Edgar Allan Poe By Brad Kaylor

About Edgar Allan Poe » Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, where his mother had been employed as an actress. Elizabeth Arnold Poe died in Richmond on December 8, 1811, and Edgar was taken into the family of John Allan, a member of the firm of Ellis and Allan, tobacco- merchants

Where Poe Lived This is the 1840s home of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America's finest and most influential writers. The small brick house now connected to 530 North Seventh Street was Poe's home, During the entire six years ( ) that Poe lived in Philadelphia, he attained his greatest successes as an editor and critic, and he published some of his most famous tales, including, "The Gold Bug," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". Of his several Philadelphia homes, only this one survives. It serves as a tangible link with Poe and his days of greatness in Philadelphia. The life and work of Edgar Allan Poe are portrayed in this three building complex. The site became part of the National Park System on November 10, 1978.

Poe’s Work’s The Masque of the Red Death Published 1838The Masque of the Red Death The Cask of Amontillado Published 1847The Cask of Amontillado The Tell-Tale Heart Published 1843The Tell-Tale Heart The Murders in the Rue Morgue Published 1841The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Fall of the House of Usher Published 1839The Fall of the House of Usher The Raven Published 1845The Raven

The Later Life of Poe In 1836 Poe married Virginia Clemm, then only 13, and in 1837 they went to New York City, where he published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838). From 1838 to 1844, Poe lived in Philadelphia, where he edited Burton's Gentleman's Magazine (1839–40) and Graham's Magazine (1841–42). His criticism, which appeared in these magazines and in the Messenger, was direct and incisive and made him a respected and feared critic. Some of his magazine stories were collected as Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840). At that time he also began writing mystery stories. In 1844, Poe moved back to New York, where he worked on the Evening Mirror and later edited and owned the Broadway Journal. The Raven and Other Poems (1845) won him fame as a poet both at home and abroad. In 1846 he moved to the Fordham cottage (now a museum) and there wrote “The Literati of New York City” for Godey's Lady's Book. His wife died in 1847, and by the following year Poe was courting the poet Sarah Helen Whitman. However, in 1849 he returned to Richmond and became engaged to Elmira Royster, a childhood sweetheart who was by then the widowed Mrs. Shelton. On his way north to bring Mrs. Clemm to the wedding, he became involved in a drinking debauch in Baltimore. This indulgence proved fatal, for he died a few days later. Whitman

Grave Site In 1849, Poe revisited Richmond, and was able to become engaged to his first love, Elmira Royster. Returning to Baltimore, he was found unconscious on a Baltimore street, and died "of congestion of the brain" according to the local newspapers. Popular lore states that he died of alcoholism, however, some claim that he died from exposure or from encephalitis. In 1875, a group of local school children donated a grave stone for him.