J. Allan.

In 1815-1820. Poe lived in England, where he was brought up in a boarding school. Upon returning to America, he attended college. In 1826, he entered the University of Virginia, which he had to quit a year later, as his adoptive father flatly refused to pay his stepson's gambling debts. Fleeing from creditors, Poe enlisted in the army, and in 1830 became a student at the military academy at West Point. However, the hardships of military service proved unbearable for young poet, who published by that time the first collections of poems. Leaving everything, he went to Baltimore, where his aunt lived, and devoted himself entirely to literary activity.

Wrote stories, poems, critical articles, worked as an editor. In 1835, Poe was offered to head the journal Southern Literary Bulletin. An improvement in life allowed him to start a family - in 1836 he married his 14-year-old cousin Virginia. However, happiness lasted only 11 years. The death of his wife from consumption in 1847 was a terrible shock for Poe, from which he could no longer recover. The writer fell into depression, tried to commit suicide. drowning out heartache, addicted to alcohol.

Po stands at the origins of several genres: science fiction("The Tale of the Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym", 1838); horror literature (the two-volume Grotesques and Arabesques, 1840); detective ("Murder in the Rue Morgue", 1841; "Gold Bug", 1843).

This writer is considered an unsurpassed master of the short story, which, under his pen, could be both tragic, and humorous, and "terrible", and fantastic.

Poe's early poetry bears the features of romanticism ("Tamerlane and Other Poems", 1827). In adulthood, he tried with the help of imagination to overcome the finiteness of time, the inevitability of death ("The Raven" and other poems, 1845). In mysticism, Po is looking for answers to questions that torment the soul.

The "black aroma" of madness and sadness, which can only be felt by the elect, or rather, the doomed. Brutal murders committed by non-human beings (be it an unknown entity or an orangutan). Mysterious beauties - more frightening than attractive, who return from the world of the dead only to hail, or even take with them those who, by a whim of fate, lingered in this world. All of these are images from the Macabre texts of Edgar Allan Poe.

The posthumous fame of Edgar Allan Poe is enormous: his characters flooded the collective unconscious, the plots became vagrant, his works not only inspire many followers, but gave rise to entire trends in literature and cinema. The raven from Poe's most famous poem spread its wings in Hollywood, inspiring directors to make dark films of the same name. The story about a black cat avenging his own death and the murder of his mistress has become firmly established in ... Soviet children's folklore: Octobrists and pioneers, who frightened each other with this horror story (which acquired a completely modern flavor among the children), hardly knew that they were retelling the plot, created in the 19th century by a consistent supporter of black slavery. And these are just a couple of many examples. A romantic poet who, as befits a romantic poet, wore elegant black outfits and smitten many women with his "poetic madness." The founder of the detective genre, who brought to literature the private detective Dupin, a worthy predecessor of Sherlock Holmes (although, of course, if you quibble, the elements of the detective story and unusual forms of this genre for us - the Chinese detective story, for example - appeared before Edgar Allan Poe). And besides everything else. Edgar Allan Poe is one of the founders of science fiction, black fantasy, horror novel, thriller and suspense.

It would seem that the life of such a person should be shrouded in a cocoon of the mystical. This assumption is so obvious that a number of screenwriters and writers "invited the late writer to the pages of their works, where the ghost of Poe is eager to unravel the terrible secrets of the past, or Edgar himself, alive and well, helps the inspector to find a maniac who commits bloody crimes under the influence of his terrible works.

The writers were echoed by biographers who expected mysticism and mystery from life. Many of them willingly transferred to the pages of the writer's biographies his own memories of fascinating and incredible things ... which never happened to him in reality. Among those gullible and admiring was Charles Baudelaire, who held Edgar Allan Poe in high esteem, translated his works and was inspired by them to create his own decadent and psychedelic texts. And also the romantic Konstantin Balmont, who adorned the essay on the life of Po unimaginable amount poetic images.

In fact, in the life of Edgar Allan Poe there was little mysterious (although unusual things did sometimes happen), for the most part it was the tragedy of a man who, despite talent and perseverance, could not reckon with people, or with circumstances, or even with yourself.

Ways of fathers, crossroads of children

The favorite of Europe, Edgar Allan Poe was born in America, in Boston, on January 19, 1809. Relatively soon, one of the few mysterious events connected with his fate happened: Edgar's father disappeared without a trace when the boy was two years old. Later there were rumors that David Poe died (they even called the probable cause of death: transient consumption), interrupted by gossip that he simply left his wife after learning that their youngest daughter Rosalie was not his child. What happened to David Poe in fact, could not be found out.

On September 27, 1849, 38 years after the disappearance of David Poe, the forty-year-old writer Edgar Poe set out on a short (it was supposed to last a day) business trip from Richmond to New York. On September 28, he suddenly disappeared. On October 3 in Baltimore (!) a kind-hearted passer-by found a man unconscious and sent him to the hospital, not knowing that he was a writer lost by his bride and relatives. A few days later, Edgar Allan Poe died in a hospital room. What happened to him in those days “deleted” from life and his memory (when he came to his senses, he claimed that he did not remember what happened to him), is still unknown.

A short tragedy by Elizabeth Arnold

Konstantin Balmont wrote about Poe's mother that she was "a girl without any country": "... she was born in the middle of the ocean when her mother, crossing the Atlantic, left England for America. The mother, having given birth to her, died, the girl had no father, and someone else, taking pity on the child, sheltered her, raised her and prepared her for the stage.". The reality is not so poetic: Elizabeth Arnold's mother was a widowed English actress who went to try her luck in America. Following family tradition, Elizabeth entered the stage early (she played her first role at the age of ten) and served very successfully in the theater. Her short life was difficult and full of losses: the girl's mother died, later, just a few years after the wedding, Elizabeth's first husband, actor Charles Hopkins, died of a fever. The young widow married a second time to David Poe. This young man from a good, though not rich, family left the law for the stage. According to one version, he did this because he fell in love with Elizabeth, according to another, he dreamed of theatrical fame, according to the third, he was unlucky in legal affairs and he hoped that he would become a successful actor. Unfortunately, he did not shine on stage, and, probably, if he had the opportunity to return to law, he would have done so - if not for himself, then for the sake of his wife, who was in poor health, and three small children. It is possible that one day it would have happened, but ... David Poe disappeared, and Elizabeth found herself in a completely distressed situation. David's parents took care of her eldest son William Henry, but the two younger ones, Edgar and Rosalie, stayed with their mother, whose health was steadily deteriorating: she was ill with consumption. As much as she could, Elizabeth Poe went on stage, and when she completely fell ill, the audience and colleagues tried to help her financially. The talented actress died at the age of 23, tormented in addition to her own suffering by fear for the future of her children. An unimaginable tragedy.

Allan family

Two kind-hearted women - sisters Frances and Anna - visited Elizabeth during her illness. Anna was unmarried and lived with her sister's family, and Frances was the wife of John Allan. She felt sorry for Elizabeth, and with all her heart she became attached to little Edgar. Francis did not have her own children, so after the death of a young woman, Mrs. Allan took the orphaned boy to be raised.

Edgar's childhood in the Allan household was happy. He was well provided for: no matter how things went in the Ellis and Allan trading company (and over the years of growing up in the business of partners there were ups and downs in the business of partners), this did not affect the boy’s life, Edgar had the best clothes, knick-knacks and books, excellent teachers, your own pony, the opportunity to invite groups of friends. The boy with foster parents and an aunt crossed the ocean twice, spent five years in England and Scotland, in the homeland of John Allan.

