Edgar Poe, this was his birth name, was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Edgar Allan Poe’s life was complex since he was very young since his father abandoned his family in 1810 and his mother died of tuberculosis in 1811. Little Edgar was entrusted to the merchant John Allan, hence the change of his name. His new family was wealthy and had him study in Great Britain.

Initially, Edgar Allan Poe’s works were partially successful because some were successful but others received a lot of criticism. Stories that today we would call detective fiction such as “The Gold-Bug” (1843) gave him more fame in the short term than his horror stories. For the author luck was evanescent and his personal situation got worse when, in 1842, his wife Virginia started manifesting serious symptoms of tuberculosis, which got worse until her death, which occurred in 1847.

For years Edgar Allan Poe had problems with alcoholism and the last years of his life were particularly tough. His death seemed one of his stories because, on October 3, 1849, he was found in delirium in Baltimore and was taken to a hospital, where he died on October 7. The exact cause of his death is still the subject of discussion.