Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer and literary critic, born in Boston on 19 January 1809. Orphaned young, he was raised in Richmond, Virginia, by John and Frances Allan, and later lived in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. He worked for much of his life as an editor and reviewer for magazines, and his sharp criticism made him both admired and resented. Money was always short, and his life was marked by loss, including the early death of his wife Virginia.

Poe wrote poems, essays and short stories, and he is remembered above all for tales of terror and psychological torment, and for a famous poem of grief. He also helped shape the modern detective story and wrote early works that point toward science fiction. He died in Baltimore on 7 October 1849, in circumstances that have never been fully explained. His influence on horror, crime writing and poetry, in America and in France especially, remains very large.