-
Edgar Allan Poe is born.
Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. He was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. -
Poe's sister is born.
Poe's sister Rosalie is born. Shortly after her birth, or possibly even before it, David Poe deserts the family, leaving Poe's mother alone with three children. Making matters worse, Elizabeth Poe soon falls ill with tuberculosis. -
Poe's parents die.
David Poe, an actor, abandoned the family around 1810. Elizabeth Poe, an actress, died of tuberculosis in 1811. Tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife, Frances Allan, cared for Poe while he was young, but never legally adopted him. -
Poe writes his first poem.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote his first poem when he was only fifteen years-old. "Last night, with many cares & toils oppres'd,/ Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest." -
Poe enlists in the U.S. Army and shortly after his first book is published.
Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private. Using the name "Edgar A. Perry", he claimed he was 22 years old even though he was 18. He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month. That same year, he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems, attributed with the byline "by a Bostonian". Only 50 copies were printed, and the book received virtually no attention. -
Poe's older brother dies.
William Henry Leonard Poe, who was a heavy drinker and may have been an alcoholic, died of tuberculosis on August 1, 1831, in Baltimore, likely in the same room or even the same bed which he shared with his brother Edgar. He was twenty-four. -
Poe marries his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Clemm.
Returning to Baltimore, Poe secretly married Virginia, his cousin. He was 26 and she was 13, though she is listed on the marriage certificate as being 21. Some biographers have suggested that the couple's relationship was more like that between brother and sister than like husband and wife in that they may have never consummated their marriage. -
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. It was a very widely viewed novel. -
Poe's story collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is published in two volumes.
In 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though he made little money off of it and it received mixed reviews. Poe left Burton's after about a year and found a position as assistant at Graham's Magazine. -
Poe publishes the poem, The Raven.
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845. "The Raven" was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success. Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical opinion is divided as to the poem's status, but it nevertheless remains one of the most famous poems ever written. -
Poe's wife Virginia dies of tuberculosis at their home in the Bronx.
On January 29, 1847, Poe wrote to Marie Louise Shew: "My poor Virginia still lives, although failing fast and now suffering much pain." Virginia died the following day, January 30 from tuberculosis. -
Edgar Allan Poe Dies.
On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition, and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own.
