ill and passed away. Her children were promptly adopted. Edgar went to the home of a wealthy merchant named John Allan. His wife, Francis, had been good friends with Elizabeth Poe and begged her husband to care for the young child. Allan took Poe into his home, but never formally adopted him. Edgar loved his foster mother "Fanny" and she loved her little "Eddie". The two hit it off right away. Poe, however, did not have the same luck with his foster father. Allan and Poe were the most dissimilar people that you would ever find. Allan was a realistic Scotsman, practical and undemonstrative. Poe, on the other hand, was romantic and imaginative. He frequently tried to gain favor with his father, with no luck. This emotional abandonment by two father figures would lead to his antagonism towards men (he had no male friends) and his dependence upon wome!
             In 1815, when Edgar Allan Poe was six years old, the Allan family moved to England, and Poe attended private school there for five years. After this period the Allans returned to Richmond, Virginia where Poe continued his education at the local schools. It was at this time that Poe first fell in love. Her name was Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of one of his classmates. He loved her dearly, visited her often and confided to her things that he would never tell his foster mother. Stanard died within a year of first meeting Poe, greatly affecting him. It is to her that the poem "To Helen" is written.
             In 1826 Poe was sent to the University of Virginia. He did quite well there, compiling an excellent scholastic record. But John Allan did not provide his son with enough money and Poe took to gambling to make up for insufficient funds. What happened was to be expected and Poe ran up a sizeable debt. Poe also got into the habit of drinking to escape from his problems, a sign of the alcohol problems that were to come later in his life.
             Once John Allan learned of Poe's debts he removed...