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Edgar Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts.
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In 1811, his mother died and the children became orphans.
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In 1815, Edgar went to Richmond, Virginia, to live with John and Francis Allan.
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In 1827, he published a forty-page booklet called "Tamerlane and Other Poems", which ultimately proved a failure.
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Edgar left the house to live on his own and enlisted in the U.S. Army for a five-year term. He served under the name Edgar A. Perry.
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In 1831, he published Poems by Edgar Allan
Poe and began to submit short stories to magazines. -
In 1833, Edgar received a prize for his work entitled "Ms. Found in a Bottle," and a
friend got him a job working for the Southern Literary Messenger. -
In 1835, Poe married with Virginia and moved to Richmond.
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In 1837, he stopped working at the magazine and moved to New York City.
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In 1838, he moved to Philadelphia and started
working as coeditor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. -
In 1839, Poe published a collection of stories.
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In 1841, Poe started a new genre of detective fiction with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
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Poe won a literary prize in 1843 for "The Gold Bug," a tale of secret codes and hunting treasure. He also published a short story called "The Tell-Tale Heart".
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In 1847, Poe’s wife became ill with tuberculosis and died. Edgar was devastated by the loss of his wife and started abusing alcohol. His depression intensified over the next few years.
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On October 7, 1849, he died, the actual cause of death
was never determined, though acute alcohol poisoning, meningitis, or even rabies, were thought to be possible causes of death.