Born in Boston in 1809, Edgar Poe was the child of actor David Poe, Jr. and actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. David Poe abandoned the family in 1810 and Elizabeth died a year later from tuberculosis.
Poe became the foster child of John Allan, a merchant living in Richmond, Virginia, and his wife Frances Valentine Allan. They added Allan to Poe's name.
Poe attended the University of Virginia in 1826, but left after a year because of gambling debts. He then entered the United States army for two years before moving to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter Virginia (Poe's first cousin).
In 1835, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin, who was then 13.
Poe made little money from his writing and worked as an editor and critic to pay the bills.
After the death of his wife, Virginia, in 1847, from tuberculosis, Poe's drinking increased and his behavior became more erratic.
In 1849 he was found in the street in Baltimore in need of medical attention. He died at Washington Medical College on October 7, 1849. His death was reported as "congestion of the brain". The true cause of his death is still disputed.
The following poem, "Annabel Lee", was his final poem, published only days after his death. Many believe that the woman mentioned in the poem is his wife, Virginia.
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee--
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me--
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we--
Of many far wiser than we--
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the sounding sea.