Edgar Allan Poe
A Haunted Life
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was the son of traveling actors. His father deserted the family, and his beautiful young mother died in a theatrical rooming house in Richmond, Virginia, before Edgar was three years old. The little boy was taken in as a foster child by the wealthy and childless Allan family of Richmond.
At first, Edgar's foster parents were pleased with his brilliant scholarship and athletic ability. But later they became angry at his moodiness and irresponsibility with money. Poe went to the University of Virginia but dropped out with heavy gambling debts. (John Allan apparently refused to support him any longer.) Eventually Poe and his foster father split up completely, and Poe was left penniless. After several failed courtships, Poe married a thirteen-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and moved to New York City. There, in 1837, they set up house, together with Virginia's mother, whom Poe fondly called Muddy.
Poe drank excessively at times, and he was always in need of money. He wrote regularly, however, and had increasing success, although his unusual poems and stories were mocked by conservative critics. "The Cask of Amontillado" was published in 1846, during a time when Poe was enduring vicious insults from critics. The story might have been Poe's way of getting even not only with hostile critics but also with his foster father. The Montresor motto is the motto of Scotland; John Allan was Scottish and, like the hated Fortunato, a businessman and a Mason.
Poe's one refuge in life was threatened when Virginia became ill with tuberculosis. (Almost 25 percent of Americans in the nineteenth century died from tuberculosis.) When she died, Poe broke down completely. Two years later he was found delirious in a tavern in Baltimore on a rainy election day. The great master of horror died a few days later.
For Independent Reading
For more tales of terror by Poe, read "The Pit and the Pendulum," in which the narrator faces heart-stopping threats to his life, and "The Tell-Tale Heart," in which a haunted man tries to convince us he's not mad. Mystery lovers will enjoy "The Gold Bug," one of Poe's tales that set the stage for the modern detective story.
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