Edgar allan poe 5
Edgar allan poe 5Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and
lived in six Eastern cities. His father was David Poe, a Baltimore
actor. His actress mother, Elizabeth came to the United States as a kid.
The parents were not that talented; they played small roles in rather
third-rate theatrical companies. Because they both had small parts they
barely managed to make a living.
Edgar was the second of their three children. When the third child was
born, the father died, or disappeared, and Mrs. Poe went to Richmond
with the two youngest children. The oldest boy, William Henry, had
already been left with relatives in Baltimore. Mrs. Poe was in the last
stages of tuberculosis. Weakened by the disease and worn out with the
struggle to support her children, she died. Edgar, two years old, and
the infant, Rosalie, were left as orphans.
It was pure luck that Mrs. Frances Allan, the wife of a merchant in
Richmond learned about the Poe babies. She had no children of her own
and liked handsome little Edgar a lot more than his sister. She took him
home with her, and another family took his little sister Rosalie.
Mrs. Allan would have liked to adopt Edgar, but her husband was
unwilling to commit himself. At that time people thought acting was
immoral. John Allan could not help regarding the little son of actor
parents as a questionable person to inherit his name and the fortune he
was busy accumulating. He was willing however, to support the child, and
in time came to be proud of Edgar's good looks and intelligence.
When Edgar was six years old, Mr. Allen's business took him to Scotland,
the country from which he had come originally. The family stayed in
Scotland and England for five years.
Edgar was eleven when the Allans returned to Richmond. Richmond in back
then in the 1820's was a good place for a boy to live. It was still a
small enough town for the fields, swamps, and woods to be close by. Boys
swam in the river and in the little creeks, they fished, they tramped
through the thick woods, looking for wild muscadines and chinquapins.
In spite of the growing tension between foster father and son, Mr. Allen
was willing to send Edgar to the University of Virginia. Edgar, in turn,
was eager to go, to escape the Allen household if for no other reason.
The student life of the University was more social than academic. The
young men drank too much, gambled too much, fought for the sheer
enjoyment of violence, and rampaged over the campus at all hours. This
was the worst possible environment for young Poe with his emotionally
unstable temperament. He was...
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