Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1809, the son of an actress and an actor. His father left home when he was only a year old and his mother died shortly afterwards, leaving Poe to be adopted by a wealthy Scottish merchant in Richmond, Virginia, named John Allan, from whom Poe took his middle name. Poe dropped out of University and enlisted in the Army, eventually attending West Point and becoming an officer. He then managed to get himself court-martialed, leaving the army to pursue a writing career in 1831.

The Raven (poem); The Gold-Bug; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar; MS. Found in a Bottle; A Descent into the Maelstrom; The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Mystery of Marie Roget; The Purloined Letter; The Black Cat; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Premature Burial; The Masque of the Red Death; The Cask of Amontillado; The Imp of the Perverse; The Oval Portrait; The Assignation; The Tell-Tale Heart; The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether; The Angel of the Odd; The Man of the Crowd; "Thou Art the Man"; Hop-Frog; Berenice; Ligeia; Morella; Narrative of A. Gordon Pym The Raven (poem); The Gold-Bug; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar; MS. Found in a Bottle; A Descent into the Maelstrom; The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Mystery of Marie Roget; The Purloined Letter; The Black Cat; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Premature Burial; The Masque of the Red Death; The Cask of Amontillado; The Imp of the Perverse; The Oval Portrait; The Assignation; The Tell-Tale Heart; The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether; The Angel of the Odd; The Man of the Crowd; "Thou Art the Man"; Hop-Frog; Berenice; Ligeia; Morella; Narrative of A. Gordon Pym.