But it was not only about material wealth. Adoptive parents Edgar was inspired that he was talented, capable of great accomplishments, and in the habit of treating his pranks and whims condescendingly, the women of this family, perhaps, went too far: without even an apology from him.

"Evil Genius" by Edgar Allan Poe

Almost all the biographies of Edgar Allan Poe do not spare dark colors, depicting the merchant John Allan as callous and cruel man, almost the evil genius of the future writer. In fact, it is difficult to say who was an evil genius for whom. John Allan was an orphan from Scotland. He began his career in commerce from the bottom, working for a rich uncle, but enviable diligence and undoubted talent allowed him to open his own business on a par with former colleague Ellis.

Pity for the orphaned child, public opinion, and most of all, the great desire of his wife and her sister to leave the baby with them made him agree that Edgar settled in their house. He became deeply attached to the boy, but ... John Allan, who went through a difficult school of life (orphanhood, hard work, emigration, which forced him to leave his homeland and relatives), used to be grateful for the relatively little that his relatives did for him, and not to wait more. The boy who lived in his house took everything he received for granted and did not feel much gratitude for anything.

Mr. Allan knew the value of money, and Edgar spent it recklessly. With age, his demands grew, but meanwhile he - a rather adult guy - continued to treat dollars like a spoiled child.

John Allan was hardworking - Edgar did not seem to be striving for any work, not particularly hiding that he was counting in life on the inheritance that he would one day receive from his adoptive father (over time, this amount became significant: Allan's rich uncle unexpectedly left his nephew an impressive part his state). At the same time, John had two illegitimate children, whom he generously helped financially all his life and to whom he was going to bequeath (and bequeathed) a significant part of his money.

John Allan knew how to deal with his feelings if necessary, while his adopted son easily fell into hysterics and could shower insults on anyone. Mr. Allan believed (and this was the natural state of affairs at that time) that the minor youth for whom he was responsible should live by his rules, and Edgar Poe did not think to pacify his capricious temper and adapt to the requirements of the head of the family. Note that this was not a relatively democratic and psychological XX century, but a terry XIX - a time when obedience to elders was considered an absolutely necessary quality of a young person. In addition, it took place in the slave-owning south of America, with its rather patriarchal and cruel morals. Even the kindest Aunt Polly in Mark Twain's novel speaks of her pet - little Tom Sawyer: “He who does without a rod destroys a child,” blaming himself from the bottom of his heart for flogging his nephew too rarely and thereby spoiling him. By such standards, John Allan performed miracles of meekness towards his adopted son.

Let's add one more thing to this: throughout his life, Poe let down people with whom he had business or personal relationships, was distinguished by extreme arrogance, liked to manipulate his neighbors, suffered from mood swings, left most business enterprises with a scandal, blaming partners for everything. , employers and mysterious "enemies" (in a word, anyone, but not himself), and could slander anyone, having, it seems, nothing sacred. For example, shortly after the death of his beloved wife Virginia, he wrote to a potential lover that he never loved his wife and married her only for her happiness, neglecting his own. So he betrayed the woman he loved with one stroke of the pen. But letters were preserved where he wrote that if he did not marry Virginia, then he had no reason to live. In a word, Edgar Poe was, to put it mildly, not a gift. Of course, there is a possibility that Poe acquired all these unattractive qualities in adulthood. But it seems that he developed them already in his early youth, and John Allan watched with dismay as yesterday's nervous and complex boy turns into a rather unpleasant and infantile young man, looking at whom the adoptive father, perhaps, increasingly found himself relieved from that that this young man is not his own son.

After Edgar completed his high school education in Richmond, he continued his studies at the University of Charlottesville. By this time, Edgar was a handsome and athletic young man, an excellent swimmer, well-versed in academic disciplines and even composed poetry.

At the university, Edgar studied brilliantly, which did not prevent him from making huge debts in stores (where he had unlimited credit under the responsibility of his adoptive father), no less gambling debts and indulging in drunken sprees. When the enraged Allan reprimanded Edgar for his behavior by the end of the school year, instead of an apology he received ... reproaches. It turns out that he himself is to blame: after all, Edgar, according to him, played only because he did not have enough money. Considering the fact that the mother and aunt usually generously endowed the young man with cash (both friends and teachers at school were always surprised by large amounts of his pocket money), and also taking into account the same unlimited credit in the surrounding shops and the fact that a significant part of the money taken in debt from shopkeepers was spent on feasts with friends, the self-whitening version of the young man does not hold water. To top it all off, it turned out that Poe had tried to forge his adoptive father's signature on the bill. John Allan repaid the young man's loans in stores, but flatly refused to pay "debts of honor", believing that the young gambler should extricate himself.

It is not surprising that at the end of the school year, John Allan said that he did not want Edgar to continue his studies at the university - the young rake already received a fairly good education, much better than Allan himself had. With such knowledge, it is quite possible to earn money and make a career. And if you want to continue your education, well, fine: self-education to help! Yes, not forgiving, but not frighteningly cruel approach.

For the next six months, Poe lived at home on the money of his adoptive father, making only rather half-hearted attempts to find a job to pay off his huge gambling debts, and showing no remorse, but only blaming Allan for ruining his life "under the influence of a momentary whim."

Edgar's antics, the trouble he got into, the tense home furnishings, exacerbated by constant quarrels between the two men, worsened the already poor health of Francis Allan: her consumption progressed (a disease in which, as you know, any stress is fatal). Probably, John thought a thousand times that if he had shown stamina 15 years ago and refused to accept little Edgar into the family, his wife would have worried for a while and calmed down, but because he, succumbing to weakness, let them into the life of this boy, the beloved woman is doomed to constant experiences, probably bringing her death closer.

Elmira Royster - lost love

In addition to losing the opportunity to study, Edgar experienced the loss of his girlfriend. Even before leaving for the university, he fell in love with a young neighbor - fifteen-year-old Elmira Royster. The feeling was mutual, and the young people secretly got engaged from their parents. But the girl's father did not consider Edgar a suitable match for his daughter, so he intercepted the love letters that the young man wrote to his bride from the university, making Elmira believe that Edgar had forgotten about her. At the same time, he systematically prepared the ground for his daughter's marriage to another young man, Alexander Shelton - wealthy, independent and balanced. Royster's plan worked: he separated the young couple. Elmira married another.

Edgar, having learned that the girl he loved had left him, was inconsolable. Moreover, for him it was already the second loss of his beloved: very young, almost a teenager, he was in love with the mother of his classmate, Jane Stanard. In this feeling there was a lot of filial with a bit of romantic, but often such relationships, while remaining platonic, grow into friendship with a touch of flirting. But this story had a truly sad ending: the unfortunate woman, whom Edgar poetically called in his poems and notes “Helen” (by analogy with the beautiful Queen of Troy), lost her mind and died of an unknown disease a year after they met. And now he has lost Elmira, believing, moreover, that she left him of her own free will. ... Oddly enough, some biographers (for example, Hervey Allen) in this tragic event manage to blame John Allan. Say, if he told Royster that he would leave his adopted son a good inheritance, the girl's father would agree to the marriage of Edgar and Elmira. First, not a fact. In addition to money, there was also a character factor: Royster may have been observant enough to draw his own conclusions about the young Edgar. Secondly, Edgar never asked John Allan to help his marriage to Elmira, he did not even inform his adoptive father that he had proposed to the girl.

