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Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston. Poe’s father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three years old, and John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia.
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In 1827, Poe moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane, and Other Poems (George Redway), was published that year.
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he married Virginia, who was thirteen years old at the time
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After Virginia’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe’s lifelong struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened.
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On October 3, 1849, he was found in a state of semi-consciousness. Poe died four days later of “acute congestion of the brain.”
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It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short story writer, and an editor.
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Poe’s work as an editor, poet, and critic had a profound impact on American and international literature. His stories mark him as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction. Many anthologies credit him as the “architect” of the modern short story.