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Edgar Allen Poe, Life and Death

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    Edgar Poe

  • Birth of Poe

    Birth of Poe
    Edgar Poe (the Allan came later) was born 19 January 1809 in Boston to Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe, Jr. (Shmoop)
  • Death of Poe's Mother

    Death of Poe's Mother
    On 8 December 1811, Elizabeth Poe died of tuberculosis in Richmond, Virginia. (Shmoop)
  • 1815-1820

    1815-1820
    From 1815 to 1820, the family lived in England, where young Edgar got a good education at a school outside of London. (Shmoop)
  • His first poem. (Did not say exact date)

    His first poem. (Did not say exact date)
    In 1824, when he was fifteen and back in Richmond, Poe penned his first poem: "Last night, with many cares & toils oppres'd,/ Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest." (Shmoop)
  • Poe enrolled to the University of Virginia.

    Poe enrolled to the University of Virginia.
    Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia in 1826, less than a year after the school founded by Thomas Jefferson first opened its doors to students. (Shmoop)
  • Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Poe was born in 1809 to two impoverished parents, orphaned at the age of two, and then adopted by a man named John Allan whom he never grew to love. For all of his problems, in the course of his relatively short life Poe revitalized American literature, producing perfectly crafted stories and poems while creating whole new genres (we have Poe to thank for the detective story, for example). (Shmoop)
  • Death Of His Cousin/Wife?

    Death Of His Cousin/Wife?
    On 30 January 1847, Virginia Clemm died of tuberculosis at the couple's home in the Bronx. (Shmoop)
  • Arrival in Baltimore.

    Arrival in Baltimore.
    Poe arrived in Baltimore on 28 September 1849. No one knows how he spent the next few days. On 3 October 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found in a Baltimore street (some reports say in a gutter), semi-conscious and wearing clothes that didn't fit him. He was taken to a hospital, where he spent four delirious days before perishing on 7 October 1849. He was 40 years old. (Shmoop)
  • Death Of Poe

    Death Of Poe
    He spent four delirious days before perishing on 7 October 1849. He was 40 years old. (Shmoop)