Today in History

January 19, 1809

Edgar Allan Poe is Born

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts as the son of theatrical actors. Both parents died before he was three years old, events which very likely colored his young sensibilities and provided an almost neurotic obsession with death. He attended the University of Virginia, but accumulated gambling debts and was forced to leave, enlisting in the Army where he served for two years. He married his cousin Virginia when she was only 13 years old. In 1845 he published his poem "The Raven", which was an instant success and launched his literary career. However, his wife died only two years later. His writing increasingly reflected dark, psychological themes and a sense of the macabre. Poe began to drink heavily and died at the age of 40 of unknown causes, found unconscious in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland.

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