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Edgar Allan Poe: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was born on the 19th of January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, into a family of actors that seemed destined for tragedy before it had truly begun. His father, David Poe Jr., abandoned the family in 1810, leaving his wife Elizabeth and their two children to face a world without support. Just one year later, Elizabeth died of pulmonary tuberculosis, leaving the two-year-old Edgar an orphan in a city that offered him no safety net. He was taken in by John Allan, a wealthy merchant in Richmond, Virginia, who provided a home but never formally adopted him. This lack of legal recognition created a permanent fracture in Poe's identity, a wound that would fester throughout his life. The Allans were a family of contradictions; John Allan alternately spoiled his foster son and disciplined him with aggressive severity. The family moved to the United Kingdom in 1815, where Poe attended schools in Scotland and London, absorbing a European education that would later inform his dark, gothic sensibilities. When they returned to Richmond in 1820, the young Poe found himself in a house filled with wealth and tension, a place where he would eventually clash with his foster father over money and the future he was denied.
The Army and The First Book
Unable to support himself after leaving the University of Virginia, where he had been estranged from Allan over gambling debts and the loss of his sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster, Poe made a desperate decision on the 27th of May 1827. He enlisted in the United States Army under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry, claiming to be twenty-one when he was actually only eighteen. He served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month, a meager wage for a man who had already begun to write poetry. That same year, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, a 40-page volume attributed only to a Bostonian. Only 50 copies were printed, and the book received virtually no attention, a silent beginning to a career that would eventually echo across the globe. Poe rose to the rank of sergeant major for artillery, the highest rank a non-commissioned officer could achieve, yet he sought to end his five-year enlistment early. He revealed his true identity to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard, who promised an honorable discharge if Poe reconciled with Allan. The foster father, however, remained unsympathetic, ignoring Poe's pleas for months. When Frances Allan died on the 28th of February 1829, Poe visited the day after her burial, perhaps hoping for a change of heart. Allan agreed to support Poe's desire to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, but the relationship remained fragile, a thread stretched to its breaking point.
The West Point Rebellion
Common questions
When and where was Edgar Allan Poe born?
Edgar Allan Poe was born on the 19th of January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was born into a family of actors that seemed destined for tragedy before it had truly begun.
Why did Edgar Allan Poe leave the United States Military Academy at West Point?
Edgar Allan Poe left the United States Military Academy at West Point by intentionally getting court-martialed on the 8th of February 1831. He refused to attend formations, classes, and church to induce his dismissal from the academy.
How did Edgar Allan Poe die and when did his death occur?
Edgar Allan Poe died on Sunday, the 7th of October 1849, at 5:00 in the morning at Washington Medical College. The actual cause of his death remains a mystery, though newspapers reported congestion of the brain or cerebral inflammation.
Who wrote the false obituary that damaged Edgar Allan Poe's reputation after his death?
Edgar Allan Poe's literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote a slanted, high-profile obituary under the pseudonym Ludwig on the day Poe was buried. Griswold became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death.
When did Edgar Allan Poe marry his cousin Virginia Clemm?
Edgar Allan Poe and Virginia were officially married at a Presbyterian wedding ceremony on the 16th of May 1836. The ceremony was performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21.
Poe matriculated as a cadet at West Point on the 1st of July 1830, but the academy became the stage for his final rebellion against the man who had raised him. In October 1830, Allan married his second wife, Louisa Patterson, and the bitterness of Poe's situation intensified. He quarreled with Allan over children born to his foster father out of extramarital affairs, and the tension became unbearable. Poe decided to leave West Point by intentionally getting court-martialed. On the 8th of February 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing to attend formations, classes, and church. Knowing he would be found guilty, Poe pleaded not guilty to the charges to induce his dismissal. He left for New York in February 1831 and released a third volume of poems, simply titled Poems. The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, some of whom donated as much as 75 cents to the cause, raising approximately $170. The book was printed by Elam Bliss of New York and included previously unpublished poems, including To Helen and The City in the Sea. Poe returned to Baltimore and to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder brother Henry had been seriously ill for some time, in part due to complications resulting from alcoholism, and he died on the 1st of August 1831, leaving Poe alone once more.
