About the Author

Born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, to itinerant actors, Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned at the age of three. He was adopted by young merchant, John Allan, who lived with his family in Richmond, Virginia. After a stormy adolescence, Poe attended the University of Virginia, where, in spite of gambling sprees and bouts of heavy drinking, he did well in his studies. After his freshman year, however, his gambling debts led to a quarrel with his stepfather, who then refused to support him. Poe left school and served in the army from 1827 to 1829. Later, he attended West Point but was expelled for failure to observe military discipline and academy policies. He then began a careeer as an editor, reporter, and reviewer while writing poetry and short stories on his own time. In 1836 he married Virginia Clemm, his thirteen-year-old cousin; the marriage ended tragically with her death from tuberculosis in 1837. In 1849 he was found unconscious in a street in Baltimore, and he died the next day.

Major works by Poe

"The Gold Bug"
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
"The Tell-Tale Heart" "The Fall of the House of Usher"
"The Cask of Amontillado"

Poe and the Web

To read virtually any poem by Edgar Allan Poe, visit the site of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, and click on whatever poem suits your fancy!

Would you like to read a letter Poe wrote to Virginia Clemm, the young cousin who would become his wife? Read his letter from August 29, 1835.

Click on this link to see a cartoon of Edgar Allan Poe that pokes fun at the creative process behind his poem, "The Raven."

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