Edgar Allan Poe had a life of poverty. He was the son of traveling actors. Within three years from his burth his parents died.He was alays interested in writing and poetry even though his adpoted father wanted him to be a tobacco merchant like him. He published his first book at eightteen years old. He got a job as a magizine article writer . He married his aunt's daughter Virginia when she was only fourteen. He was disatisfied with his low income so he move to Philadelphia in 1838 and began writing for a number of magizines. Despite this he was still barely able to make a living. In 1842 his wife contracted tuberculosis which had taken his mother, brother, and foster mother. He moved to New york and introduced him self with a hoax the everyone rushed to read about. He revealed that he had fooled them all. He began moving from one city to another giving lectures. On a trip returning to Philadelphia he disappeared for five days. He was found in the bar room of a public house and was taken Washington College Hospital. He spent the last days of his life here. He died on October 7, 1849 at the age of forty. No one knows the exact cause of his death.