And finally, Hervey Allen does not take into account that the promotion of this marriage could be contrary to the sincere convictions of John Allan: he saw very well that his adopted son was an unreliable young man with nascent bad habits and heavy character not inclined to repent committed mistakes or learn from them. Perhaps this responsible and lived life man simply did not want such a husband for a very young and inexperienced girl, the daughter of his good friend. So why should John Allan go against his conscience in such a case? By the way, if Allan was guided by precisely these considerations, then he was absolutely right: the future wife of Edgar Allan Poe fully tasted in marriage both his irresponsibility, and his drunkenness, and his bad antics. In addition, the story with Elmira Royster was not a situation where parents simply allow young people to make their own mistakes - initially this marriage could take place only if John Allan actually signed that he would pay for Edgar Poe's mistakes. After all, Edgar himself did not earn money (as practice showed, and in the future he could not adequately support his family for any long time, and he often drank what he did get), therefore, it was possible to defend the possibility of his marriage to Elmira, only by providing (and continuing to provide, since he already took it) Poe's future family financially.

"One Bostonian"

After another quarrel with his adoptive father, Poe left home. John finally posed the question point-blank: either you live by my rules, find a job, pay your debts, or leave.

In a letter sent the next day, the young man announced that he was not acting on impulse, but on a long and mature reflection and did not want to have anything to do with Allan. He also asked... to send money and a chest with his clothes. John left the letter unanswered. Two days later, Edgar again asked for money, saying that he was in poverty and starving. John Allan reminded him that it hadn't been a week since Po had broken with him "forever" by refusing to live by the laws of his house.

For some time, Edgar lived on the money that his mother and aunt gave him, and then went to try his luck away from his native city. First, he went to Boston, where he published a book of poems under the pseudonym "One Bostonian" - it was a collection of his early, not yet too mature works, some parts of which, however, were quite figurative and interesting in form.

For some time he lived in the family of relatives of David Poe, and then, having not achieved success in other fields (it was not possible to find a job, the book was not popular: as it turned out, it was not enough to print, it was also necessary to advertise, and for this there were no connections, no material opportunities), entered the army.

Poe served under a false name and was successful: he was transferred to headquarters, he received non-commissioned officer stripes. His contract was signed for 5 years, but after 2 years he wrote to John Allan asking him to help him leave the garrison. Edgar could do this only by informing his superiors that he had reconciled with his relatives, and also by paying the person who was supposed to replace him in the service. After much hesitation (it seemed to John that the army could "make a man" out of a spoiled boy - a common point of view, which occasionally even justifies itself), the adoptive father agreed to intervene in the situation. True, there was a hitch: the payment to the replacement colleague was usually 12 dollars, and Poe paid his ... 75. Otherwise, it was necessary to wait, and he was in a hurry to leave the service. This surprise was, of course, not ruinous for the wealthy Allan, but it evoked not very pleasant memories of Edgar's unjustified spending and machinations that had taken place in the past. By the way, Allan's suspicions were justified: Poe got into gambling debts in the army, and his creditors turned to Allan in the following years. The ambiguity of the situation did not improve the relationship between father and son. Edgar claimed that he wanted to enter the military academy, and his adoptive father, with the help of letters of recommendation and regular expenses, helped him to do this.

During his studies, Edgar experienced a terrible loss for the second time: his second mother, Frances Allan, the woman who gave him all the fullness of maternal love, died of consumption, like the first. It is terrible to imagine how this affected the young man: it is not for nothing that Poe's texts so often contain the image of a dying or deceased woman, destroying the life and / or mind of the lyrical hero with her death; it is not for nothing that the theme of frightening and all-powerful death, which conquers life, love, and hope, is so strong in his texts. Life for Poe always loses to decay, and, given his life and moral experience, this is not at all surprising.

Poe was only a day late in Richmond before he could see Frances before he died. The common grief briefly softened the two men: John warmly received Edgar at home, completely updated his secular wardrobe, pondered how he could help the young man in life, and even Edgar began to call John “pa” in letters, which had not happened for a long time.

West Point Military Academy was a quality educational institution: cadets were taught for 4 years in science, chemistry, higher mathematics, engineering, ballistics, drafting, legislation, foreign languages ​​and philosophy. Edgar hoped that, thanks to his brilliant abilities, he would be able to complete his studies in a short time (in any other place, he most likely would have succeeded). But it turned out that this is simply impossible: in addition to theory, there was also military practice calculated for the entire period of study. Poe was not ready for this and a year later began to demand that Allan take him away from the academy.

To say John was disappointed is an understatement. He hoped that Edgar had finally come to his senses, become interested in something. Let's not forget that it was very difficult to get Poe into the academy: the competition exceeded 10 people per place, and we had to wait more than a year. In addition, at this time, John Allan received several demands to pay Edgar's next "debts of honor" made back in the army, and he was also given a letter from Edgar, in which he described Allan as a person who "is rarely sober" - this lie was as ridiculous as it is meaningless. Offended to the depths of his soul, John Allan stopped responding to Edgar's letters.

He, not having received the support of his adoptive father, deliberately abandoned his studies in order to be expelled from the academy. And he succeeded. If Edgar Allan Poe succeeded in creation as well as in destruction, he would be the second Mark Twain in terms of wealth and success.

Mrs. Clemm

A short stay in New York (no friends, no certainties, but big health problems: a cold and severe otitis media) ended with the release of the author's second book, simply called "The Poems of Edgar A. Poe" and even caused a few good reviews, but not brought money.

In search of shelter, Edgar moved to Baltimore, to the house of his aunt, David Poe's younger sister, Mrs. Clemm. Maria Clemm was a widow with two children who single-handedly pulled a large unfortunate family: Grandmother Poe lived out her last years, lying in paralysis, Mary's older nephew, Edgar's brother Henry William, was dying of tuberculosis and alcoholism, Mrs. Clemm's son Henry drank bitter, and the youngest daughter Virginia was still a little girl of nine years old.

Edgar spent the next few years virtually dependent on this courageous woman with a highly developed maternal instinct. Edgar was extremely lucky with his mothers: having accepted him into the family, Maria became his good genius until the end of his days. Mrs. Clemm ran the house perfectly, knew how to save every penny, cooked "from nothing" perfectly, was very tidy, loved her family and never lost heart. Unfortunately, all these wonderful qualities did not provide a livelihood. At the slightest opportunity, she earned money by sewing, and when this did not help, Mrs. Clemm had to beg food from relatives and acquaintances. She did this without losing her dignity, and she was helped. On these food alms and Henry's rare earnings, the family lived.

Sorrowful events - deaths - saved from unnecessary mouths: old grandmother Poe was exhausted, family consumption claimed the life of brother Edgar. Mrs. Clemm's son took a job as a sailor on a ship, left his father's home and, with no small probability, died in foreign lands.

Meanwhile, luck flashed for Edgar Poe: he sent his story "Metzengerstein" to a literary competition, did not receive first place, but was noticed. He became a journalist in several publications, his stories began to be printed. A little later, his work "Manuscript Found in a Bottle" won the same first place in another literary competition, and Poe won a hundred dollars, which actually saved the family from starvation.