The Critic and The Editor
After his brother's death, Poe's earnest attempts to make a living as a writer were mostly unsuccessful, yet he eventually managed to earn a living by his pen alone, becoming one of the first American authors to do so. His efforts were initially hampered by the lack of an international copyright law, which allowed American publishers to sell unauthorized copies of British works rather than pay for new work by Americans. In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, but Thomas W. White discharged him within a few weeks, allegedly for being drunk on the job. Poe returned to Baltimore, where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on the 22nd of September 1835, though it is unknown if they were actually married at that time. He was 26 and she was 13. Poe was reinstated by White after promising to improve his behavior, and he returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained at the Messenger until January 1837, during which time he claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500. He published several poems, many book reviews, critiques, essays, and articles, as well as a few stories. On the 16th of May 1836, he and Virginia were officially married at a Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21.
The Raven and The Fall
In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia, where he lived at five different residences between 1838 and 1844, one of which at 532 North 7th Street has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark. That same year, his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, was published and widely reviewed. In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, enhancing the reputation he had established at the Messenger as one of America's foremost literary critics. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal called The Stylus, although he originally intended to call it The Penn. However, Poe died before the journal could be produced. Poe left Burton's after a year and found a position as writer and co-editor at Graham's Magazine, which was a successful monthly publication. Around this time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the administration of John Tyler, claiming that he was a member of the Whig Party. He hoped to be appointed to the United States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from President Tyler's son Robert, an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Thomas. However, Poe failed to appear for a meeting with Thomas to discuss the appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to have been sick, though Thomas believed that he had been drunk. One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, or tuberculosis, while singing and playing the piano, which Poe described as the breaking of a blood vessel in her throat. She only partially recovered, and Poe is alleged to have begun to drink heavily due to the stress he suffered as a result of her illness.
The Death of Virginia
The Broadway Journal failed in 1846, and Poe then moved to a cottage in Fordham, New York, in the Bronx. That home, now known as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, was relocated in later years to a park near the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road. Nearby, Poe befriended the Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University. Virginia died at the cottage on the 30th of January 1847, a loss that left Poe increasingly unstable. He attempted to court the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior. There is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship. Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster. The death of his wife seemed to confirm the recurring theme in his work: the death of a beautiful woman. Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the death of a beautiful woman stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife. The cottage in Fordham became a place of mourning and isolation, where the man who had once been a rising star in the literary world retreated into a world of darkness and despair, his mind increasingly consumed by the loss of the only person who had truly loved him.
The Mysterious End
On the 3rd of October 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore, in great distress and in need of immediate assistance, according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, the 7th of October 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and why he was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name Reynolds on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, Lord help my poor soul. All of the relevant medical records have been lost, including Poe's death certificate. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as congestion of the brain or cerebral inflammation, common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, carbon monoxide poisoning, and rabies. One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's death resulted from cooping, a form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder. The circumstances of his death have fueled speculation and myth for over a century, leaving the true story of his final days lost to the fog of history.
The Shadow of Griswold
Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote a slanted, high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that cast Poe as a lunatic. The long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune, signed, Ludwig, on the day Poe was buried in Baltimore. It was further published throughout the country. The obituary began, Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it. Ludwig was soon identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, and anthologist who had borne a grudge against Poe since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death. Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called Memoir of the Author, which he included in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There he depicted Poe as a depraved, drunken, drug-addled madman, including some of Poe's letters as evidence. Many of his claims were either outright lies or obvious distortions; for example, there is little to no evidence that Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, including John Neal, who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a Rhadamanthus, who is not to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of newspaper notoriety. Griswold's book nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical source. This was in part because it was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an evil man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof were later revealed as forgeries, yet the damage was done, and the image of the mad poet persisted for decades.