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Edgar Allan Poe is born.
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary crititc, 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 considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. -
Poe's sister is born
Edgar Allan Poe's sister Rosalie was probably born in December of 1810, but there is no solid evidence for this claim. It has been claimed that Rosalie Mackenzie Poe was not the true child of either David or Eliza Poe. -
Poe's parents die
Eliza Poe was the mother of three children. In 1811, while staying at a boarding house in Richmond, Virginia for a performance, Eliza began spitting blood. Eliza finally died on Sunday morning, December 8, 1811, at the age of twenty-four, surrounded by her children. It is generally assumed that she died of tuberculosis. Poe died on December 11, 1811, only three days after Eliza's death. -
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
Still unable to support himself, Poe enlisted in the United States Army on May 26, 1827, under the pseudonym "Edgar A. Perry." (He was eighteen at the time but claimed to be twenty-two.) During his military service, he was stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island in Charleston, South Carolina—a site he would later appropriate as the setting for his story, "The Gold Bug"—and then at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. -
Poe's older brother dies
Older brother of writer Edgar Poe, "Henry Poe," as he was called, was himself a published poet. It is speculated that Henry struggled with alcoholism. He died of tuberculosis at age 24 and was buried in a family-owned plot near his grandfather. It remains unmarked. -
Poe marries his thirteen year old cousin
At the age of twenty-seven, Poe brought Maria and Virginia Clemm to Richmond and married his Virginia, who was not yet fourteen. ( Virginia was Edgar's cousin) The marriage proved a happy one, and the family is said to have enjoyed singing together at night. Virginia expressed her devotion to her husband in a Valentine poem now in the collection of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Poe celebrated the joys of married life in his poem “Eulalie.” -
Poe writes his first novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
This book is the only complete novel written by Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures further south. -
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. This series of stories was to help him because he was living in poverty. The second volume was never published. -
Poe publishes the poem, The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem. 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. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore.The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references. -
Poe's wife Virginia dies
Poe's wife Virginia dies of tuberculosis at their home in the Bronx. Poe has been so despondent during the final months of her illness that friends thought he was going insane. The loss of his wife sends Poe into a downward spiral of alcoholism. This leads to a tragic ending for a very well known poet. -
Edgar Poe dies
The death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1849, has remained mysterious: the circumstances leading up to it are uncertain and the cause of death is disputed. On October 3, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, "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 College Hospital, where he died at 5 a.m. on Sunday, October 7.