Sow character, reap destiny...

After Francis' death, John Allan decided to marry his late wife's sister. He was an elderly man, he did not count on crazy passions, and a calm marriage, full of kinship affection, with a woman whom he had known for a long time (they got on well, studied each other's habits while living under the same roof), seemed to him a welcome safe haven.

This supposed marriage was destroyed by... Edgar Allan Poe. A favorite of his aunt, he ardently urged her not to agree to an alliance with Allan, recalled all the sins of his adoptive father, insisted that marrying only a year after the death of Francis was a crime. Anna turned down John Allan.

A couple of years later, it turned out that Edgar Poe outplayed himself: visiting friends, John Allan met thirty-year-old Louise Patterson, fell in love with her and made an offer. The feeling was mutual, Miss Patterson said yes, married Allan and bore him two children.

Aunt Anna would defend Edgar's interests to the last drop of her blood, and Louise Allan had no obligations to the stranger Poe.

Over the years, Poe received money from John Allan several times, although he agreed to help only in the most critical situations- for example, when Edgar was threatened with a prison term for debts.

Deciding to make peace with his adoptive father and ask for a permanent allowance, Edgar returned to Richmond, but ... quarreled with John's second wife. An ugly scene came out in which Edgar Poe seemed to play all the cards necessary to lose: he declared that Louise Allan had no right to turn his room into a guest room (that is, to dispose of her own house), accused her of marrying John, only for materialistic reasons (from the "unmercenary" Po, who dreamed of his adoptive father's money, it was especially disgusting to hear this), he told her nasty things about her and her children, not even sparing the baby in the cradle. And he didn’t even find the courage to wait for John Allan, whom his family called from the office with a note, he just ran away cowardly, insulting the woman. Reconciliation failed.

The last time Edgar came to the already seriously ill John Allan, who ordered not to let his former pupil go: the old man wanted to save his nerves. But Edgar broke into the house for ... another ugly scene that ended with John Allan kicking him out with a stick. After this difficult episode, the patient's condition deteriorated sharply, and after a short time, John Allan died, providing his wife, legitimate and illegitimate children, and leaving nothing to Edgar Poe.

One book Edgar Allan Poe could never have written was How to Win Friends and Influence People. Unless, of course, we are talking about a positive impact.

Poet, writer, journalist

Without stopping poetic creativity Poe began to develop as a journalist and novelist. His novels and stories appear in newspapers, he publishes reviews of books and articles. In 1835, he received an offer of permanent cooperation from the Southern Literary Messenger magazine, a small publication that had only 700 subscribers, and moved to Richmond. Editor-in-Chief Mr. White is infinitely pleased with the new employee: Po is invaluable. He is talented, hardworking, and his work attracts more and more readers and subscribers. He develops as a critic (only in the first year of his work in the journal, 37 of his reviews were published) and as a prolific writer. In the few years that he worked at Southern Literary Messenger, the number of subscribers soared to 3,500 people!

But all this is true only for those periods when Poe is sober. His spree crosses out everything. Unfortunately, this was Poe's permanent style of work. Poe's critique was interesting, original, beautifully written and... unfailingly wicked. During his long work in this field, he spoke well of few people, and the extreme acrimony with which he usually wrote about the texts of his victims betrayed completely undisguised envy of someone else's success.

His abilities as a writer are expanding: he also publishes the classic textbook "The First Book of the Conchiologist" - an illustrated guide to mollusk shells (by the way, which has gone through 4 reprints), and a lot of extraordinary stories - from "Melzel's Chess Machine", where Poe scientifically reliably described a mechanical chess player who traveled across America with its creator and always defeating human chess players, to the mystic-romantic "Ligeia", "The Fall of the House of Usher".

Virginia - Lady Ligeia

Edgar Poe and Virginia Clemm combined secret marriage when the writer's cousin turned 13 years old. Edgar Poe was in love with Virginia, the young girl reciprocated and admired him. Maria Clemm loved "dear Eddie" like a son.

At first it was decided to postpone the wedding for several years, but Mary's brother Nelson Poe unexpectedly wanted to take his niece into his family to help his sister, who lives in poverty.

Edgar, frightened by another loss of his beloved, as well as the loss of a family that gave him no less love and forgiveness than Francis and Anna, insisted on an immediate marriage as a kind of guarantee of his position. Most likely, Edgar and Virginia didn't have a sexual relationship until Virginia was 15. Then they had another marriage - it was easier than explaining to relatives and friends at home that they had been deceived for the previous two years. Moreover, Mrs. Klemm's brother helped her sister financially, but it's one thing to help two single women, and another to support Edgar Allan Poe's wife and mother-in-law. The fifteen-year-old bride is too young for our standards, but Poe's mother was the same age when she first married. It was quite early, but quite an acceptable age for marriage at that time.

Virginia Poe was a kind, meek, hardworking girl: she helped her mother run the house and save the family by sewing when hard times came. She loved to play music, playing the harp and harpsichord, rejoiced when Edgar read aloud to her, and adored planting flowers.

Meanwhile, life threw Po from city to city. He got a job in the magazines of Richmond, Philadelphia, Baltimore, traveled to lecture in northern states. His work grew stronger, against the background of constant literary successes, real masterpieces appeared. The only problem was that money was just as bad almost all the time.

Writing as such in America at that time could not be a source of livelihood. As a rule, writers had some other source of income - a wife's dowry, a position in the state or journalistic service. Po was no exception. He published several collections, the poem "The Raven" enjoyed wild, exceptional popularity, but all these successes practically did not bring money. Journalism opened its arms to Poe, but the story of his first magazine was repeated with some variations throughout his life: he was an excellent employee who was either fired during a drinking binge (or after a series of drinking bouts that exhausted his patience), or he left on his own, full of desire to publish his own magazine (These attempts were never crowned with significant success).

The Pau-Clemm family, however, kept afloat - until, in 1842, the harp-playing and singing Virginia suddenly bled in her throat. The girl was hurriedly put to bed, the doctor was called (who did not know who to help first - a girl coughing up blood or a man almost distraught with horror). The nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe was repeated ... for the umpteenth time. In 1848, Poe would write to a friend: You ask if I can "at least hint at you to understand" what was the "terrible misfortune" that caused those "strange behaviors" that I so deeply regret. Yes, I can answer you, and not only with a hint. This "misfortune" was the most terrible of those that can comprehend a person. Six years ago, my wife, whom I loved in a way that no mortal has ever loved, injured an internal blood vessel while singing. Her condition was considered hopeless. Having said goodbye to her forever, I experienced all the torments that her death brought me. However, she got better, and hope returned to me. A year later, her vessel burst again. It all happened again for me. Then again, again, again and again - at different intervals. And every time death approached her, I was tormented by all the same torments. With each new exacerbation of the disease, I loved my wife more and more tenderly and more and more desperately held on to her life. But, being by nature a sensitive and unusually nervous person, I fell into madness at times, followed by long periods of terrible enlightenment. In these states of complete unconsciousness I drank—God alone knows how much and how often. Of course, my enemies attributed madness to the abuse of wine, but not vice versa. And indeed, I had already abandoned all hope of healing when I found it in the death of my wife. I was able to meet her death, as befits a man. Terrible and endless fluctuations between hope and despair - that's what I could not bear without completely losing my mind. With the death of what was my life, I was reborn to a new one, but — merciful God! - what a sad life».

