Poker News

Edgar Allan Poe

Among any Gallery of Great American Writers, none has a higher place than Edgar Allan Poe. A lonely, tortured genius, he crafted tales of terror and poems of passion and pain.

Born in Boston in 1809, Poe’s parents were struggling actors. By thetime he was three, both parents had died. He was taken in by acquaintances John and Fanny Allan, a childless couple.

Edgar was an outstanding student in school. A good athlete, he was a fast runner and even better swimmer. Edgar’s uncle delighted in getting up wrestling matches between Edgar and the kids with whom he played. He rewarded the winner with money. Wrestling contests were popular occasions for wagering among men of the period.

While he grew close with his mother Fanny, relations with his father were becoming difficult by the time he reached puberty. When he was 14, he fell in love with a woman old enough to be his mother. He suffered severely when less than a year later she suddenly died of a brain tumor.

At 17, he entered the University of Virginia in 1826. Like many college freshman, drinking and gambling got the better of Edgar. One contemporary described him as “a pretty wild young man”.

The strain between Edgar and his foster-father caused John Allan to give the youth only enough money for the most necessary expenses, which kept him constantly broke and destitute. Poe claimed that because of insufficient funds he was driven to gamble in a desperate effort to raise money. Within a year, he was $2,500 in debt.

Gambling was a problem at the University. The first year Poe attended; seven students were suspended for high-stakes wagering. Cheating was thought to be involved and Poe may have been one of those victimized.

Poe’s gambling debts ruptured relations with his foster-father. He was forced to drop out of school. Two years later his mother, Fanny Allan, 44, died. Hoping the military would give him the strength and discipline to pull his life together, Poe entered West Point in 1830. It didn’t work. Soon he was drinking heavily and running up more gambling debts. After one year, he was court-martialed and dismissed.

Throughout much of his life, Poe had two principal problems - drinking and money. Often broke and frequently drunk, he borrowed money from everyone and was constantly humiliated by his poverty. When a friend arranged a meeting for him with President Tyler to get a government job, Poe arrived drunk and was sent away in disgrace.

Although he had been fascinated with the written word and started writing when he was a young boy, Poe now turned to it for survival. He published a book of poems in 1831, a short story two years later, and eventually became a writer and editor.

Poe didn’t write books; instead he created the short story. A magazine and periodical writer, he wrote to sell. He wrote tales that captured the popular imagination. A writer writes what he knows and feels.

Reflecting a life of loss and disappointment, Poe’s work was often on the dark side; death, madness and self-destruction were dominant themes. Stories like “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “Fall of the House of Usher” established his popularity and greatly increased magazine sales.

In one story, Poe’s protagonist follows a man as he winds his way through the underbelly of the city at night. He describes the night people, including “The gamblers”, some wearing a “velvet waistcoat, fancy neckerchief, gilt chains, and filigreed buttons”.

Poe respected gamblers. He wrote, “They be may defined as the gentlemen who live by their wits.” In another tale, “The Duke de L’Omelette”, Poe’s central character is brought before the Devil to play cards for his due.

But poetry was Poe’s passion. He wrote to be moving and musical more than meaningful or purposeful. For him, “the death of a beautiful woman is&… the most poetic topic in the world”. “Lenore”, “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven” are perfect examples. The Raven was a symbol of mournful, sad, never-ending loss. Not until late in his career, 1844, with publication of “The Raven”, did Poe finally receive widespread recognition and acclaim. It was the pinnacle of his life and finally an end to his sad, wretched life of poverty and insignificance. His happiness didn’t last long. He suffered the loss of yet another woman he deeply loved when his wife died of TB in 1847. He started drinking heavily and some say he was using opium and laudanum to excess. Soon the magazine failed and he was financially destitute once more.

Poe spent the last year of his life drunk and disoriented. He was found in the street outside a bar. Hospitalized, he died four days later in 1849.

Edgar Allan Poe, the most significant American writer prior to Mark Twain, author of stories, poetry and more, was - to quote The Raven - “Nevermore”.

Filed under: Poker News