Edgar Allan Poe is certainly one of the greatest writers and poets who ever lived. This documentary traces his life. Unlike the portrayal we usually get, he was, for the most part, an ambitious man, a man who wanted success. His weaknesses were his basic honesty and his tendency to alienate people. Had he been willing to back off on occasion, he would not have burned so many bridges. He was a devoted husband and father and cared greatly for his family. We could even forgive him for his romantic indiscretions as his wife, Virginia, lay ill with tuberculosis. But the public was fickle and unwilling to forgive and it put him in arrears with them. Above all, despite his angst, he was a great writer. One thing I never noticed is the small number of horror stories that he wrote. As with many of the American Masters biographies, this one is very well done.