Home » Writing & Publishing » Resources for Poets » Famous Poet: Edgar Allan Poe

Famous Poet: Edgar Allan Poe

© Ashley T. Drye

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston Massachusettes, on January 19, 1809. Poe's parents died even before he reached the age of three. Poe was adopted by John and Frances Allan, prosperous tobacco exporters. Poe was sent to the best boarding schools and always excelled academically. Because of Poe's gambling debts, he only attended one year at the University of Virginia. After his father, John Allan, refused to pay off Poe's debts, their relationship deteriated.

In 1827, he enlisted in the United States Army, and published his first collection of poems in the same year, Tamerlane, and Other Poems, and soon later published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

After publishing many short stories, his alcoholism and depression worsened. October 3, 1949, Poe was found dead due to "acute congestion of the brain". Today Poe is remembered as one of the first American writers to become a major figure in world literature.

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 winged 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 kinsman 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,

The copyright of the article Famous Poet: Edgar Allan Poe in Resources for Poets is owned by . Permission to republish Famous Poet: Edgar Allan Poe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.