Edgar Allan Poe Quick Facts

Edgar Allan Poe

A 19^th Century American poet , critic, and short-story writer

Full Name: Edgar Allan Poe
Birth: January 19, 1809
Death: October 07, 1849
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts
Place of Death: Baltimore, Maryland
Cause of death: Unknown
Buried at: Westminster Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Father: David Poe, Jr. (1784 –1811)
Mother: Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe (1787 –1811)
Foster Father: John Allan (1779-1834)
Foster Mother: Frances Keeling Valentine Allan (1785–1829)
Siblings: One elder brother: William Henry Leonard Poe (1807–1831), and one younger sister: Rosalie Poe (1810–1874)
Marriage: September 22, 1835
Spouse: Virginia Clemm
Children: None
Education: University of Virginia, U.S. Military Academy at West Point
Known for: initiating the modern detective story
Criticised for: drug and alcohol abuse
Influences: was filled with tragedies that all influenced his craft.
Influenced: Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867), Jules Verne (1828 – 1905) and H. P. Lovecraft (1890 – 1937)

Quote:

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."
Edger Allan Poe, "The Raven"

Major Themes:

Death
Insanity
The subconscious self
The double self
Curiosity
Impermanence and uncertainty
Obsession
Nature
The human imagination
Hope and despair
Love and hate
The power of human resolve

Notable Works:

Poetry Collections

Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)
Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829)
Lenore (1843)
The Raven and Other Poems (1845)
Ulalume (1847)
Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848)
Annabel Lee (1849)

Fiction

Berenice (1835)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1939)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)
The Masque of the Red Death (1842)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)
The Black Cat (1843)
The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)
The Purloined Letter (1845)
The Cask of Amontillado (1846)
The Oval Portrait (1850)
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1850)

Did You Know?

His parents were actors.
Both of his parents died of tuberculosis.
He was born the same year as Abraham Lincoln.
His parents died when he was only 3 years old.
At the age of 26 he married his 13 year old cousin Virginia Clemm.
During marriage Virginia listed her age as 21 on the marriage certificate.
Virginia was the biggest source of Poe’s literary inspiration.
Poe usually wrote with cats sitting on his shoulder.
Many critics ascribe him as the "Father of the Detective Story".
Poe has been called the American Shakespeare.
His undoubted masterpiece The Raven is attributed to the death of his wife.
He was paid only 9 dollars for The Raven.
He attempted suicide in 1848.
He died at the age of 40.
During death his last words were "Lord, help my poor soul".
Poe never had financial success in his lifetime.
His poetry collection Tamerlane and Other Poems was published anonymously at his own expense, but it failed to attract notice.
On Nov 1824, Poe wrote his first notable poem “Last night, with many cares & toils oppres'd,/ Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest."
On Jul 1838, Poe's first novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, was published.
He is buried next to his mother-in-law and his wife.
He joined the army under the false name Edgar A. Perry.
Poe was found half dead on a street; the cause of his death was unknown it was either too much alcohol, a heart attack, murder, rabies or various diseases.
Poe established the detective genre with his The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841's).
Poe assaulted Longfellow in written by calling him a plagiarist.
Poe is assumed to have been named after character in William Shakespeare's King Lear, a play in which his parents performed in 1809.
By 1843 Poe’s financial condition worsen to such an extent that he had to stand on the street for asking money from people.
The Baltimore Ravens football team is named after Poe's poem The Raven.
John Allan, his foster father was against Poe’s ambition to become a writer.
John Allan was so disappointed with Poe that he excluded him from his will.
Majority of his works were inspired by his life.
Poe drank excess in numerous occasions in his life.
Most of the houses that he lived in are now museums.
As he did not receive sufficient money from John Allan to continue his study at University of Virginia, Poe resorted to gambling to cover that expense.
After his demise his literary opponent Rufus Griswold sought to violate Poe’s reputation by writing a false biography.
On Feb 28, 1829 Poe's foster mother, Frances Allan dies in Richmond.
On Aug 1, 1831 Poe's older brother Henry died of either tuberculosis or cholera.
Poe hardly used his middle name as he had a bad relationship with his foster father.
On January 30, 1847, Virginia Poe died of tuberculosis.
On November 1848, Poe proposed to a poet named Sarah Helen Whitman, who agreed on the condition that he should quit drinking. A month later Whitman cancelled the engagement as Poe failed to keep his promise.
On August 1849, Engaged Again with his childhood beloved Elmira Royster Shelton.
The death of his mother, foster mother and wife provided him inspiration him to write poems and short stories.

References

“Edgar Allan Poe.”. Wikipedia. 2013. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 April 2012

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe>.

“Edgar Allan Poe.” Biography. 1996–2013. A+E Television Networks, LLC. 5 April 2012

< http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160>.

“Edgar Allan Poe Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2013.

Advameg, Inc. 5 April 2012

<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Poe-Edgar-Allan.html>.

“5 interesting facts on Edgar Allan Poe.” Raul Gomez. 2013. Raul Gomez. 5 April 2012

<http://testtubebabei.tripod.com/raulgomez/id10.html>.

“5 Things You Didn't Know About Edgar Allan Poe.” 2012. Mental Floss.

Mental Floss. 5 April 2012

< http://mentalfloss.com/article/26905/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-edgar-allan-poe>.

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