Edgar Allan Poe :: essays research papers fc

Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849In personal appearance, Poe was a quiet, shy-looking exclusively handsome man he was slightly built, and was five feet, 8 inches in height. His mouth was considered beautiful. His eyes, with long dark lashes, were hazel-gray. Edgar Poe was born in 1809 in Boston. It was in Richmond that Poe grew up, married, and first gained a national literary reputation. Many of the places in Richmond associated with Poe have been lost, but several still remain. FamilyFather David Poe, an actorMother Elizabeth Poe, an actressFoster parents John Allan, Tobacco merchant and his wife, Frances Allan, cared for Poe while he was young, but never legally adopted him. Wife Poe married his cousin Virginia Clemm Occupations     Soldier      Editor and literary critic      Author ChronologyEdgar Poe is the second of the three children of David Poe and Elizabeth (Arnold) Poe, both of whom were master actors and members of a touring theatrical company. Mr. Placides Theatre Company in Boston employed Poes natural parents, David and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. They had been married in Richmond while on tour in 1806. Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, but he considered Richmond his home, and called himself "a Virginian," where his mother had been employed as an actress. David Poe, unknown due to his more notable wife, his own promising career ruined by alcoholism, Edgars father, deserted the family when Edgar was still an infant nothing conclusive is known of his life thereafter. While coming into court professionally in Richmond, Virginia, Poes mother became ill and died on December 8, 1811, in Richmond at the age of twenty-four.Poes mother, Elizabeth, was buried in the churchyard of St. Johns Episcopal church building where her story stone may be seen. St. Johns is the oldest church in Richmond and is famous as the site of Patrick Henrys rousing "liberty or death& quot harangue shortly before the Revolutionary War. The Richmond Theatre where Edgar Poes mother had performed burned to the ground on December 26, 1811, just eighteen days after her death. The firing off took the lives of many Richmonders including the Governor of Virginia, George Smith and his wife. At the site of the tragedy on East Broad Street, Monumental Episcopal Church was erected as a memorial to the victims. Her three children, who would maintain contact with one another throughout their lives, were sent to live with different foster families. Richmond families took in the other two children who were Rosalie, only eleven months old, by William and Jane Scott Mackenzie.