Edgar Allan Poe (né Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American

writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short
stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central
figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature.[1]
Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the
inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging
genre of science fiction.[2] He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living
through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.[3]

Poe was born in Boston, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe.[4]
His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when his mother died the following year, Poe
was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted
him, but he was with them well into young adulthood. He attended the University of Virginia
but left after a year due to lack of money. He quarreled with John Allan over the funds for his
education, and his gambling debts. In 1827, having enlisted in the United States Army under
an assumed name, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, credited only
to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's
wife in 1829. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declared a firm wish to be a
poet and writer, and parted ways with Allan.

Poe switched his focus to prose, and spent the next several years working for literary
journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work
forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York
City. In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, but she died of
tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845, he published his poem "The Raven" to instant success.
He planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn, later renamed The Stylus. But
before it began publishing, Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under mysterious
circumstances. The cause of his death remains unknown, and has been variously attributed to
many causes including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide.[5]

Poe and his works influenced literature around the world, as well as specialized fields
such as cosmology and cryptography. He and his work appear throughout popular culture in
literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums. The
Mystery Writers of America present an annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in the
mystery genre.

Early life and education

Plaque marking the approximate location of Poe's birth on Carver Street in Boston
Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second child of
American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. He
had an elder brother, Henry, and a younger sister, Rosalie.[6] Their grandfather, David Poe,
had emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, around 1750.[7]

His father abandoned the family in 1810,[8] and his mother died a year later from
pulmonary tuberculosis. Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, a successful
merchant in Richmond, Virginia, who dealt in a variety of goods, including cloth, wheat,
tombstones, tobacco, and slaves.[9] The Allans served as a foster family and gave him the
name "Edgar Allan Poe",[10] although they never formally adopted him.[11]

The Allan family had Poe baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1812. John Allan
alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son.[10] The family sailed to the
United Kingdom in 1815, and Poe attended the grammar school for a short period in Irvine,
Ayrshire, Scotland, where Allan was born, before rejoining the family in London in 1816.
There he studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817. He was subsequently
entered at the Reverend John Bransby's Manor House School at Stoke Newington, then a
suburb 4 miles (6 km) north of London.[12]

Poe moved with the Allans back to Richmond in 1820. In 1824, he served as the
lieutenant of the Richmond youth honor guard as the city celebrated the visit of the Marquis
de Lafayette.[13] In March 1825, Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt died,
who was said to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond,[14] leaving Allan several acres of
real estate. The inheritance was estimated at $750,000 (equivalent to $19,000,000 in 2022).
[15] By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his expansive wealth by purchasing a two-story brick
house called Moldavia.[16]
 Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the
University of Virginia in February 1826 to study ancient and modern languages.[17][18] The
university was in its infancy, established on the ideals of its founder Thomas Jefferson. It had
strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol, but these rules were mostly
ignored. Jefferson enacted a system of student self-government, allowing students to choose
their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, and report all wrongdoing to
the faculty. The unique system was still in chaos, and there was a high dropout rate.[19]
During his time there, Poe lost touch with Royster and also became estranged from his foster
father over gambling debts. He claimed that Allan had not given him sufficient money to
register for classes, purchase texts, and procure and furnish a dormitory. Allan did send
additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased.[20] Poe gave up on the university
after a year but did not feel welcome returning to Richmond, especially when he learned that
his sweetheart Royster had married another man, Alexander Shelton. He traveled to Boston in
April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper writer,[21] and started
using the pseudonym Henri Le Rennet during this period.[22]

Military career

In May 1827, Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was first stationed at Fort
Independence in Boston
Poe was unable to support himself, so he enlisted in the United States Army as a private
on May 27, 1827, using the name "Edgar A. Perry". He claimed that he was 22 years old even
though he was 18.[23] He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars
a month.[21] That year, he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry titled
Tamerlane and Other Poems, attributed with the byline "by a Bostonian". Only 50 copies
were printed, and the book received virtually no attention.[24] Poe's regiment was posted to
Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, and traveled by ship on the brig Waltham on
November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted tradesman who prepared
shells for artillery, and had his monthly pay doubled.[25] He served for two years and attained
the rank of Sergeant Major for Artillery, the highest rank that a non-commissioned officer
could achieve; he then sought to end his five-year enlistment early. He revealed his real name
and his circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard, who would allow Poe
to be discharged only if he reconciled with Allan. Poe wrote a letter to Allan, who was
unsympathetic and spent several months ignoring Poe's pleas; Allan may not have written to
Poe even to make him aware of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28,
1829, and Poe visited the day after her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, Allan
agreed to support Poe's attempt to be discharged in order to receive an appointment to the
United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.[26]

