Born to actor parents in 1809, Poe became an orphan by the age of three. His father left his mother soon after the birth of Edgar, the family's second son. Shortly thereafter, Edgar's mother had a third child, a daughter, after which the mother died of tuberculosis. Poe was quoted as saying he remembered little of his childhood but that his parents' friends filled him in on their actor lives and experiences. Through this, he felt he knew his parents and so, felt a keen sense of unfair loss. The theme of love lost carries through many of his works.
After his parents' death, the Allans---a family of merchants in Virginia---took Edgar in and gave him a stable life. By all accounts, his new family gave him love, supplied all his needs and insured he had a quality education. His new father was very thrifty, however, and at the age of 18, Edgar left home because of clashes with him.
Arriving in Boston in 1827, Edgar had a book of the poetry he wrote as a teenager printed, but the book did not prove popular. Needing money, Edgar joined the military the same year. He did well, rising to the highest noncommissioned officer rank and briefly enlisted in officer's school. However the discipline of the Army did not agree with him and he left it in 1831.
Poetry proved Edgar's passion. He considered it the highest literary form and worked all his life to be a financial and literary success at it. By the time he was 22 years old, he had published three volumes of poetry, but they did not provide enough money to live on. Setting aside his poetry dreams, Edgar turned to journalism and fiction to make money. He enjoyed some success and most of his income in the following years came from short stories and poems he submitted to magazines and newspapers. Poe is credited with improving the magazine genre through his extensive writing and editing.
Edgar also made financial gains as a literary critic. He reviewed over 200 pieces in his short life, giving negative reviews without much concern for those he critiqued. He angered many famous literary figures of the day, including the poet Longfellow. Some of Edgar's reviews, which were often argumentative and sometimes completely unwarranted, set off literary wars of words. During this time, Edgar additionally made a living from giving lectures on literature and poetry. He was known to be a charismatic speaker.
"The Raven" proved successful from its first publication in 1945. This became a much-needed commercial success for Edgar. From that time on, he stayed with the short story, or tale, and became a pioneer in the genre of science fiction, gothic-terror, horror, detective and mystery literature. Most of his works, published in newspapers or magazines initially, would later receive publication as one volume of work. Many writers today still emulate his style. An extensive association, The Poe Studies Association, dedicated to his life and works meets and publishes regarding Poe regularly.
Fittingly, mystery surrounds Edgar's death at just 40 years of age. His whereabouts before being taken to the hospital in a delusional state are unclear. He only regained consciousness once in the hospital and died after just a few days. Nearly 150 years after his death, continuing fascination led to an examination of his death by the University of Maryland Medical Center. They studied extensive history of the medical reports of his death as well as any other bystander or relative reports available and theorized it was likely rabies, not alcohol or drugs, which led to Edgar's death.