1 of 7

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

briefly moved to Baltimore where he stayed with his widowed Aunt Maria Clemm and her teenage daughter Virginia. He published his second book of poems, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems.

July of 1830 Poe enrolled in West Point, becoming the only American author who ever attended. When he decided he did not have the temperament for a military career, he also became the first American author to intentionally get court-martialed.

After having dabbled with poetry with minimal success, Poe tried prose. He was able to place a few stories, but it was "MS. Found in a Bottle" that brought him notice. The Saturday Visitor, a Baltimore paper, awarded him a literary prize in 1853. He was offered an assistant editor job for Southern Literary Messenger but almost sabotaged his job by being temporarily fired for drunken behavior. Such would be the pattern for the rest of his life.

In 1853 he and his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm eloped. The couple fudged her age on the marriage certificate, saying she was twenty-one. His writing career continued in fits and starts. The Fall of the House of Usher was published in 1839 in The Gentleman's Magazine, and it was followed by Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. He tried starting Penn Magazine but it never got off the ground. Poe returned to The Gentleman's Magazine, now under new ownership. In their April 1841 issue, they published "Murders in the Rue Morgue," which became the first detective story. A new genre was born.

His most famous poem, The Raven, was published in The New York Mirror in 1845. Poe pronounced it the greatest poem ever written, and it became an overnight success. Although The Raven was widely circulated, Poe was ignorant of copyright laws and earned a total of nine dollars for it. He was able to procure a job at the Broadway Journal where he earned a dollar for each column he wrote. He was finally making a living as a writer.

His wife, Virginia, after suffering from tuberculosis for years, died in 1847. She was twenty-four years old. Though many who knew him said he never recovered from the loss of his wife, his grief did not keep him from courting other women. He resumed a relationship with Sarah Royster, who had become a wealthy widow. They set a wedding date, but Poe died before they married.

After having disappeared for five days, Poe was found in front of an Irish tavern, inebriated and wearing tattered clothes that looked like they belonged to someone else. No one really known what happened during his disappearance. Theories say he was kidnapped, or his delirium was attributed to advanced syphilis, rabies, drugs and alcohol. He was admitted to Washington College Hospital and spent two days in delirium and calling out to someone named "Reynolds." He begged his caretakers to shoot him in the head. His last words were, "Lord help my poor soul." Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849. He was forty years old.

Learn more about this author, R. M. Ziegler.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about Biography: Edgar Allan Poe?
We want to hear your view. Write now!