Poe

How much do tragic personal circumstances contribute to artistic genius? Mark Twain certainly endured more than his share. Others, like Ernest Hemingway, created their own tragic circumstances.

Unlike Twain, whose life's work was filled with wit and humor despite the untimely deaths of most of his loved ones, Edgar Allan Poe's dark style and macabre stories reflected the tragedies of his own life. His parents, both actors, died when Edgar was a toddler, his mother at age 24, his father at 26. He was estranged from his foster father, and his foster mother died when he was 20. He was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but was dismissed after one year.
His older brother, with whom Edgar lived as a young adult, also died at 24 of tuberculosis. Edgar's wife, whom he married when she was 13, died at 25.
Although a prolific and commercially successful author, Poe was an alcoholic. He died at 40, possibly from alcohol poisoning.

The bicentennial of Poe's birth, Jan. 19, 1809, was this year. Next Wednesday, Oct. 7, marks the 160th anniversary of his death. Every year on his birthday, the mysterious Poe Toaster — clad in black with face obscured, with a hood or scarf, and carrying a silver-tipped cane — visits Poe's grave and leaves a partially full bottle of cognac and three red roses.

Trivia: The Baltimore Ravens are named for Poe's poem "The Raven."