Edgar Allan Poe?

The main themes of "Tamerlane" are independence, pride, loss and exile. Poe probably based the poem on the loss of his early love, Sarah Elmira Royster, his mother Eliza Poe or his foster-mother Frances Allan. The poem also mirrors Poe's poor relationship with his foster-father John Allan. Like Poe, Tamerlane is of uncertain parentage, with a contrived name. (The name is a Latinized version of Timur, a 14th century warlord). Poe was 19 when he wrote Tamerlane (it was the first poem he had published), and his sense of loss came from the increasing possibility that he'd never see a penny of his inheritance and the knowledge that he had no funds to attend college after leaving the University of Virginia. Clearly a poem of youth, the poem explores themes Poe will repeatedly revisit throughout his life, especially his self-criticism and ongoing quest for perfection.