The Life of Edgar Allen Poe

By 18sagarwal

  • Birth

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, MA on January 19, 1809

  • Parents Separate

    Edgar Allan Poe's parents separate and his mother took him and his siblings

  • Poe's Mom Dies

  • Allans adopt Poe

  • Attends English school

    Goes to School in England

  • Returns To America

    Five years after leaving America for England, the Allans return to Richmond, Virginia.

  • First Poem

    A fifteen-year-old Edgar Allan Poe pens his first known poem: "Last night, with many cares & toils oppres'd,/ Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest."

  • College

    Poe enrolls in Virginia University, halfway through the year, and only a year after it opened.

  • Drops out of School

    Poe drops out of school because John Allan didn't provide him with enough money.

  • Joins Army

    Poe cannot support himself, so he enlists in the army under the name Edgar A. Perry

  • Published Author

    Poe publishes Tamerlane and Other Poems

  • Death of Foster Mother

    Frances Allan dies

  • West Point

    Poe is appointed to West Point

  • Kicked out of West Point

  • Death of Brother

  • Death of John Allan

    John Allan dies and leaves Edgar with nothing from his will

  • Southern Literary Messenger

    Poe takes a job as editor of the Southern Literary Messenger magazine. He publishes critical reviews of other writers' work as well as his own stories and poems.

  • Marriage

    Poe, 27, marries his 13-year old cousin Virginia Clemm in Richmond, Virginia

  • First Book Published

    Poe's first novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, is published.

  • Magazine Editor

    Poe is hired as an editor at Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, a job he holds until June 1840.

  • Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque

    Poe's story collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is published in two volumes.

  • Virginia Is Sick

    While singing at the piano, Virginia begins to bleed from her mouth, a symptom of untreated tuberculosis. Her illness grows progressively worse.

  • Lectures

    Poe becomes a very popular lecturer on poetry

  • Moves To New York

    Poe, his wife, and her mother move to New York City, where he gets a job at the New York Evening Mirror.

  • The Raven

    The Raven is published and is a huge success

  • Death of Wife

    Virginia Clemm dies

  • Death