Edgar Allen Poe is now best known as a fiction writer, but his poetic works have been widely influential and include at least one undisputed classic - 'The Raven' - which is probably as well known as any of Poe's fictions.
Born in 1809 the son of itinerant actors, Poe was orphaned in early childhood. As a result, his upbringing was rootless and uncertain. As a youth, he joined the army (twice) and then worked as a journalist, on several different papers, before penning the Gothic romances for which he is now famous.