This bitter letter is a brief synopsis of a long and terrible tragedy. Poe was madly in love with Virginia and clung to her as his only salvation. Unfortunately, instead of support in her own suffering, she received only the whole abyss of his despair. But before he drank, and before he destroyed his well-being and their common life. But now the periods of drunkenness and almost insanity began to become more frequent: Poe disappeared from the house for a long time, came back a few days later, not always sober. He was seen roaming the streets with a detached air. Sometimes he appeared with acquaintances or people who had long forgotten about him (for example, with the former bride Mary Devereux), and arranged sudden brawls and trials (for example, he assured the long-married Mary that she did not love her husband, but only loved him alone). Over the years, he had several platonic lovers - usually literary ladies and poetesses, relations with which sometimes also led to scandals.

All this had a deplorable effect on Poe's earnings, people's attitude towards him, his work. But more importantly, it was all killing Virginia. Even Mrs. Clemm's patience could not stand it at times, and she - always extremely loyal to "dear Eddie", always justifying and exalting him - several times told family friends that Edgar was killing her daughter.

However, at the same time, Po tried to deny himself everything so that his wife had food and medicine. A friend of the family, the writer Gove Nichols, left a touching and sad memory of the sick Virginia: “ There was no cover on the straw mattress, only a snow-white bedspread and sheets. The weather was cold, and the patient was shaking with the terrible chill that usually accompanies consumptive fever. She lay wrapped in her husband's coat and clutching a large motley cat to her chest. The wonderful animal seemed to understand what benefits it brings. The coat and the cat only gave warmth to the poor thing, except for the fact that her husband warmed her hands in the palms, and her mother warmed her legs.».

In 1847, Virginia was gone. Edgar Allan Poe outlived her by two years. Shortly before his death, rushing from one woman to another, going mad and almost completely down, he met his youthful love Elmira Royster (now Shelton). She, like him, was a widow. Now there was nothing to stop them from getting engaged. Elmira was rich, forgotten feelings quickly came to life in both of them, it seemed that youth had returned to them. Mrs. Clemm was happy for her Eddie, and he did not hide from the bride that the mother of his dead wife would always be with him, and Mrs. Shelton agreed with this. The official engagement was to follow after Edgar's return from a short trip. On an autumn day, a steamer was taking away a famous writer ...

Edgar Allan Poe. Born January 19, 1809 in Boston, USA - died October 7, 1849 in Baltimore, USA. American writer, poet, essayist, literary critic and editor, representative of American Romanticism. Creator of the form of the modern detective and the genre of psychological prose.

Some of Edgar Poe's works contributed to the formation and development of science fiction, and such features of his work as irrationality, mysticism, doom, anomalous states depicted, anticipated decadent literature.

Edgar Poe was one of the first American writers who made the short story the main form of their work. He tried to earn money exclusively by literary activity, as a result of which his life and career were fraught with severe financial difficulties, complicated by a problem with alcohol.

For twenty years creative activity Poe wrote two stories, two poems, one play, about seventy short stories, fifty poems and ten essays, published in magazines and almanacs, and then collected in collections.

Despite the fact that during his lifetime Edgar Allan Poe was known mainly as a literary critic, later his works of art had a significant impact on world literature, as well as cosmology and cryptography. He was one of the first American writers whose fame in his homeland was significantly inferior to Europe. Particular attention was paid to his work by the symbolists, who drew from his poetry the ideas of their own aesthetics.

Edgar Allan Poe was praised by Arthur Conan Doyle, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, recognizing his role as a pioneer in the genres they popularized.


Edgar Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston., in the family of actors Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe, Jr. Elizabeth Poe was born in the UK. At the beginning of 1796, together with her mother, also an actress, she moved to the United States, where she began performing on stage from an early age.

Poe's father was born in Ireland, the son of David Poe Sr., who emigrated to America with his son. Edgar Poe's grandfather had the rank of major, actively supported the revolutionary movement in the United States and was a direct participant in the War of Independence. David Poe Jr. was supposed to become a lawyer, but against the will of his father, he chose the profession of an actor.

Edgar was the middle child in the family, he had an older brother, William Henry Leonard, and a younger sister, Rosalie.

The life of touring actors involved constant moving, which was difficult to carry out with a child in her arms, so little Edgar was temporarily left with his grandfather in Baltimore. There he spent the first few months of his life. A year after the birth of Edgar, his father left the family. About him future fate nothing is known for sure. On December 8, 1811, Poe's mother died of consumption.

A little boy, left without parental care, liked the wife of John Allan, a wealthy merchant from Richmond, and soon a childless family took him to her. Sister Rosalie came into the Mackenzie family, who were neighbors and friends of the Allans, while brother Henry lived with his father's relatives in Baltimore.

Poe's adopted family was among the wealthy and respected in Richmond. John Allan was a co-owner of a company that traded tobacco, cotton and other goods. The Allans had no children, so the boy was easily and happily accepted into the family. Edgar Poe grew up in an atmosphere of well-being, they bought him clothes, toys, books, a certified teacher studied with him at home.

In 1815, the family (as well as Ann Valentine - the elder sister of Francis, John Allan's wife) went to Great Britain. John Allan, whose business experienced some difficulties associated with the decline of the economy after Napoleonic Wars, sought to improve trade relations with Europe. Arriving in Liverpool, the family went to live with Allan's relatives in Scotland, in the cities of Erwin and Kilmarnock. A few weeks later, another move took place - to London, where Poe graduated primary school Madame Dubois.

In 1817, studies continued at the Reverend John Bransby School in Stoke Newington, a suburb of the capital. Memories of Edgar Allan Poe about this period of life are reflected in the story "William Wilson".

Edgar finished his last academic year ahead of schedule. The reason for this was the hasty return trip to the United States - John Allan's affairs in England did not work out, serious financial difficulties ensued, his wife Francis was seriously ill. The merchant even had to borrow money from a companion for the return journey. In the summer of 1820, a transatlantic sea voyage took place, and already on August 2 the family arrived in Richmond.

On February 14, 1826, Edgar Allan Poe left for Charlottesville where he enrolled at the newly opened University of Virginia. Tuition at the institution founded by Thomas Jefferson was expensive (in a letter to his stepfather, Poe calculated the total cost and indicated the amount of $ 350 a year), so the students of the university were children of wealthy families of the state.

Upon admission, Poe chose two courses for study (out of a possible three): classical philology (Latin and Greek) and modern languages ​​​​(French, Italian, Spanish). The seventeen-year-old poet who left parental home, was left to its own devices for the first time for a long time.

Edgar Poe's school day ended at 9:30, the rest of the time was supposed to be devoted to reading educational literature and preparing homework, but the offspring of wealthy parents, brought up in the "true spirit" of gentlemanly, could not resist the temptation of "eternally fashionable" card games and wine in the highest environment. Edgar Allan Poe, educated in London and brought up in a respectable family, undoubtedly considered himself a gentleman. The desire to confirm this status, and later the need for livelihood, led him to the card table. At the same time Edgar Allan Poe first started drinking.

By the end of the school year, Poe's total debts were $2,500 (about $2,000 of which were card debts). Having received letters demanding payment for them, John Allan immediately left for Charlottesville, where a stormy explanation took place with his stepson. As a result, Allan paid only a tenth of the total (payment for books and services), refusing to recognize Edgar's gambling debts.

