I think that all of your who know me here, KNOW that I am edgar Allan poe fan xD
1. His masterpiece “The Raven“ made Poe a well-known author in the USA almost overnight. There are stories of children walking behind him on the street and flapping their arms and cawing. He would play along by turning suddenly and saying "Nevermore."
2. The American football team the Baltimore Ravens are named in honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem ‘The Raven’.
3.In 1827, Poe enlisted in the United States Army using the false name "Edgar A. Perry". He claimed to be 22 years old even though he was just 18.
4. Poe had a very keen interest in cryptography and tried to popularize this field. This is obvious in his work “The Gold Bug“ where he incorporated ciphers as an essential part of the story.
5. Poe is believed to have never signed anything "Edgar Allan Poe." Since the name “Allan“ came from the foster father he didn't get along with, he therefore signed documents with “Edgar A. Poe“, or “E. A. Poe“.
6. Written in 1841, his "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" short story has been considered the first modern detective story. Mr. Dupin, the fictional detective of the story, has served as a model for many subsequent fictional detectives including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.
7. In 1835, Poe, at the age of 26, married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. She died of tuberculosis in 1847 and her struggles with the illness and death are believed to influence Poe´s work where dying young women appear as a frequent motif, as in "Annabel Lee", "The Raven", or "Ligeia".
8. Poe wrote a negative review of a work by his rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold, who – in return – began a dirty campaign to harm Poe's reputation by exaggerating Poe´s alcoholism and psychological issues and even publishing a false biography of him.
9.“The Raven“, which later became Poe´s most famous poem and one of the most popular poems in the world, was originally sold to The American Review by the author in 1845. They paid him $9 for it.
10. In 1826, Poe registered at the one-year-old University of Virginia to study ancient and modern languages but since his foster father didn’t send him enough money his debts; caused by his gambling, increased and he gave up on the university after a year.
11. While Poe became a world-known writer after his death; during his lifetime he was mostly recognized as a literary critic. His caustic reviews earned him the epithet "Tomahawk Man".
12. Apart from literature, one of Poe´s favorite hobbies was space and cosmology. His 1848 essay called “Eureka: A Prose Poem“ contained a theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80 years. At that time, he considered this work his career masterpiece.
13. Poe´s death remains as mysterious as the author himself. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore in dire conditions and died 4 days later in a hospital. All medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost which has raised many suspicions concerning his death; from heart disease, epilepsy, or cholera up to suicide and even murder.
