Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was orphaned at a young age and was raised by John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia, though he was never formally adopted. Poe struggled financially throughout his life as one of the first American writers to try to earn a living through writing alone. He is considered a key figure of the American Romantic movement and is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, including being credited as the inventor of detective fiction. Poe died under mysterious circumstances in 1849 in Baltimore at the age of 40, where he was found delirious in the streets and died days later