Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. Some of his most famous works include "The Raven," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Tell-Tale Heart".

Poe was also a literary critic whose level of imagination and insight had hitherto been unapproached in American literature. He made significant contributions to the emerging genre of science fiction and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. Poes work as an editor, poet, and critic had a profound impact on American and international literature. He was one of the first critics to focus primarily on the effect of style and structure in a literary work, and as such, he has been seen as a forerunner to the "art for arts sake" movement.

While Poes writings gained attention in the late 1830s and early 1840s, the profits from his work remained meager, and he supported himself by editing various magazines. Although his works were not conspicuously acclaimed during his lifetime, Poe did earn due respect as a gifted fiction writer, poet, and man of letters, and occasionally he achieved a measure of popular success, especially following the appearance of "The Raven".