The turbulent life of a troubled genius

Edgar Allan Poe was described by no less than Lord Alfred Tennyson as the most original genius ever produced in America. Thomas Hardy thought him to be “the first to realize in full the possibility of the English language.”

A new book on Poe by London writer Peter Ackroyd draws on letters, firsthand accounts and public documents to present a fascinating account of the life of this troubled genius. The book has all the unexpected twists and turns of a good novel.

Edgar Poe was born in Boston in 1809. Orphaned when he was 3, Poe was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy merchant from Richmond, Va. Unable to support himself when the relationship soured, Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1827. That same year his first book was published, but it sold less than 50 copies. Poe left the Army and enrolled at West Point. Wen that ended in failure, he turned to journalism.

Throughout most of his life, Poe scrambled for money. He was an alcoholic, and his relationships with women were complex. Ackroyd says Poe often courted women who were not available, sometimes getting entangled with more than one at a time. In 1835, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. Several years later, he contracted tuberculosis.

During this turbulent period Poe wrote “The Raven,” his most famous poem, and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” considered by many to be the first detective story ever written. For “The Raven,” he received the princely sum of $9. After Virginia’s death in 1847, Poe became more depressed and slipped further into alcoholism.

Poe was found unconscious in Baltimore during the fall of 1849. He was admitted to a hospital charity ward, where he died several days later. Poe was buried in an unmarked grave but was eventually moved to be near his aunt buried in the same cemetery. He was 41.