Edgar Allan Poe, born Edgar Poe, was born in Boston Massachusetts on 19th January 1809 but orphaned at an early age.

Taken in by the Allan family his education was cut short by lack of money and he went to the military academy, Westpoint, where he failed to become an officer.

His early literary works were poetic but he quickly turned to prose. He worked for several magazines and journals till in January 1845 'The Raven' was published and became an instant classic.

Thereafter followed the works for which he is so rightly famed as a master of the mysterious and the macabre. Poe died at the early age of 40 in 1849 in Baltimore Maryland.

Poe was also an early proponent of the detective story and announced his entry to this genre with the classic short story 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'.