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Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) 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.
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This poem, most likely incomplete, was never printed in Poe's lifetime. Its two lines were found written on a page of some of John Allan's financial records. This is the earliest surviving manuscript in Poe's own hand.
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The couple were first cousins and married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27.
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First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere.
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Four days after being discovered on the streets of Baltimore disheveled and incoherent, Edgar Allan Poe died in the Washington College Hospital of Maryland’s capital on October 7, 1849.
