Everyone says Edgar Allan Poe had a rough life that highley influenced his writings. I want to know if this is really true and if it is, what happened to him that made most of his writings so dark?

Poe was a pioneer in the areas of short stories. His ability to make the readers feel and experience what he felt was his biggest asset.

Poe's mother died shortly after he was born, Poe was only about three years old. Poe's mother was an actress in New York. After she died, Poe was taken in by John and Francis Allan. His adopted father was emotionless and his adopted mother was over-bearing. When Poe was 16 he fell in love with Sarah Royster and ended up getting engaged to her. Poe went to the University of Virginia that February and studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian. Over time he incurred debt as a normal student, but he took up the game of cards and was in debt for over two thousand dollars before he knew it. Before the year was over, Poe withdrew from school. When John and Poe couldn't come to terms with Poe paying him back, Poe moved to Baltimore. When he did that, Poe joined the United States Army and worked the artillery at Fort Independence. http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/poebio.html

Around this time Poe published his first book, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. Poe's adopted mother helped him as much as she could learn new subjects that he never got to learn. Poe became very attached to her as he did most women that he was close to in his life. She also protected him from John when he got abusive. When Francis died it devastated Poe. Poe published Annabel Lee and the Raven after Francis and Sarah had passed away. Those works that he wrote directly correlated the darkness and sorrow that was going on in his life. http://www.wisegeek.com/contest/what-influenced-edgar-allan-poes-works.htm

Here is a video outlining his biography, it is very informative - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dztOkyhAslw