A Poets View

Photo courtesy of www.richmondthenandnow.com

A Chronology

1809 - Edgar Allan Poe was born on January l9, 1809 to David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  His father David Poe disappears that same year and is never seen again.

1811 - In 1811 following his mother’s death at the early age of two, he is taken into the home of John Allan who was a merchant of Richmond.

1815 - Poe sails with the Allan’s to England in 1815 in order to attend school there.

1820 - In 1820 the Allan’s return to Richmond where John Allan’s business is in trouble and begins to fail.

1825 - John Allan, Poe’s guardian receives a large inheritance.

1826 - At age 17 Poe becomes engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster.  Poe attends the schools of ancient and modern languages at the University of Virginia.  He leaves late December that same year after accumulating considerable debts, supposedly from gambling which initiate an estrangement from John Allan.

1827 - Unable to pay any of his debts he assumes the name Henri Le Rennet and flies to Boston.  He then enters the army under the name Edgar A. Perry.  He publishes Tamerlane.  His fiance’ Sarah Royster marries A. B. Shelton.

1829 -  Francis Allan, John Allan’s wife passes away.  Poe then requests and receives an honorable discharge as sergeant major.  He then publishes Al Aaraaf. The favorable reviews he receives help him establish a reconciliation with John Allan.

1830 - Poe then moves in again with his foster father John Allan in Richmond.  He writes “To Helen” and is accepted by West Point.  John Allan remarries and finds a letter in which Poe states ” Mr. Allan is not very often sober” and as a result severs his relationship again with Poe.

1831 - Poe then arranges to be dismissed from West Point and gathers subscriptions to his poems which were published in April of that year and were written as a tribute to the US Corps of Cadets.  He then writes Israfel and begins to write stories intending them as satires of Blackwoods Magazine Gothic fiction with the results being the Tales of the Folio Club.

1833 - His attempts at reconciling with his ailing foster father John Allan are futile as Allan once again rejects him.  Poe wins a $50.00  prize from the Baltimore Saturday Visitor for his “Ms. Found in a Bottle.”

1835 - Poe begins writing reviews which are widely noticed and is hired as an editor for the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. The magazine thrives under Poe’s editorship.

1836 - Poe marries his cousin Virginia Clemm and is discharged as editor as a result of excessive drinking.

1839 - He moves to Philadelphia where he co-authors the book The Conchologist’s First Book.  He writes the Fall of the House of Usher and is hired as an associate editor of Burton’s Gentlemen’s Magazine.  He arranges for the publication of The Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.

1841 - He leaves Burton’s Magazine in hopes of starting his own Penn Magazine which never materializes.  Poe then writes The Murders of the Rue Morgue.”  Due to ill health and financial problems he suspends his plans for Penn and accepts an editorship with Graham’s Magazine and writes “A Descent into the Maelstrom.

1842 - Poe’s wife Virginia hemorrhages and informs him of the disease that will claim her life in five years.  He then leaves his editorship with Graham’s Magazine and writes “The Oval Portrait” (first titled “Life In Death”), “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and “The Masque of the Red Death.”  If these works had been published they would have been a two volume work titled “Phantasy Pieces.” Poe then publishes “The Tell Tale Heart.”

1843 - Poe wins $100.00 and enhances his reputation with the publication of “The Gold Bug” in the Dollar Newspaper.  He then publishes “The Conqueror Worm” and “The Black Cat.”  He attempts to publish ” The Prose Romances of Edgar Allan Poe” in serial form though his first installment does not sell.

1844 - Poe moves to New York, writes “The Purloined Letter” and joins the staff of N. P  Willis’ Mirror.  He writes and publishes “The Raven” which gives him immediate renown.

1846 -He writes “The Cask of Amontillado” and takes up residency in Fordham.  He and his wife both become ill.  He then writes Ulalume.

1847 - Poe’s beloved wife dies in January.  He, through unbearable grief writes “Eureka.”

1848 - He publishes Eureka and returns to Richmond to live.  He lectures in Lowell and Providence and becomes engaged to Helen Whitman who is a widow.

1849 - Poe writes “For Annie” and “Annabel Lee” which is his last piece of work.  He then again becomes engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster (his earliest sweetheart).  Poe, after many an illness dies on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore.

“Should you ever be drowned or hung, be sure and make note of your sensations” Edgar Allan Poe.

References: Th Unabridged Edgar Allan Poe and The Complete Poetry and Selected Criticism of Edgar Allan Poe.

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