Edgar Allan Poe was a great man who contributed much to the history of literature. Throughout his dramatic life Poe kept literature alive in him. Poe was a great poet, short story writer, and literary writer.

Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts to David and Elizabeth Poe, both actors. Unfortunately when Poe was three his mother died. Shortly after her death his father abandoned Poe and his other two siblings. Poe was then taken in by John Allan (Minor 2613).

John Allan was a Scottish tobacco merchant who lived in Richmond, Virginia. When Allan and his wife went to England, it was there where they took in young Edgar. While in England Poe was kept in English school. When the Allan's returned home in eighteen-twenty, Poe went to Charlottesville where he enrolled in the University of Virginia. It was here where he acquired the first of his gambling debts...