After he had to drop out of the University of Virginia due to a lack of funding, Edgar Allan Poe moved away to Boston, Massachusetts. The writer himself had a rather complicated history with the city, as Boston being the former home of his family--particularly his performer parents--was not something he was proud of ("Boston Roots"). Shortly after his birth, Poe had been orphaned and subsequently fostered by the Poe Family in Virginia. As a result, while Poe is a significant part of Bostonian history, Boston has a small yet important influence over Poe's own history. During his two-year stay, Poe began to pursue a passion for writing; under the pseudonym of "a Bostonian", Poe published one of his first literary pieces, a poetry collection named "Tamerlane and Other Poems" (Poe Museum). While this would be the start of Poe's authorship, the collection itself received little to no fanfare, especially compared to his other works. He did this while he was enlisted in the military; eighteen year-old Poe registered to serve at Boston's own Fort Independence, under the pseudonym of twenty-two year-old "Edgar Perry" ("Boston Roots"). Perry was considered to have done "exceptionally well in the army", and managed to achieve the rank of sergeant major in the time he served (Poe Museum). Despite this, however, Perry was court-martialed for "extreme dereliction of duty", or a failure to achieve what he was intended to do while serving. As a result, he was discharged; shortly after, Poe left Boston behind to pursue a more focused writing career elsewhere. Whereas other cities such as Richmond and Philadelphia have often laid claim to Poe's legacy by virtue of being the birthplaces of his more iconic works (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, etc.), it was his poetry in Boston that would ultimately help foster a love for writing in the Gothic figurehead.

Works Cited

“Massachusetts Historical Society: Object of the Month.” Masshist.org, 2023, www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/the-boston-roots-of-edgar-a...

“Poe Biography.” The Poe Museum, PoeMuseum.org, 2021, https://poemuseum.org/poe-biography/.

Image used from Wikipedia.  “Edgar Allan Poe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe.