Edgar Allan Poe

  • Edgar Allan Poe is born

    American writer, critic and editor Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery, including "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher."
  • Poe's sister is born

    All we know is that she was born long enough after the mysterious disappearance of her mother Eliza's husband, David Poe, for questions to arise about the child's paternity. It has even been claimed that David's sister, Maria Poe Clemm, maintained that Rosalie was not the true child of either David or Eliza Poe. Intriguingly, when Rosalie was a child, a wealthy resident, Joseph Gallego, died and left a will bequeathing the then enormous sum of 2,000 dollars for Rosalie' maintenance.
  • Poe's parents die

    The greatest achievement of Edgar Allan Poe's father is that he managed the considerable feat of having a death even more mysterious than that of his famous son.
    Actress, Literary Folk Figure. A noted thespian of her day, she is better remembered as the mother of Edgar Allen.
  • Poe writes his first poem

    This small, slender, paper-bound volume of about 40 pages was the inauspicious beginning of Poe’s career as a poet. It was published about June or July of 1827, and received almost no notice at all during Poe’s lifetime
  • Poe's enlists in the army and soon after his book is published

    January 28, 1831, a court-martial tried a young cadet at the U.S. Military Academy on charges of gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders. Sergeant Major Edgar Allan Poe was found guilty of both charges and discharged from the service of the United States only six months after he had arrived at the academy.
  • Poe's older brother dies

    William Henry Leonard Poe, often referred to as Henry Poe, was a sailor, amateur poet.
  • Poe marries his thirt year old cousin.

    The couple were first cousins and married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27
  • Poe writes his first novel

    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, his only novel, has captured the attention of generations of readers with its action-packed plot, imaginative use of symbol and myth, depiction of cannibalism, and numerous unusual occurrences.
  • Poe's story collection is published in two volumes

    The collection was dedicated to Colonel William Drayton, anonymous author of The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of the Northern Abolitionists
  • Poe publishes the poem The Raven

    "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. 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.
  • Poe's wife dies of tuberculosis

    In January 1842 she contracted tuberculosis, growing worse for five years until she died of the disease at the age of 24.
  • Edgar Allan Poe dies

    The death of the author is surrounded in mystery. 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.