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It’s what every writer’s dream is, earn a living doing what he/she loves best, writing. Edgar Allen Poe, Baltimore’s beloved writer did just that, although his first piece was written and published anonymously. He was brother to William and Rosalie Poe. Edgar Poe would later adapt the full name Edgar Allen Poe, taking the Allen name given to him by the family that would raise him after his parent’s passing at a young age. Poe attended the University of Virginia, a school founded by Thomas Jefferson. His stint in the university would not last long as vices such as gambling and drinking would catch up to him. Poe would come to blame his foster family for not continuing his education, claiming they did not support him, but his addictions were probably that which did him in. Following these accusations he and the family would become estranged. It was because of those addictions, that the troubled Poe would lose his soon to be wife, the beautiful Sarah Elmira Royster.

A series of gigs kept him a float for a while, but not long enough and the discouraged Poe became a soldier, under the pseudonym Edgar A. Perry. His time in the United States Army served as inspiration as he published a collection of poems “Tamerlane and Other Poems”. He was not credited for this collection, as Edgar Allen Poem, which may have been a blessing in disguise, as it was a flop. It sold just over an embarrassing forty copies. Poe made a living in the service, but ultimately was not happy there. He would enlist the help of his estranged foster father, who did not respond until the passing of his wife finally allowed him to forgive Poe.

Trying to find himself Poe would take shelter in Baltimore with some distant family. Bitter family feuds finally led to the end of any relationship Poe would hold with his father. He would serve in West Point for a bit, before heading back to Baltimore, to tend to his dying brother. Perhaps a broken heart caused Poe to dive into his writing despite strife in the publishing field. He bobbed up and down in the poetry waters for a bit, before returning to prose (stories rooted by actual events). It was here he started to achieve some acclaim, as a Baltimore newspaper awarded his piece “MS Found in a Bottle”. A Big Shot helped him get a job with the “Southern Literary Messenger”, so off to Richmond he set, but not for long.

Once again Poe shot him self in the foot as he was found polluted on the job several times. Poe would try again to clean up his act and received his job back, promising to stay sober. Things started to look up for Poe, as he would marry his much younger cousin Virginia Clemm, in Baltimore. The “Southern Literary Messenger”, was flying of the stands under his watch. Numerous publications beckoned his writing and he succeeded at each task. The next few months he would reside in Maryland, Philadelphia and New York.

As his wife fell ill, he fell to the bottle again, but still managed to get work out there and the “Raven” came to life. Despite the “Raven’s” success Poe remained a fixture at local bars in Baltimore. It was on a Baltimore street that Poe was found stumbling around intoxicated, just before he died. He is buried in Baltimore at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Although he moved about in his career, Baltimore seems to have embraced his legacy, thus naming their football team the Baltimore Ravens.