Poe was finally discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a replacement to finish his
enlisted term for him.[27] Before entering West Point, he moved to Baltimore for a time to
stay with his widowed aunt Maria Clemm, her daughter Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first
cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe.[28] In
September of that year, Poe received "the very first words of encouragement I ever remember
to have heard"[29] in a review of his poetry by influential critic John Neal, prompting Poe to
dedicate one of the poems to Neal[30] in his second book Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor
Poems, published in Baltimore in 1829.[31]

Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830.[32] In October
1830, Allan married his second wife Louisa Patterson.[33] The marriage and bitter quarrels
with Poe over the children born to Allan out of extramarital affairs led to the foster father
finally disowning Poe.[34] Poe decided to leave West Point by purposely getting court-
martialed. On February 8, 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of
orders for refusing to attend formations, classes, or church. He tactically pleaded not guilty to
induce dismissal, knowing that he would be found guilty.[35]

Poe left for New York in February 1831 and released a third volume of poems, simply
titled Poems. The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, many of
whom donated 75 cents to the cause, raising a total of $170. They may have been expecting
verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had written about commanding officers.[36] It was
printed by Elam Bliss of New York, labeled as "Second Edition", and including a page
saying, "To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated". The book once
again reprinted the long poems "Tamerlane" and "Al Aaraaf" but also six previously
unpublished poems, including early versions of "To Helen", "Israfel", and "The City in the
Sea".[37] Poe returned to Baltimore to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder
brother Henry had been in ill health, in part due to problems with alcoholism, and he died on
August 1, 1831.[38]
 Publishing career

In 1835, at age 26, Poe obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia Clemm, who was
then age 13; they were married for 11 years until her death, which may have inspired some of
Poe's writing.

An 1845 portrait of Poe by Samuel Stillman Osgood

The cottage in the Fordham section of Bronx, where Poe spent his last years
After his brother's death, Poe began more earnest attempts to start his career as a writer,
but he chose a difficult time in American publishing to do so.[39] He was one of the first
Americans to live by writing alone[3][40] and was hampered by the lack of an international
copyright law.[41] American publishers often produced unauthorized copies of British works
rather than paying for new work by Americans.[40] The industry was also particularly hurt by
the Panic of 1837.[42] There was a booming growth in American periodicals around this time,
fueled in part by new technology, but many did not last beyond a few issues.[43] Publishers
often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised,[44] and Poe
repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and other assistance.[45]

After his early attempts at poetry, Poe had turned his attention to prose, likely based on
John Neal's critiques in The Yankee magazine.[46] He placed a few stories with a
Philadelphia publication and began work on his only drama Politian. The Baltimore Saturday
Visiter awarded him a prize in October 1833 for his short story "MS. Found in a Bottle".[47]
The story brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy, a Baltimorean of considerable
means who helped Poe place some of his stories and introduced him to Thomas W. White,
editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond.

In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the 'Southern Literary Messenger,[48] but White
discharged him within a few weeks for being drunk on the job.[49] Poe returned to Baltimore,
where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on September 22, 1835, though it is
unknown if they were married at that time.[50] He was 26 and she was 13.

Poe was reinstated by White after promising good behavior, and he returned to
Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained at the Messenger until January 1837.
During this period, Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500.[6] He
published several poems, book reviews, critiques, and stories in the paper. On May 16, 1836,
he and Virginia held a Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their
Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21.[50][51]

Philadelphia
In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia, where he lived at four different residences
between 1838 and 1844, one of which at 532 N. 7th Street has been preserved as a National
Historic Landmark.

That same year, Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was
published and widely reviewed.[52] In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of
Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. He published numerous articles, stories, and reviews,
enhancing his reputation as a trenchant critic which he had established at the Messenger. Also
in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes,
though he made little money from it and it received mixed reviews.[53]

In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own
journal called The Stylus,[54] although he originally intended to call it The Penn, since it
would have been based in Philadelphia. He bought advertising space for his prospectus in the
June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post: "Prospectus of the Penn
Magazine, a Monthly Literary journal to be edited and published in the city of Philadelphia by
Edgar A. Poe."[55] The journal was never produced before Poe's death.

