Edgar’s father, a son of General David Poe, the American
revolutionary patriot and friend of Lafayette, had married Mrs.
Hopkins, an English actress, and, the match meeting with parental
disapproval, had himself taken to the stage as a profession.
Notwithstanding Mrs. Poe’s beauty and talent the young couple had
a sorry struggle for existence. When Edgar, at the age of two
years, was orphaned, the family was in the utmost destitution.
Apparently the future poet was to be cast upon the world homeless
and friendless. But fate decreed that a few glimmers of sunshine
were to illumine his life, for the little fellow was adopted by
John Allan, a wealthy merchant of Richmond, Va. A brother and
sister, the remaining children, were cared for by others.

In his new home Edgar found all the luxury and advantages money
could provide. He was petted, spoiled and shown off to strangers.
In Mrs. Allan he found all the affection a childless wife could
bestow. Mr. Allan took much pride in the captivating, precocious
lad. At the age of five the boy recited, with fine effect,
passages of English poetry to the visitors at the Allan house.

From his eighth to his thirteenth year he attended the Manor
House school, at Stoke-Newington, a suburb of London. It was the
Rev. Dr. Bransby, head of the school, whom Poe so quaintly
portrayed in “William Wilson.” Returning to Richmond in 1820
Edgar was sent to the school of Professor Joseph H. Clarke. He
proved an apt pupil. Years afterward Professor Clarke thus wrote:

“While the other boys wrote mere mechanical verses, Poe wrote
genuine poetry; the boy was a born poet. As a scholar he was
ambitious to excel. He was remarkable for self-respect, without
haughtiness. He had a sensitive and tender heart and would do
anything for a friend. His nature was entirely free from
selfishness.”

At the age of seventeen Poe entered the University of Virginia at
Charlottesville. He left that institution after one session.
Official records prove that he was not expelled. On the contrary,
he gained a creditable record as a student, although it is
admitted that he contracted debts and had “an ungovernable
passion for card-playing.” These debts may have led to his
quarrel with Mr. Allan which eventually compelled him to make his
own way in the world.

Early in 1827 Poe made his first literary venture. He induced
Calvin Thomas, a poor and youthful printer, to publish a small
volume of his verses under the title “Tamerlane and Other Poems.”
In 1829 we find Poe in Baltimore with another manuscript volume
of verses, which was soon published. Its title was “Al Aaraaf,
Tamerlane and Other Poems.” Neither of these ventures seems to
have attracted much attention.

Soon after Mrs. Allan’s death, which occurred in 1829, Poe,
through the aid of Mr. Allan, secured admission to the United
States Military Academy at West Point. Any glamour which may have
attached to cadet life in Poe’s eyes was speedily lost, for
discipline at West Point was never so severe nor were the
accommodations ever so poor. Poe’s bent was more and more toward
literature. Life at the academy daily became increasingly
distasteful. Soon he began to purposely neglect his studies and
to disregard his duties, his aim being to secure his dismissal
from the United States service. In this he succeeded. On March 7,
1831, Poe found himself free. Mr. Allan’s second marriage had
thrown the lad on his own resources. His literary career was to
begin.

Poe’s first genuine victory was won in 1833, when he was the
successful competitor for a prize of $100 offered by a Baltimore
periodical for the best prose story. “A MSS. Found in a Bottle”
was the winning tale. Poe had submitted six stories in a volume.
“Our only difficulty,” says Mr. Latrobe, one of the judges, “was
in selecting from the rich contents of the volume.”

During the fifteen years of his literary life Poe was connected
with various newspapers and magazines in Richmond, Philadelphia
and New York. He was faithful, punctual, industrious, thorough.
N. P. Willis, who for some time employed Poe as critic and
sub-editor on the “Evening Mirror,” wrote thus:

“With the highest admiration for Poe’s genius, and a willingness
to let it alone for more than ordinary irregularity, we were led
by common report to expect a very capricious attention to his
duties, and occasionally a scene of violence and difficulty. Time
went on, however, and he was invariably punctual and industrious.
We saw but one presentiment of the man—a quiet, patient,
industrious and most gentlemanly person.

“We heard, from one who knew him well (what should be stated in
all mention of his lamentable irregularities), that with a single
glass of wine his whole nature was reversed, the demon became
uppermost, and, though none of the usual signs of intoxication
were visible, his will was palpably insane. In this reversed
character, we repeat, it was never our chance to meet him.”

On September 22, 1835, Poe married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, in
Baltimore. She had barely turned thirteen years, Poe himself was
but twenty-six. He then was a resident of Richmond and a regular
contributor to the “Southern Literary Messenger.” It was not
until a year later that the bride and her widowed mother followed
him thither.