john hamilton mckinsey recalls telling edgar the standard stores, robinson crusoe. poe would tell the stories. he would embellish them and he kept adding and adding to the stories and creating new stories they hadn't heard before. eventually poe got an interest in poetry, and by the age of 13 he compiled enough of his poetry that he wanted his foster father jove and get it published. the foster father showed it to his headmaster and he said he's a little too proud of himself onward. the last thing you want to do is fueled his ego by publishing parts of his poetry. but by the time he was 18 he actually published his first book. i thought of what's in that book was written while he was in richmond, 10 university of virginia in charles hill. early on poe probably thought that he would be like most writers of the day, and live off of family money or a teaching job or a government job in the customs house. but he became the first american writer, major american writer to make his living sold off his writings are i don't think it was entirely by choice. he would have love