Edgar Allan Poe is one of history’s most iconic literary figures. Famous for his horror tales and melancholic poetry, Poe was also an early pioneer of the short story form and other literary genres – such as detective and science fiction.
However, Poe’s sad, strange, and sometimes disturbing personal life is also one of the reasons why he maintains a spellbinding hold over readers to this day. From his tragic childhood to his mysterious death, this much-mythologised author’s life is just as captivating as some of his most outlandish stories.
With this in mind, we’ve pulled together some of our favourite facts about Edgar Allan Poe.
1. Edgar was an orphan
In 1809, in Boston Massachusetts, Edgar Allan Poe was born to travelling actors Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe, Jr.
David abandoned the family soon after Edgar’s birth (and died soon after that), while Elizabeth passed away from tuberculosis when he was two or three. Edgar and his two siblings were separated.
He was sent to live with John Allan, a wealthy merchant, and his wife Frances, in Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, his younger sister, Rosalie, was adopted by another couple from Richmond, and his older brother, Henry, was sent to live with their paternal grandparents in Baltimore.
2. Edgar was heavily influenced by Lord Byron
When Edgar was young, he identified closely with the English Romantic poet Lord Byron. Famously referred to as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”, Byron was a wildly popular and controversial writer who cultivated an image of a misunderstood artist at odds with the rest of the world.
Byron had a massive influence on Edgar, not just on his early work, but also on the image he projected to the world. Edgar even told people that he’d tried to join the Greek Wars of Independence as his idol had done, but this wasn’t true.
Edgar Allan Poe
3. Edgar was a gambler at university
After attending a prestigious boarding school in Richmond, and even moving briefly with the Allans to England and Scotland as a boy, Edgar went off to study at the University of Virginia.
However, the famous writer-to-be didn’t last long in higher education. His foster father pulled him out after eleven months when he learned that Edgar had racked up $2,000 worth of gambling debt.
To make matters worse, Edgar returned to Richmond to find that his childhood sweetheart, Elmira, was engaged to someone else. However, they would rekindle their romance later on in life.
4. Edgar served in the military
Needing money (which John Allan wouldn’t provide), Edgar joined the army under the pseudonym ‘Edgar A. Perry’ when he was 18. Over the next couple of years, he rose to the rank of sergeant major.
From there, Edgar went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. But he soon grew restless and wanted to pursue literature full-time, only his foster father wouldn’t grant his resignation.
Instead, Poe became extremely neglectful of his duties and was court-martialled and expelled from the academy.
5. Edgar published his first book at the age of 18
While Edgar had written extensively as a child, he anonymously published his first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems, at the age of 18.
However, it wasn’t until 1835 – when his short story, ‘MS. Found in a Bottle’, won a competition in a Baltimore newspaper – that he began to attract critical attention. This also led to an editing job for the Southern Literary Messenger back in Richmond, where he cut his teeth as a scathing critic and reviewer.
An illustration for ‘MS. Found in a Bottle’
6. Poe made lots of enemies
Throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe made plenty of enemies, many of which were a direct result of his unflinching work as a critic and a reviewer.
For example, Poe accused several well-known writers of plagiarism, including poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and The Scarlett Letter author Nathaniel Hawthorne.
7. The Baltimore Ravens were named after his poem
Edgar has left a lasting impression on the city of Baltimore, Maryland, where he spent the early years of his writing career.
In fact, the city’s American football team, which was founded in 1996, was even named after ‘The Raven’, his most famous poem. The name was chosen by fan vote, beating out the likes of the ‘Mauraders’ and the ‘Bombers’. As far as we can tell, it’s the only sports franchise named after a work of literature.
8. Edgar married his 13-year-old cousin
While working for the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe invited his aunt, Maria, and cousin, Virginia, to live with him in Richmond. Disturbingly, Poe soon married Virginia, who was 13 at the time, though the marriage certificate stated that she was 21. He was 27.
Virginia died of tuberculosis 14 years later. While Edgar had a few other romantic attachments in his life, many experts argue that his wife’s death took a major toll on his physical and mental health from which he never really recovered.
9. Edgar invented the modern detective story
While Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps best remembered for his horror and macabre stories, one of his most significant contributions to the world of literature is ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’. This is considered by many to be the first modern detective story, inspiring later generations of crime writers – from Raymond Chandler to Agatha Christie.
‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ features the very insightful but eccentric detective Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, who solves a tricky case, much to the bemusement of the police and his housemate (the narrator). This, and Poe’s other two Dupin stories, are a must-read for Sherlock Holmes fans.
