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Edgar Allan Poe's Life
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Poe's parents die
His mom was first to die, and then his father passed. Poe and his sister, Rosalie, were adopted by different families. (www.shmoop.com) -
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Moves back to America
After spending five years of his life in England, Poe goes back to America.
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First Poem
At age 15, Poe writes his first poem. "Last night, with many cares & toils oppres'd,/ Weary, I laid me on a couch to rest." His poems would become much more twisted and dark as time went on. (www.shmoop.com) -
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Leaves College
Poe gambles in college, and it leaves him in debt. Because of this, it gets him into an argument with his foster parents. He decides to leave college and the Allans.
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Publishes First Book
After enlisting in the army, Poe publishes his first book, Tamerlane. The theme in the book is about pride, and also loss. The loss of his first love, Sarah, and the death of either his birth mother or his foster mother might have influenced the poems of loss and grief. (www.shmoop.com) -
Brother dies
Henry, Poe's older brother dies. Death happens alot in Poe's life, and this may have influenced his outlook on life.
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Marriage
Poe gets married to his 13 year old cousin. He sent a letter to his aunt begging for Virginia's hand in marriage. This compelled him to write some of his more romantic works, including "Annabelle Lee" and "Romance"
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Publishes First Novel
Poe's finally writes and publishes his first novel. Called "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" contains gruesome material and ends abruptly.
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Wife Dies
Virginia had begun bleeding from the mouth a few months before she died. It was tuberculosis, and it evantually killed her.His works becomes even more dark after this event, it obciously affected him quite a bit. After her death, he wrote the extremely gruesome story of "Annabelle Lee"
Most of his works had a main idea of a lost love or a lady that gets killed. His wife's death most likely influenced this.
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Engagements
Poe proposes to a poet whose name was Sarah Whitman, who says yes only if he stops drinking. He cannot stop, so the engagement was off. Just a year later, he becomes engaged to Elmira Shelton, his childhood sweetheart.
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Edgar Allan Poe Dies
The death of a talented writer whose gruesome stories created a new genre...was quite undignified. Found in a gutter, he died of unknown causes. It is said that he drank to numb his pain...he dealt with a lot of tragedy in his reletively short lifetime. It is sad to see how such a great poet dies in such an unglorified way. He was buried in Baltimore.
(www.shmoop.com)
