You may know that Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher but did you know that . . .

1 – Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston.  He died on October 7, 1849.

2 – His parents were both actors. In fact, Poe may have been named after a character in King Lear. His parents performed the play the year of Poe’s birth.

3 – Poe’s father abandoned the family in 1810. Sadly, Poe’s mother passed away in 1811. Edgar was raised by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia.

4 – In 1835 Poe married Virginia Clemm, his first cousin.  She was thirteen-year-old at the time.  They remained married until her death in 1847.

5 – Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre because of his work, The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

6 – Poe died in 1849 at the age of 40. The cause of his death is a mystery. Theories about the matter include alcohol, carbon monoxide poisoning, suicide and even rabies.

Partial List of Poe’s Work

• The Cask of Amontillado
• A Descent into the Maelstrom
• The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• The Gold-Bug
• Hop-Frog
• The Imp of the Perverse
• Ligeia
• The Masque of the Red Death
• Morella
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue
• The Oval Portrait
• The Pit and the Pendulum
• The Premature Burial
• The Purloined Letter
• The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
• The Tell-Tale Heart

More Edgar Allan Poe Information

• Quotes by Edgar Allan Poe
• Edgar Allan Poe Clothing and Poe-Themed Gift Items
• Edgar Allan Poe: The Fever Called Living – Biography
• Edgar Allan Poe, Complete Collection of Writing
• Poe Baltimore