10. Edgar was America’s first, full-time professional writer
While Edgar struggled financially for most of his adult life, he’s often cited as the first American writer to live entirely on the profits of his writing.
11. Edgar only wrote one novel
Most of Edgar Allan Poe’s enduring classics are short in form – either poetry or short stories. However, he did write a novel – The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket – an adventure tale with hints of the supernatural.
Though Poe’s only novel was a critical and commercial failure, it inspired generations of works to come – including Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
12. The circumstances of Edgar’s death are a mystery
On September 27th, 1849, Poe boarded a ship from Baltimore to Richmond. He was heading to New York to collect his aunt/mother-in-law and bring her to live with him and his childhood sweetheart – and now fiancé – Elmira.
Nothing is known about Poe’s whereabouts until October 3rd when he was discovered in a Baltimore bar, apparently drunk and wearing somebody else’s clothes. He was taken to hospital, and, over the next few days, the scribe fluctuated between states of delirium and lucidity, consciousness and unconsciousness, before eventually dying on October 7th.
There are plenty of theories surrounding his death – as many as 26 have been published, according to the Poe Museum. One of his doctors claimed he was drunk, while another said he’d drunk nothing. Some speculate that he was attacked by thugs, while others even suggest rabies was to blame. Either way, the true cause remains a mystery to this day.
13. Edgar’s literary rival wrote a scathing obituary after his death
A few days after Edgar’s death, Rufus Griswold – another longtime professional enemy – published an obituary in the New-York Daily Tribune under the pseudonym ‘Ludwig’. It was a scathing piece, which painted him as a drunken, drug-addicted madman, and tarnished his reputation for years to follow.
It begins…
“EDGAR ALLAN POE is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it. The poet was well known, personally or by reputation, in all this country; he had readers in England, and in several of the states of Continental Europe; but he had few or no friends.”
Griswold spent the last eight years of his own life still trying to destroy Poe’s public image. Interestingly, a portrait of Poe – which, according to the Huff Post, Griswold stole from Poe’s aunt/mother-in-law – was found in his room after his death.
14. The ‘Poe Toaster’ left flowers and booze at Edgar’s grave for 60 years
One of the most intriguing mysteries surrounding Edgar Allan Poe didn’t arise while he was alive, or even shortly after his death, but 100 years later.
For 60 years, between 1949 and 2009, a mysterious person cloaked in black began visiting Poe’s grave just before dawn on his birthday. The figure would leave a bottle of cognac, three red roses, and sometimes even a note.
Some people waited every year to watch the clandestine figure – he was even photographed kneeling at the grave – but no one uncovered his identity.
Though the true toastings stopped in 2009, the Maryland Historical Society selected someone new to continue the tradition in 2016.
15. Edgar’s spirit supposedly wrote poems after his death
Fourteen years after Edgar’s death, Lizzie Doten, a writer and spiritualist, published a volume of poems called Poems from the Inner Life. It contained verses that Doten claimed were dictated to her by Edgar’s ghost. She describes her experience interacting with him from beyond the grave in the introduction to the book…
“The influence of Poe was neither pleasant nor easy. I can only describe it as a species of mental intoxication. I was tortured with a feeling of great restlessness and irritability, and strange, incongruous images crowded my brain. Some were bewildering and dazzling as the sun, others dark and repulsive. Under his influence, particularly, I suffered the greatest exhaustion of vital energy, so much so, that after giving one of his poems, I was usually quite ill for several days.”
16. Edgar inspired Alfred Hitchcock
Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on literature has been immense. From Franz Kafka and Charles Baudelaire to H.P. Lovecraft and Jules Verne, Poe’s wildly varied writings have inspired legions of our favourite authors.
However, it’s not just writers that have been influenced by Poe. In fact, Hollywood legend Alfred Hitchcock once said, “It’s because I liked Edgar Allan Poe’s stories so much that I began to make suspense films.” So, if you’re a fan of Psycho, The Birds, or any of Hitchcock’s other cinematic masterpieces, you may have Edgar Allan Poe to thank.
Final thoughts…
From his bitter professional rivalries to his innovative contributions to literature, there’s little wonder why Edgar Allan Poe is still considered one of history’s most iconic writers.
Hopefully, these facts can shed some light on the man behind morbid tales like ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and gothic verses like ‘The Raven’, and give us a better understanding of why people are still fascinated with him to this day.
To learn more about some of your favourite authors, why not head over to our books and literature section? Here, you’ll find articles on influential scribes from history like Jane Austen and interviews with contemporary writers like Kate Mosse and Barabara Erskine.
Did you enjoy any of these facts? Or do you have your own facts about Edgar Allan Poe that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.