Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (2 page)

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The next year Poe returned to Richmond and assumed the editorship of the
Southern Literary Messenger,
in which he published his own stories and acerbic critical reviews. He married his fourteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836. In 1837 he left the
Messenger.
Barely supporting his family as an editor, Poe was nonetheless a prolific writer and critic. He enjoyed some literary success with the publication of
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
(1838) and his two-volume
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque
(1840), which included “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “William Wilson.” He worked as an editor for
Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine
in Philadelphia, and in 1841 he joined the editorial staff of
Graham’s Magazine,
which published “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” a work that heralded a new literary genre, the modern detective story. Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of Red Death” were published in 1842, followed by “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1843. That same year Poe’s tale “The Gold-Bug” won a fiction contest sponsored by a Philadelphia newspaper, bringing him greater renown.
Poe moved his family to New York in 1844 and took an editing position with the
Evening Mirror.
In January 1845, his most famous poem, “The Raven,” appeared in the
Mirror,
propelling him into the circles of New York’s literati. But none of his successes brought him financial security or lasting happiness. In February 1845, he became editor of the new
Broadway Journal;
but the journal folded in 1846, and Poe’s young wife succumbed to tuberculosis in 1847. The next year Poe seemed to rally, giving lectures and courting the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, though she later broke off their engagement.
In 1849 Poe began a lecture tour to raise funds for a new magazine. On his way from Richmond to New York, he stopped in Baltimore, where he was found on the night of October 3 nearly unconscious in the street. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849. Various accounts were given of Poe’s last days, but the cause of his death remains a mystery.
The World of Edgar Allan Poe
1809
Edgar Poe is born in Boston on January 19, the second child of David and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, both traveling stage actors. James Madison becomes the fourth president of the United States. Washington Irving publishes
A History of New York
...
by Diedrich Knickerbocker.
Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson are born.
1810 1811
Apparently deserted by her husband, Elizabeth moves to Rich mond. Her oldest son, William Henry, lives with relatives in Baltimore, Maryland. Edgar’s sister, Rosalie Poe, is born in Norfolk, Virginia. On December 8 Elizabeth Poe dies at the age of twenty-four, possibly of tuberculosis. David Poe, also ill and perhaps unaware of his wife’s death, apparently dies two days later in Norfolk. Rosalie is adopted into the home of William Mackenzie, while Edgar is taken into the household of John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant. His wife, Frances, who attended Elizabeth Poe’s sickbed, takes pity on the or phaned boy and convinces her husband to take the child into their home as a ward. Although they raise him as their own, the Allans never formally adopt young Edgar.
1812
Edgar is baptized and, with the Allans presumably acting as his godparents, christened as Edgar Allan Poe. Charles Dick ens is born. Lord Byron publishes
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.
The United States declares war on Britain.
1815
Edgar moves with the Allan family to England, where, after a tour of Scotland, they settle in London. John Allan opens a London branch of his business, which soon prospers.
1816
Edgar attends the London boarding school of the Misses Dubourg. Samuel Taylor Coleridge publishes
Kubla Khan.
Jane Austen publishes
Emma.
1818
Edgar moves to the boarding school of the Reverend John Bransby in London, where he studies Latin and dancing. He is
an accomplished but lonely student. The U.S.-Canadian bor der is formalized. Mary Shelley publishes
Frankenstein.
1819
Following the collapse of the London tobacco market, John Allan’s London business closes under the strain of unpaid debts. The S.S.
Savannah
becomes the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic. Walt Whitman and Herman Melville are born. Walter Scott publishes
Ivanhoe.
1820
The Allans return to America, arriving in New York in July be fore continuing on to Richmond. Maine and Missouri enter the Union under the Missouri Compromise.
1821
Edgar enrolls in the school of Joseph H. Clarke. He begins writing poetry, composing one of his earliest surviving poems, “O, Tempora! O, Mores!”
1823
He attends a school run by William Burke. U.S. President James Monroe presents Congress with the Monroe Doctrine, a policy intended to curtail European encroachment into the Western Hemisphere.
1824
Edgar transforms his fragile physique and excels in athletics, including boxing, running, and swimming; in the summer, he swims 6 miles up the James River. He joins the Richmond Junior Volunteers, becoming a lieutenant and participating in a military review by General Lafayette during his tour of America.
1825
Edgar enters the school of Dr. Ray Thomas. John Allan inherits a sizable fortune from an uncle and purchases a mansion in downtown Richmond called Moldavia.
1826
Poe enrolls in the University of Virginia, where he studies an cient and modern languages. He gains a favorable reputation in the Jefferson Society debating club and continues to distin guish himself as an athlete. The fledgling university is, at times, a violent and depraved setting. Poe witnesses riots and assaults, and amasses large gambling debts. He pursues an epistolary romance with Elmira Royster but is rebuffed by her father. Tension between Poe and John Allan grows, partly be cause of Poe’s gambling debts, which exceed $2,000. Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and founder of the University of Virginia, dies.
1827
The feud between Poe and John Allan reaches a peak. Poe moves out of his surrogate father’s home and returns to the city of his birth. In Boston, he enlists for a five-year tour in the U.S. Army using the alias “Edgar A. Perry.” Under the pseudo
nym “A Bostonian,” Poe publishes a collection of Byronic poetry,
Tamerlane and Other Poems.
In the fall, Poe’s company is transferred to South Carolina.
1828
Poe’s company is stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He sends letters to John Allan seeking reconciliation. Andrew Jackson is elected U.S. president. Noah Webster publishes the
American Dictionary of the English Language.
Jules Verne is born.
