The Pit and the Pendulum: Popular Penguins

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) was born in Boston, USA. His parents, both actors, died of tuberculosis in 1811. The two-year-old Edgar was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy merchant, hence his middle name. He enjoyed a happy childhood as the only child of a rich family and excelled at school, particularly in languages and athletics.

In 1826, Edgar attended the University of Virginia. In his first term, he neglected his studies, dedicating his time to “wine, women and song.” He had a significant argument with his stepfather and ran away to join the army. A few years later, Mrs. Allan persuaded her husband to find Edgar and reconcile their quarrel. This reconciliation occurred, but the two men never again enjoyed a good relationship. After his wife’s death, John Allan remarried, and his new wife disliked Edgar, leading to his departure into the world alone and penniless by 1831.

Edgar began writing poetry, but with little success. He found a new family with his aunt and married her fourteen-year-old daughter. They moved frequently, and Edgar moved from job to job, occasionally getting stories published. They lived in extreme poverty, often cold and near starvation. His wife became ill, and Edgar struggled with alcoholism. After his wife’s death, Edgar began pursuing wealthy widows, and his writing grew increasingly tormented. George Bernard Shaw described him as “the finest of artists,” yet Poe died alone, in pain and poverty, at the age of forty. His near-final words were, “I wish to God someone would blow my damned brains out.” It is not difficult to understand why some of his most memorable stories are grotesque and macabre.

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