Lincoln, Darwin, Poe- happy birthday

“What connects Lincoln, Darwin and Poe, besides the remarkable coincidence of their births 200 years ago and their enduring popularity, is their ability to understand and explain the importance of the human condition.”

“Edgar Poe was born in Boston in 1809. Orphaned when he was 3, Poe was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy merchant from Richmond, Va. Unable to support himself when the relationship soured, Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1827. That same year, his first book was published, but it sold less than 50 copies. Poe left the Army and enrolled at West Point, and when that, too, ended in failure, he turned to journalism.

“Throughout most of his life, Poe scrambled for money. He was an alcoholic, and his relationships with women were complex. Mr. Ackroyd says that Poe often courted women who were not available, sometimes getting entangled with more than one at a time. In 1835, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. Several years later, he contracted tuberculosis.”

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