Edgar Allan Poe And His Adoptive Father Feuded For His Entire Life

By | January 19, 2020

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Closeups of a very old book by Edgar A. Poe. (Photo by Herbert Gehr/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

One of the best-known American writers and poets, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote stories that were often dark and macabre, with bizarre twists. The author of The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Pit and the Pendulum was unmistakably troubled, and it wouldn't be surprising if it stemmed from the trauma of his mother's death and his father's abandonment in his early childhood. "Daddy issues," as they say. To make matters worse, Poe and his adoptive father didn't exactly get along smashingly. Let's look at Poe's paternal conflicts. 

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Poe was sent to live with the Allans when he was three. (thenation.com)

Poe's Early Years

Edgar Allan Poe was actually born just Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19, 1809, the third child born to David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. The family of theater performers was happy for some time, but it was not to last; David Poe, Jr. abandoned his young family the next year, and Elizabeth was dead by the time Edgar was three years old. The three Poe siblings were each sent to live with different families.