Poe left Burton's after about a year and found a position as writer and co-editor at
Graham's Magazine, a successful monthly publication.[56] In the last number of Graham's for
1841, Poe was among the co-signatories to an editorial note of celebration of the tremendous
success the magazine had achieved in the past year: "Perhaps the editors of no magazine,
either in America or in Europe, ever sat down, at the close of a year, to contemplate the
progress of their work with more satisfaction than we do now. Our success has been
unexampled, almost incredible. We may assert without fear of contradiction that no periodical
ever witnessed the same increase during so short a period."[57]
 Around this time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the administration of John Tyler,
claiming that he was a member of the Whig Party.[58] He hoped to be appointed to the United
States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from President Tyler's son Robert,[59] an
acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Thomas.[60] Poe failed to show up for a meeting with
Thomas to discuss the appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to have been sick,
though Thomas believed that he had been drunk.[61] Poe was promised an appointment, but
all positions were filled by others.[62]

One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, or
tuberculosis, while singing and playing the piano, which Poe described as breaking a blood
vessel in her throat.[63] She only partially recovered, and Poe began to drink more heavily
under the stress of her illness. He left Graham's and attempted to find a new position, for a
time angling for a government post. He returned to New York where he worked briefly at the
Evening Mirror before becoming editor of the Broadway Journal, and later its owner.[64]
There Poe alienated himself from other writers by publicly accusing Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow of plagiarism, though Longfellow never responded.[65] On January 29, 1845,
Poe's poem "The Raven" appeared in the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation. It
made Poe a household name almost instantly,[66] though he was paid only $9 for its
publication.[67] It was concurrently published in The American Review: A Whig Journal
under the pseudonym "Quarles".[68]

The Bronx
The Broadway Journal failed in 1846,[64] and Poe moved to a cottage in Fordham, New
York, in the Bronx. That home, now known as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, was relocated in
later years to a park near the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road.
Nearby, Poe befriended the Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University.[69]
Virginia died at the cottage on January 30, 1847.[70] Biographers and critics often suggest
that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful woman" stems from the repeated loss of
women throughout his life, including his wife.[71]

Poe was increasingly unstable after his wife's death. He attempted to court poet Sarah
Helen Whitman, who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Their engagement failed,
purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior. There is also strong evidence that
Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship.[72] Poe then returned to
Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster.
[73]

Death
Main article: Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is interred at Westminster Hall in Baltimore, Maryland (Lat: 39.29027; Long:

−76.62333); the circumstances and cause of his death remain uncertain.
On October 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore, "in great distress,
and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him.[74]
He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849,
at 5:00 in the morning.[75] Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in
his dire condition and why he was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have
repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear
to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord
help my poor soul".[75] All of the relevant medical records have been lost, including Poe's
death certificate.[76]

Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral
inflammation", common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism.
[77] The actual cause of death remains a mystery.[78] Speculation has included delirium
tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation,[5] cholera,[79] carbon
monoxide poisoning,[80] and rabies.[81] One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's
death resulted from cooping, a form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote
for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder.[82]

Griswold's memoir
Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote a slanted
high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that cast Poe as a lunatic, and
which described him as a person who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips
moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned in passionate prayers, (never for himself,
for he felt, or professed to feel, that he was already damned)".[83]
 The long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune, signed "Ludwig" on the day that
Poe was buried in Baltimore. It was further published throughout the country. The obituary
began, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This
announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it."[84] "Ludwig" was soon
identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, and anthologist who had borne a grudge against Poe
since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his
enemy's reputation after his death.[85]

Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he
included in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There he depicted Poe as a depraved,
drunken, drug-addled madman and included Poe's letters as evidence.[85] Many of his claims
were either lies or distortions; for example, it is seriously disputed that Poe was a drug addict.
[86] Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well,[87] including John Neal,
who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a "Rhadamanthus, who is
not to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of newspaper notoriety".[88] Griswold's book
nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical source. This was in part because it
was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part because readers
thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man.[89] Letters that Griswold presented
as proof were later revealed as forgeries.[90]

Literary style and themes

Genres
Poe's best-known fiction works are Gothic horror,[91] adhering to the genre's
conventions to appeal to the public taste.[92] His most recurring themes deal with questions
of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature
burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning.[93] Many of his works are generally
considered part of the dark romanticism genre, a literary reaction to transcendentalism[94]
which Poe strongly disliked.[95] He referred to followers of the transcendental movement as
"Frog-Pondians", after the pond on Boston Common,[96][97] and ridiculed their writings as
"metaphor—run mad,"[98] lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for
mysticism's sake".[95] Poe once wrote in a letter to Thomas Holley Chivers that he did not
dislike transcendentalists, "only the pretenders and sophists among them".[99]
 Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For comic effect, he
used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an attempt to liberate the reader from cultural
conformity.[92] "Metzengerstein" is the first story that Poe is known to have published[100]
and his first foray into horror, but it was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the
popular genre.[101] Poe also reinvented science fiction, responding in his writing to emerging
technologies such as hot air balloons in "The Balloon-Hoax".[102]

Poe wrote much of his work using themes aimed specifically at mass-market tastes.
[103] To that end, his fiction often included elements of popular pseudosciences, such as
phrenology[104] and physiognomy.[105]