Despite Poe's obvious progress in his studies and successfully passed his exams, he could no longer stay at the university and after the end of the academic year, on December 21, 1826, he left Charlottesville.

Returning home to Richmond, Poe had no idea about his future prospects. Relations with John Allan were seriously damaged, he did not want to put up with the "careless" stepson. At this time, Poe was intensively engaged in creativity. Probably, it was in the Allan house that many of the poems that were later included in the first collection of the novice poet were written. Poe also tried to find a job, but his stepfather not only did not contribute to this, but also prevented his employment in every possible way as educational measures.

In March 1827, the "silent" conflict escalated into a serious quarrel, and Allan kicked out adopted son from home. Poe settled in the Court-House tavern, from where he wrote letters to Allan accusing him of injustice and justifying him, continuing to sort things out in an epistolary form. Later, these letters are replaced by others - with requests for money, which the adoptive father ignored. After staying in a tavern room for several days, on March 23, Poe set off for Norfolk and then on to Boston.

AT hometown Edgar By chance met a young publisher and typographer, Calvin Thomas, who agreed to print his first collection of poems.

"Tamerlane and Other Poems" written under a pseudonym "Bostonian", came out in June 1827. 50 copies were printed, consisting of 40 pages, they were sold at 12.5 cents apiece.

In 2009, an unknown collector at an auction purchased one of the surviving copies of Poe's debut collection, paying for it a record amount for American literature - $ 662,500.

In his first poetry collection, Edgar Allan Poe included the poem "Tamerlane" (which he would subsequently edit and refine several times), the poems "K ***", "Dreams", "Spirits of Death", " Evening Star”, “Imitation”, “Stans”, “Dream”, “Happiest Day”, “Lake”. In the preface to the publication, the author apologized for the possible low quality of poetry, justifying this by saying that most of the poems were written in 1820-1821, when he "was not even fourteen yet." Most likely, this is an exaggeration - Poe, of course, began to write early, but he really turned to poetry during his studies at the university and later.

As expected, the collection did not attract the attention of the reader and critics. Only two publications wrote about his release, without giving him any critical assessment.

May 26, 1827 Edgar Allan Poe, in dire need of money, signed an army contract for a period of five years and became a private of the First artillery regiment US army. Poe's duty station was Fort Moultrie on Sullivan Island, located at the entrance to Charleston Bay, the same fort that 50 years ago proved impregnable to british army. The nature of the island on which the writer spent a year was subsequently reflected in the story. "Gold Bug".

Poe served at the headquarters, was engaged in paperwork, which is not surprising for a man who was literate (a rather rare phenomenon for the army of that time) and had a neat handwriting. And the "gentleman's" origin, good upbringing and diligence ensured sympathy among the officers.

In late February 1829, Francis Allan's condition worsened. The disease, which made itself felt back in England, only progressed. On the night of February 28, when his wife's condition became critical, John Allan wrote a short letter asking his adopted son to come immediately. Frances Allan died that morning. Edgar Allan Poe was able to arrive in Richmond only on March 2, not even having time for the funeral of his adoptive mother, whom he loved very much.

Staying at home for the rest of his layoff, Poe turned to Allan again, and this time they reached an understanding. Having received the necessary documents from his adoptive father, Poe returned to the army, where the process of releasing him from service immediately began. The order was signed, and on April 15, 1829, he was discharged from the army.

After returning from Washington, where he traveled to pass the papers and recommendations necessary for admission to West Point, Poe went to Baltimore, where his relatives lived: brother Henry Leonard, aunt Maria Clemm, her children Henry and Virginia, and also Elizabeth Poe is the elderly widow of David Poe Sr. Not having enough money to rent his own home, the poet, with the permission of Maria Klemm, settled in their house.

The time spent waiting for a response from Washington passed in courting his consumptive brother (who aggravated the disease with alcoholism) and preparing for the publication of a second collection of poetry. Poe edited the available material, conducted an active correspondence with magazines and publishing houses. And the efforts were not in vain - at the end of December 1829 the collection was published. 250 copies "Al-Aaraaf", "Tamerlane" and small poems" were published by the Baltimore publishing house Hatch and Dunning.

Near Christmas, Poe returned home to Richmond, where in May 1830 he received confirmation of his enrollment at West Point. In the same month, a fatal quarrel occurred between him and his adoptive father. The reason for it was a letter that was not intended for John Allan and should not have been in his hands. In it, Edgar Allan Poe spoke impartially about his guardian, unambiguously accusing him of drunkenness. The quick-tempered Allan could not endure this both in the second and last time drove Edgar Allan Poe out of the house. They still corresponded after this breakup, but never saw each other again. Soon John Allan married a second time.

At the end of June 1830, Poe became a cadet at the US Army Military Academy. The training was not easy (especially the first 2 months of camp life), but the army experience helped the poet quickly get used to it. Despite the tough daily routine and almost full daily employment, Edgar Allan Poe found time for creativity.

Among the cadets, pamphlets and satirical parodies of officer mentors and life within the walls of the academy were especially popular. The third collection of poems was being prepared for publication. The studies were successful, cadet Poe was in good standing and had no complaints from the officers, but in January he wrote a letter to John Allan, asking for his assistance in leaving West Point. Probably, the reason for such a harsh decision was the news of the marriage of the guardian, which deprived Edgar Allan Poe of the most illusory chances of being officially adopted and inheriting something.

And without waiting for an answer, Edgar Allan Poe decided to act on his own. In January 1831, he began to ignore verifications and classes, did not go out on guard and sabotaged formations. The result was the arrest and subsequent trial, in which he was accused of "gross violation of official duties" and "ignoring orders." On February 8, 1831, Poe was dismissed from the service of the United States, and already on February 18 he left West Point.

Poe went to New York, where in April 1831 the third book of the poet was published - a collection "Poems", which, in addition to the reprinted "Tamerlane" and "Al-Aaraafa", included new works: "Israfel", "Paan", "The Condemned City", "To Helen", "Sleeping". Also on the pages of the collection, Poe first addressed literary theory, writing "Letter to ..." - an essay in which the author discussed the principles of poetry and problems national literature. "Poems" contained a dedication to the "US Army Corps of Cadets". 1,000 copies of the book were printed at the expense of West Point cadets who subscribed to the collection in anticipation of the usual parodies and satirical verses with which they were once entertained by a classmate.

Without a livelihood, Poe moved to relatives in Baltimore, where he made futile attempts to find work. Desperate lack of money prompted the poet to turn to prose - he decided to take part in the competition for the best short story by an American author with a $100 prize.

Edgar Poe approached the matter in detail: he studied magazines and various publications of that time in order to determine the principles (stylistic, plot, compositional) of writing short prose, which was popular with readers. The result of the study was "Metzengerstein", "Duke de L" Omelette, "On the Walls of Jerusalem", "Significant Loss" and "Failed Deal" - stories that the novice prose writer submitted to the competition. The results, which were disappointing for their author, were summed up on December 31, 1831 of the year - Edgar Allan Poe did not win. During next year these stories without attribution (such were the conditions) were published in the newspaper that organized the competition.

Failure did not force Poe to abandon the form of short prose in his work. On the contrary, he continued to hone his skills, write stories, from which at the end of 1832 he formed a collection that was never published. "Folio Club Stories".

