A Man of Mystery

Just like the iconic poems and short stories he wrote Edgar Allen Poe's life has been a mystery debated by historians and literary experts for decades. The man that created mind tantalizing stories, his life is a story that is just as hard to wrap your head around as some of his most famous pieces of work. His life like his works draw people in asking to know more. Poe's series of unfortunate events started at a young age. When only three years old Poe lost his mother to tuberculosis and shortly after his father abandoned him.  Orphaned at such a young age obviously had a profound affect on the rest of his life. He was taken in by a family in Virginia that would never officially adopt him. As a young adult Poe often found himself running from gambling debts and jumping around schools like West Point and the University of Virginia. He was obviously a smart man despite his many vices. Poe spent a part of his life in the army. (Which is going to be covered in a later post) Poe's biggest vice was alcohol. Poe is possibly one of the most famous American alcoholics. Poe was no stranger to waking up from violent drunken stupors in the streets. These phases of extreme drinking often cost him jobs, money, and most importantly friends. A reoccurring theme in Poe's life is loss. He either drove people away from him or watched the ones he loved die around him, which is plenty to drive even the strongest person to find an escape and for Poe his escape was the booze. Like many of the characters in his stories Poe also met a tragic end. He was found in a gutter in the streets of Baltimore after another night of heavy drinking. No one knows how he ended up their or the events leading up to his death, leaving it one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time.