10 Awesome Facts from the Biography of Edgar Allan Poe

While reading the Edgar Allan Poe bio I stumbled across some sweet facts about the man - one of America’s most celebrated short story and poetry writers. Though he’s one of the American Greats, Poe never seemed to do anything right at first. Here we have 10 Awesome facts about Poe as a young man:

Edgar Allan Poe’s parents were both actors - This may seem cool now, but in 1812 it was a low class profession. Both parents died when Edgar was a baby, leaving him in the foster care of the Allan family.

Poe studied in England as a child - Perhaps it was due to his English blood, but Edgar got along abroad with his classmates, excelled at school and was pretty happy. It was only in the States that he got into trouble.

Poe was an athletic young man - Though he may look like a wispy poet, as a youth Edgar was a keen runner, a good boxer, and a solid swimmer: one annectode has him swimming the James River in Virginia 6 miles in the blazing June heat, against the current.

School Daze

He studied at the Univeristy of Virginia - When Edgar was 17 he entered the newly formed University, which was founded by Thomas Jefferson the year before. His major was to be foreign languages, but he could only hack it one year.

Much mischief was had by all - Poor Jefferson, founding father - he wanted a fine instution of higher learning, but those first years there was plenty of “gambling and dissipation,” horse play (actual horses), duels, riots… and years later even the murder of a professor.

Poe did more gambling than studying - In his year at college Edgar racked up gambling debts into the thousands. His foster father, the wealthy merchant John Allan, kept sending money for books and furnishings, but Edgar kept blowing it on the cards.

Poe was like a 19th century Jim Morrison - He was known to go about drunk, quoting poetry, and tagging up the dorms with brillaint grotesque artwork in charcoal. To be fair guess I should say that Jim Morrison was a 20th century Edgar Allen Poe.

Army Poet?

Poe quit school and joined the army - First he traveled to Boston to try acting like his parents; failing in this, he joined the military. Though he was still a minor, he said he was 22 years old and went by the name “Edgar Allan Perry”. This was likely in case he wanted to go A.W.O.L.

In the army he wrote his first book of poems - Though he made a better soldier than student, Poe spent more time in the Army writing poetry. His book ‘Tamerlane’ was the result. Again, Poe was doing the exact opposite of what was expected.

Poe was eventually discharged as a Sgt. Major - Well, not Poe exactly - he was discharged as Sgt. Major Edgar Allan Perry, his psuedonym. Apparently he couldn’t get enough of military life, since he then applied to West Point. Wait, wasn’t he already in the regular Army? There he goes again, doing it backwards.

The biography of Edgar Allan Poe is a fascinating look at one of America’s most celebrated authors… there will certainly be more tidbits of awesomeness to come. Got any cool annecdotes or favorite facts about Edgar Allan Poe? Post ‘em here!