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Edgar Allan Poe is born
Jan 19 ,1809. poet, author and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts. -
Poe's Sister is born
Edgar Allan Poe's sister Rosalie was born on December 20, 1810. after her birth, or possibly even before it, David Poe deserts the family, leaving Poe's mother alone with three children. -
Poe's Parents Die
Elizabeth Arnold Poe, Edgar’s mother, dies in Richmond, Virginia. Her remains are buried at Old St. John’s Church in old Richmond. David Poe, Edgar’s father, apparently dies within a few days of his wife. -
Poe writes his first poem
Poe writes a two-line poem: “— Poetry - Edgar A. Poe — Last night, with many cares & toils oppres‘d, Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest —.” (This is Poe’s earliest surviving poem. It was never published during his lifetime, nor used as part of a longer poem.) -
Poe enlists in the U.S. Army and shortly after his first book is published
Poe’s first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems is published in Boston by Calvin F. S. Thomas. The author is noted only as “A Bostonian.” The thin pamphlet sells perhaps 50 copies, many likely distributed free for reviews. -
Poe's older brother dies
William Henry Leonard Poe, Edgar’s older brother, dies in Baltimore, probably of tuberculosis or cholera. (Discounting the possibility of cholera, it has been noted that the disease did not arrive in the United States until 1832.) -
Poe marries his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Clemm.
Edgar (aged 27) and Virginia (aged 13) marry in Richmond, Virginia. The ceremony is officiated by the Reverend Amasa Convers, a Presbyterian minister who was also editor of the Southern Religious Telegraph. -
Poe writes his first novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. -
Poe's story collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is published in two volumes.
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is a collection of previously published short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1840. -
Poe publishes the poem, The Raven
The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. -
Poe's wife Virginia dies of tuberculosis at their home in the Bronx.
Virginia Poe dies of tuberculosis in Ford ham, New York. She is entombed on February 2 in the Valentine family vault in the Dutch Reformed Church at Ford ham. (The bed in which she died may still be seen in this house. The tops of the posts at the foot of the bed are cut off so that it will fit under the sloping roof.) -
Edgar Allen Poe Dies
Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore in the Washington University Hospital (later Church Home and Hospital).
