Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, to English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Poe and Baltimore Actor David Poe Jr. but he was taken in by his alleged godfather, John Allen, after his parents' deaths around 1811. From 1815-1820, Poe went to Scotland and England to begin his classical education, which he continued upon his return and acceptance into the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. However, his love of gambling incurred a heavy debt, and Poe was expelled after a year. He moved to Boston and joined the military around 1827 under the alias Edgar A. Perry, and he received an honorable discharge after achieving the rank of regimental sergeant major in 1829.
During that time, Poe released his first collection of works, Tamerlaine, and other Poems, but it remained unnoticed until 1829, when he re-released it under Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and other poems. He published his third collection, Poems, in 1831, and spent the next few years writing stories that appeared in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier and the Baltimore Saturday Visitor.
In 1834, Poe accepted an editorship at the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, the first of several journals that Poe would direct over the next ten years and which would launch him into society as a man of letters.
In 1836, Poe married his cousin Virginia, who was 14 at the time. They remained married until her death in 1847, after which Poe enjoyed many romantic affairs. He was eventually engaged once more, but it wouldn't last because, on October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found wandering Baltimore in a state of semi-consciousness, and he never regained enough lucidity to explain what happened to him. He died on October 7th, 1849, and his cause of death is unknown to this day.
To learn more about this author and his works, check out the link above, or visit The Poetry Foundation.
Poems read in this podcast are Eldorado, Spirits of the Dead, Annabel Lee, Alone, and The Raven
