He was soon adopted by wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan, adopting their surname as his middle name. During his childhood Poe was raised by Mr. Allan to be a businessman and Virginia gentleman; However Poe dreamed of becoming a writer just like his childhood hero Lord Byron, and by the age of thirteen he had compiled enough poems to create a book. He was never allowed to publish because his headmaster advised Allan not to let Poe follow the thin