I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.

Jefferson had enacted a system of student self-government allowing students to choose their own studies make their own arrangements for boarding and report all wrongdoing to the faculty. Though it made Poe a household name almost instantly he was paid only $9 for its publication. Legacy


Literary influence
During his lifetime Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic.

He began planning to produce his own journal The Penn (later renamed The Stylus) though he died before it could be produced. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond Virginia but they never formally adopted him. In January 1845 Poe publiEdgar Allan Poed his poem "The Raven" to instant success.