In June 1833, another literary competition was held, in which the prizes were $ 50 for the best story and $ 25 for the best poem. It was known that the jury included competent people - well-known writers of that time, John Pendleton Kennedy and John Latrobe.

Edgar Allan Poe participated in both nominations, submitting 6 stories and the poem "Coliseum" to the competition. On October 12, the results were announced: Edgar Poe's Manuscript Found in a Bottle won Best Short Story, the best poem - "Song of the Winds" Henry Wilton (this pseudonym was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper that organized the competition).

Subsequently, John Latrobe confirmed that the author really the best poem There was also Edgar Allan Poe. The jury praised the young writer's work very highly, noting that it was extremely difficult for them to choose one best story from his six. In fact, this was the first authoritative recognition of Poe's talent.

Despite winning the competition, Poe's financial situation in 1833-1835 remained extremely difficult. There were no regular cash receipts, the writer continued unsuccessful attempts to find a job related to literature. The only source of income in the family was the pension of the paralyzed widow David Poe Sr. - $ 240 a year, which was paid irregularly.

In August 1834, Richmond printer Thomas White began publishing a new monthly magazine, the Southern Literary Messenger, to collaborate with famous writers of the time, including John F. Kennedy. He, in turn, recommended Edgar Allan Poe to White as a promising talented writer, marking the beginning of their cooperation.

Already in March 1835, the story "Berenice" appeared on the pages of the monthly, and in June the first hoax of Poe's pen appeared - "The extraordinary adventure of a certain Hans Pfaal".

On May 16, 1836, Poe married Virginia Clemm. She was his cousin, and at the time of the marriage she was only 13 years old. The couple honeymooned in Petersburg, Virginia. It was about this time that Poe began to write his longest prose text - "A Tale of the Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym". The decision to write a voluminous work was dictated by reader preferences: many publishing houses refused to publish his stories, referring to the fact that the small prose format was not popular.

In May 1837, the United States broke out economic crisis. He also touched the sphere of publishing: newspapers and magazines were closed, there were massive layoffs of employees. Edgar Poe was also in a difficult situation, having been left without a job for a long time. But forced idleness was not in vain - he could finally concentrate on creativity.

In the New York period, the stories "Ligeia", "The Devil in the Bell Tower", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "William Wilson" came out from the writer's pen, work continued on "Arthur Gordon Pym". The rights to the story were sold to the reputable New York publishing house Harper and Brothers, where it was published on July 30, 1838. However, the first volume prose work By commercial success didn't have.

In early December 1839, Lea & Blanchard published Grotesques and Arabesques, a two-volume collection of 25 short stories Poe had written up to that point.

In April 1841, a story was published in Graham's Magazine, which later brought worldwide fame to the founder of the detective genre - "Murder in the Rue Morgue". In the same place in May, "The overthrow into the Maelström" was printed.

In January 1842, Poe's young wife suffered the first severe attack of tuberculosis, accompanied by throat bleeding. Virginia was bedridden for a long time, and the writer again lost his composure and the ability to work. The depressed state was accompanied by frequent and protracted binges.

All subsequent time, the state of Edgar Allan Poe's wife had a huge impact on his mental health, extremely susceptible to the slightest worsening of the situation. Re-exacerbation Virginia's illness occurred in the summer of that year, and again the deep feelings and mental anguish of the writer were reflected in his work - they are saturated with the stories “The Well and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” written shortly after the incident. Poe found salvation in writing.

In November 1842, the story of Auguste Dupin's investigations was continued. The Snowden "s Ladies" Companion magazine published the story "The Secret of Marie Roger", based on a real murder that took place in New York in 1841. Using all the materials available to the investigation, on the pages of the story (transferring the action to Paris and changing the names), he conducted own investigation and pointed to the killer. Shortly thereafter, the case was solved, and the correctness of the writer's conclusions was confirmed.

It is worth noting that during difficult period In 1842, Poe managed to personally meet with, whose work he appreciated very highly. They discussed near-literary questions and exchanged opinions during the latter's short visit to Philadelphia. Dickens promised to assist with the publication of Poe's works in England. Even though nothing came of it, Dickens noted that Poe was "the only writer he wanted to help with the publication".

Finding himself without a job, and therefore without a livelihood, Edgar Allan Poe, through a mutual friend, turned to the son of President Tyler with a request to help him get a job in Philadelphia customs. The need was great, since the writer began to look for work other than literary, which brought an unstable income. Poe did not get the position because he did not appear at the meeting, explaining this by his illness, although there is a version that drinking was the reason for the absence. The family, which found itself in a difficult situation, had to change its place of residence several times, as there was a catastrophic lack of money, debts grew. A case was brought against the writer, and on January 13, 1843, the Philadelphia District Court declared Edgar Allan Poe bankrupt, but the prison term was avoided.

Despite the hard financial position and the decline of spirit associated with the illness of his wife, Poe's literary fame grew steadily. His works were published in many publications throughout the country, they were devoted to critical reviews, many of which noted the author's extraordinary talent and the power of his imagination. Laudatory reviews were written even by literary enemies, making them even more valuable.

Devoting himself entirely to prose, Poe did not turn to poetry for three years (the last published poem was Silence, published in 1840). The "poetic silence" was broken in 1843 with the release of one of the writer's darkest poems - "The Victorious Worm", in which all the mental anguish and despair of recent years, the collapse of hopes and illusions, seemed to be concentrated.

In February 1843, the New York edition of The Pioneer published the famous "Leenor". Poe returned to poetry, but the main form of his work continued to be short prose.

In July 1844, the New York Dollar Newspaper organized a contest for the best short story, with a $100 prize for first place. The winner was "Gold Bug" Edgar Poe. The work, in which the author revealed his talent as a cryptographer, became the property of Dollar Newspaper and was subsequently reprinted many times.

On April 6, 1844, Edgar and Virginia Poe moved to New York. A month later, Maria Klemm joined them. It is difficult to overestimate the role of mother-in-law in the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Her thriftiness, diligence and endless care, with which she surrounded her son-in-law and daughter, was noted by many contemporaries who knew the family personally. Edgar loved his "Muddy" (probably short for "mummy" ("mommy") and "daddy" ("daddy"), as he often called her in letters, because with the appearance in his life she really became like a mother to him .

In 1849, he dedicated to her, full of tenderness and gratitude, the poem "To My Mother".

A week after the move, Edgar Allan Poe becomes the hero of a sensation: a huge stir in reading circles caused "The Balloon Story", which was published in a special edition of the newspaper New York Sun. Originally conceived as a hoax, the story was stylized as a news article. The idea for the plot was unconsciously suggested by John Wise, a well-known aeronaut at the time, who announced in one of the Philadelphia newspapers that he was going to make a transatlantic flight. The writer managed to achieve the desired effect - the next morning after the publication, the building of the publishing house was literally "stormed" by people.

Poe's hoaxes, in which great attention was paid to the details based on the technical innovations of the time, gave impetus to the subsequent development of the science fiction genre in literature.

Some time after reuniting with Maria Clemm, the family moved into a new home: the Brennan family rented out part of their mansion located outside the city to them. Poe continued to contribute to many publications, offering them his articles and critical reviews. During this period, he had no problems with publications, but his income was still modest. In the Brennan mansion, Poe wrote the poem "Dreamland", which reflected the beauty of the nature around him. There, work began on a work that became the poetic magnum opus of the writer - a poem "Crow".

