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KF5JRV > TODAY 19.01.90 07:45l 38 Lines 2424 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7424_KD5TCY
Subj: Today in History - Jan 19
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6IHL<IK7NXU<HB9ON<DK0WUE<PD0LPM<VE3CGR<KD5TCY
Sent: 260119/0644Z 7424@KD5TCY.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
On January 19, 1809, poet, author and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
By the time he was three years old, his father had abandoned the family and his mother had died,
leaving him in the care of his godfather John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. After attending school
in England, Poe entered the University of Virginia in 1826. After fighting with Allan over his heavy
gambling debts, he was forced to leave school after only eight months. Poe then served two years in
the U.S. Army and won an appointment to West Point. After another falling out, Allan cut him off completely
and he got himself dismissed from the academy for rules infractions.
Dark, handsome and brooding, Poe had published three works of poetry by that time, none of which had
received much attention. In 1836, while working as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger in
Richmond, Virginia, Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He also completed his first full-length
work of fiction, Arthur Gordon Pym, published in 1838.
Poe lost his job at the Messenger due to his heavy drinking, and the couple moved to Philadelphia, where Poe
worked as an editor at Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine. He became known for his
direct and incisive criticism, as well as for dark horror stories like “The Fall of the House of Usherö and The Tell-Tale Heart.
Also around this time, Poe began writing mystery stories, including “The Murders in the Rue Morgueö and The Purloined Letter
works that would earn him a reputation as the father of the modern detective story.
In 1844, the Poes moved to New York City. He scored a spectacular success the following year with his poem The Raven.
While Poe was working to launch The Broadway Journal—which soon failed—his wife Virginia fell ill and died of tuberculosis
in early 1847. His wife’s death drove Poe even deeper into alcoholism and drug abuse. After becoming involved with
several women, Poe returned to Richmond in 1849 and got engaged to an old flame. Before the wedding, however, Poe
died suddenly. Though circumstances are somewhat unclear, it appeared he began drinking at a party in Baltimore and
disappeared, only to be found incoherent in a gutter three days later. Taken to the hospital, he died on October 7, 1849,
at age 40.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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