1829
On New Year’s Day, Poe is promoted to sergeant-major. In February, Frances Allan dies, and Poe returns to Richmond, arriving the day following her funeral. Poe and John Allan rec oncile. Poe is released from the army and applies for entrance to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His admission is delayed, and he travels to Baltimore, where he finds a pub lisher for his second book of poems,
Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.
Mexico abolishes slavery.
1830
In the spring, Poe is admitted to West Point, where he distin guishes himself in his studies and is well liked by his fellow cadets. Yet tensions between him and John Allan rise again after Allan marries Louisa Gabriella Patterson, a woman twenty years his junior. John Allan stops supporting Poe fi nancially. The young man resolves to leave West Point and ceases to attend classes or church services. Emily Dickinson is born.
1831
Poe is court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from West Point. He travels to New York, where he publishes
Poems.
Poe returns to Baltimore, where he lives among his father’s family and reunites with his elder brother, William Henry, whose health is poor; William Henry dies on August 1. Poe enters the
Philadelphia Saturday Courier’s
fiction contest. He does not win the prize, but his work is praised. William Lloyd Garrison begins to publish his abolitionist newspaper, the
Lib erator.
Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion. The population of the United States is nearly 13 million.
1832
The
Saturday Courier
publishes five of Poe’s stories: “Met zengerstein,” “The Bargain Lost” (later revised as “Bon-Bon”), “Duke de L‘Omelette,” “A Decided Loss” (later revised as “Loss of Breath”), and “A Tale of Jerusalem.” Horatio Alger and Louisa May Alcott are born.
1833
Poe’s “MS. Found in a Bottle” wins a writing contest sponsored by a weekly Baltimore newspaper, the
Saturday Visiter.
Poe’s repeated attempts to reconcile with John Allan are met
with uncompromising resistance. Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
1834
John Allan dies in Richmond on March 27. Before his death, Allan had written Poe out of his will, and the financially des perate young writer receives nothing from Allan’s large estate.
1835
Poe moves to Richmond, where he becomes editor of the
Southern Literary Messenger.
Poe’s critical reviews and stories begin to appear in the journal, including “Berenice,” “King Pest,” and “Morella.” Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is born. P. T. Barnum gives his first exhibition.
1836
Poe marries his fourteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm on May 16. He contributes many blunt, often scathing reviews to the
Southern Literary Messenger
and gains a reputation as a fearless critic. Davy Crockett is killed at the Alamo.
1837
Poe leaves the
Southern Literary Messenger,
possibly because of alcohol abuse, and takes Virginia and her mother to live in New York City. Chapters of
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
are published in the
Messenger.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
Twice-Told Tales
is an American bestseller.
1838
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym,
Poe’s only novel, is pub lished in New York by Harper and Brothers. His tale “Ligeia” is published in the
American Museum.
Poe moves his family to Philadelphia.
1839
Poe becomes an assistant editor for
Burton’s Gentleman’s Mag azine.
He begins to write essays on cryptography (a life-long interest) and publishes “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “William Wilson” in
Burton’s.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow publishes “Hyperion.” Abner Doubleday organizes the first game of baseball.
1840
Lea and Blanchard, a Philadelphia publisher, releases Poe’s
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.
Poe is fired from
Burton’s.
He serializes the novel
The Journal of Julius Rodman
in
Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine.
James Fenimore Cooper’s
The Pathfinder
is an American bestseller.
1841
Poe works as an editor for
Graham’s Magazine,
in which he publishes “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” generally considered the first modern detective story. Poe corresponds with James Fenimore Cooper. President William Henry Harrison dies a month after his inauguration and is succeeded by Vice President John Tyler. Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes his first collection of essays. The U.S. population reaches 17 million.
1842
Poe meets Charles Dickens, who publishes American Notes this year. Virginia begins to show symptoms of tuberculosis. Poe publishes “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of the Red Death.”
1843
The
United States Saturday
Post publishes “The Black Cat,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” appears in James Russell Lowell’s new literary journal, the
Pioneer.
Poe’s story “The Gold-Bug” wins a $100 prize from a Philadelphia newspaper and brings him wider renown. Henry James is born. The U.S. Congress commissions Samuel Morse to build the first telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore.
1844
Poe moves his family to New York City, where he finds a position with the
Evening Mirror.
1845
“The Raven” appears in the
Evening Mirror
on January 29. In February, Poe becomes an editor for the fledgling
Broadway Journal.
The New York publisher Wiley and Putnam issues Poe’s
Tales
and
The Raven and Other Poems.
1846
Virginia Poe’s tuberculosis worsens, and the
Broadway Journal
ceases publication. Poe moves his family to Fordham, New York. He writes “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Philos ophy of Composition:’ American troops annex New Mexico after negotiations for the territory’s purchase break down. The Smithsonian Institution is founded in Washington. Melville publishes
Typee.
1847
Virginia Poe dies on January 30.
1848
Poe lectures on the nature of the universe and writes
Eureka: A Prose Poem.
He courts poet Sarah Helen Whitman; when he fails to abstain from drinking, she calls off the engagement. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the
Communist Man ifesto.
Discovery of gold sparks the first California gold rush.
1849
Poe begins a lecture tour to raise money for a new magazine, to be called the
Stylus.
He returns to Richmond and attempts to rekindle a romance with his first love, Elmira Royster Shelton. In August he joins the Sons of Temperance, vowing to abstain from alcohol. Traveling back to New York, Poe stops in Balti more, where, on October 3, he is discovered delirious and nearly unconscious in the street. Edgar Allan Poe dies on Octo ber 7, 1849.

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