It is not known whether Poe wrote The Crow with the goal of obtaining final and unconditional recognition, inspired by the success of The Gold Bug and The Balloon Story, but that he carefully and carefully approached the process of creating this work, there is no doubt.

It was an immediate and resounding success: publications throughout the country reprinted the poem, it was talked about in literary circles and beyond, and numerous parodies were written about it. Poe became a national figure and a frequent guest at social events, where he was asked to recite the famous poem. In the words of the writer's biographer Arthur Quinn, "The Raven made an impression that perhaps no other poetic work in American Literature." Despite the huge success with readers and the wide recognition of the public, the poem did little to improve the financial situation of the writer.

On February 21, 1845, Poe became a co-owner of the Broadway Journal., whose head believed to increase sales of the publication by attracting a new celebrity to cooperate. According to the terms of the contract, Poe received a third of the sales of the magazine, the cooperation promised to be mutually beneficial.

At the same time, Poe took up lecturing, which would become an important source of income for him. The first theme of the talks in New York and Philadelphia was "The Poets and Poetry of America."

In July 1845, Poe published a short story entitled "The demon of contradiction". Reasoning on the topic human nature, which are contained in its preamble, allow a good understanding of the nature of the contradictory nature of the author himself. Tormented by his own "demon", he repeatedly committed rash and illogical acts during his life, which inevitably led him to collapse. This happened at the peak of his fame, when, it seemed, nothing foreshadowed trouble.

On the pages of the magazine, of which he became a co-owner, Poe did not publish any of his new works, only reprinted the old ones (which were edited and finalized each time). The lion's share of his work at that time consisted of literary articles, reviews, and criticism. It is not known what caused this, but Poe became more ruthless than ever in his criticism: not only did the authors, personally unpleasant to him, with whom he conflicted, but also those who treated him favorably. As a result, within a short period of time, subscribers began to refuse Broadway Journal and authors turned away, the publication became unprofitable. Both of Poe's companions soon left him, leaving Poe as the sole owner of the distressed magazine.

Poe tried desperately to keep it alive by sending out many letters to his friends and relatives asking for financial help. Most of them were not satisfied, and the money that he did receive was not enough. On January 3, 1846, the last issue came out, and Edgar Allan Poe closed the Broadway Journal.

In April 1846, Poe started drinking again. Realizing the destructive role that alcohol played in his life, he still took a fatal step. Again, the time of clouded consciousness came: lectures were disrupted, public conflicts arose, and the reputation suffered seriously. The situation became even more complicated with the release in May 1846 of the first essays by Edgar Allan Poe from the series "New York Writers". In them, Po gave personal and creative characteristic famous authors - their contemporaries, which for the most part was extremely negative. The reaction followed immediately: the newspapers, at the suggestion of the "victims", began a war against Poe - they denigrated his reputation, accusing him of immorality and godlessness. The image of Poe as a deranged alcoholic with no control over his actions dominated the press. reminded him and literary novel with the poetess Frances Osgood, which ended in scandal. Among those hurt by criticism, Thomas English especially distinguished himself. In the past, a friend of the writer, he published in one of the newspapers "An answer to Mr. Poe", in which he added the accusation of forgery to the image of a poor godless alcoholic.

The publication Poe collaborated with advised him to go to court, which he did. On February 17, 1846, Poe won a libel case against the Mirror magazine that published The Answer and received $225 in damages.

In May 1846 Poe moved into a small cottage in Fordham, a suburb of New York. The family was again in poverty, desperately lacking money - in the summer and autumn, Poe did not write anything. In one of the letters, he refers to his illness - literary "wars" and scandals did not go unnoticed. Bedridden Virginia's condition only worsened.

Virginia's condition seriously deteriorated in January 1847: fever and pain intensified, hemoptysis became more frequent. On January 29, Poe wrote a desperate letter to Mary Shew, asking her to come and say goodbye to Virginia, who had become so attached to her. Mrs. Shew arrived the next day and caught her alive. On January 30, 1847, towards nightfall, Virginia Poe died.

After the funeral of his wife, Edgar Allan Poe himself found himself bedridden - the loss was too heavy for a subtle, experiencing nature.

The central work of the last years of Poe's life was "Eureka". The "poem in prose" (as Poe defined it), which spoke about subjects "physical, metaphysical, mathematical", according to the author, was supposed to turn people's ideas about the nature of the universe.

At five o'clock in the morning on October 7, 1849, Poe died. According to Dr. Moran, just before his death, he uttered his last words: "Lord, help my poor soul."

Edgar Allan Poe's modest funeral took place at 4 pm on October 8, 1849, at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground Cemetery, which is now part of the grounds of the University of Maryland College of Law. The ceremony, attended by only a few people, was presided over by the Reverend W. T. D. Clemm, Virginia Poe's uncle. It lasted only three minutes due to the cold and dank weather. The psalmist George W. Spence wrote, "It was a gloomy and overcast day, there was no rain, but it was damp and a thunderstorm was coming." Poe was buried in the far corner of the cemetery, next to the grave of his grandfather, David Poe Sr., in a cheap coffin, without handles, nameplate, bedspreads and pillows under his head.

On October 1, 1875, Poe's remains were reburied at a new location, not far from the front of the church. The new monument was made and erected at the expense of the residents of Baltimore and the writer's admirers from other US cities. The total cost of the monument was a little over $1,500. The festive service took place on November 17, 1875. On the 76th anniversary of Poe's birth, January 19, 1885, Virginia Poe's remains were reburied next to her husband's.

The circumstances that preceded the death of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as its immediate cause, remain unclear to this day. All medical records and documents, including the death certificate, if they existed at all, were lost. There are several different theories about the cause of Poe's death, ranging in plausibility from hypoglycemia to conspiracy to kill.

There is another theory, which is distinguished by many biographers of the writer. Elections to the Congress and the Maryland State Legislature were scheduled for October 3 in Baltimore. At that time, there were no voter lists, which were used by opposing candidates and parties that formed special groups of voters. People under the influence of alcohol were gathered in special places, and then forced to vote several times. Probably Poe, who was the victim of a criminal scheme similar to a "carousel", became useless due to his condition and was abandoned near the 4th district polling station, where he was found by Joseph Walker. However, this theory also has detractors, who argue that Po, as a well-known person in the city, would be difficult to participate in such a scheme.

Every year, since 1949, an unknown person visited the grave of Poe, paying tribute to the memory of the writer's talent. In the early morning of January 19, a man dressed in black came to Poe's grave, made a toast and left a bottle of cognac and three roses on the tombstone. Sometimes notes of various contents were found on the tombstone. In one of them, left in 1999, it was reported that the first secret admirer had died the previous year and the obligation to continue the tradition was assigned to his "heir". The tradition continued for 60 years until 2009, when the secret admirer was last seen at the grave.

On August 15, 2007, 92-year-old Sam Porpora, a historian at the Westminster church where Poe is buried, stated that it was he who started the tradition of visiting the writer's grave every year on his birthday. He said that the purpose of his action was to raise funds for the needs of the church and increase interest in it. However, his story was not confirmed - some of the details he expressed did not fit in with the facts.

In 2012, Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House Museum, who had previously denied rumors that he was a fan, announced the end of the tradition.


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