Poe, Edgar Allan
Poe, Edgar Allan( 1809–49),son of itinerant actors, was born in Boston. His father died the following year, and may have deserted his wife before that time, for she continued to support herself, taking the child with her from place to place until her death at Richmond, Va. (1811), when she left penniless Edgar and two other children: William Henry Leonard Poe (1808–31), who became a poet and may have collaborated with his brother; and Rosalie Poe (1810–74). Edgar was taken into the home of a Richmond merchant, John Allan. Although never legally adopted, for a long while he used his foster father's name, employing it as a middle name after 1824. He went to England (1815–20) with the Allans, and there attended school, as described in the semi-autobiographical story “William Wilson.” After their return to Richmond, Mr. Allan, who had inherited a great fortune, was neither faithful to his wife nor sympathetic with his stepson, whose...
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