Lindsey Graham

Their words have challenged convention and inspired change.

They have forged a shared narrative among a diverse people.

And they have chronicled the American experience in all its contradictions and complexity.

But of all the authors who left their mark on the American literary landscape, one stands out for channeling his turbulent life into unforgettable tales plumbing the depths of the human psyche, Edgar Allan Poe.

We're presenting a six-part series on great American authors exploring their lives, their work, and their impact on a growing nation.

This is Episode 1, Edgar Allan Poe, Master of Macabre.

On January 19, 1809, Edgar Poe was born in a humble Boston boarding house.

His parents were traveling stage actors.

They soon relocated to Richmond, Virginia, where Edgar's father abandoned the family, leaving his mother, Eliza, to care for three children on her own.

But when Edgar was only two and a half, Eliza contracted tuberculosis.

Over the next several months, Edgar and his siblings watched the disease take hold of their mother and plague her with a relentless, rasping cough.

She died at age 24, before Edgar's third birthday.

Eliza was a beloved actress on the Richmond theater scene, so local society women took it upon themselves to find homes for her orphaned children.

Edgar and his two siblings were separated and sent to live with strangers.

A wealthy woman named Frances Allen persuaded her husband John, a successful merchant, to take in Edgar.

The Allens never legally adopted him, but they gave him a home, as well as their name.

He became known as Edgar Allan Poe.

The Allens provided Edgar with an elite education, including a five-year stint abroad attending English boarding schools.

He was an athletic child and an enthusiastic student, and he showed a talent for poetry at a young age.

But John Allen was inconsistent in his parenting approach, alternating between indulging the young Edgar and scolding him.