Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most influential and haunting voices in American literature, a writer whose imagination reshaped horror, crime writing, science fiction, and the modern short story. Poe lived a life marked by poverty, personal loss, and professional struggle. Yet, from that turbulence, he forged works of enduring power such as The Raven, The Telltale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher. His poetry explored obsession, beauty, and grief, while his tales of psychological terror probe the darkest corners of the human mind. Learn more about the life, death, and legacy of Edgar Allan Poe on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Overwhelmed by investing? If you're anything like us, the hardest part is getting started. That's why we created the Investing for Beginners podcast. Our goal is to help simplify money so it can work for you. We invite guests to demystify investing. At least like the minimum 10% into the 401k. I'm Dave Ahern. And I'm Andrew Sather. And we hope you join us on the Investing for Beginners podcast. On the Investing for Beginners podcast. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. He was the second of three children of his parents, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, both of whom were actors. In 1810, when Edgar was just a year old, his father abandoned his family. And during the next year, the young Poe children essentially became orphans after their mother died from tuberculosis. After his mother's death, Edgar was taken in by John Allen, becoming his foster son. Though Allen never formally adopted him, he gave the boy the name Edgar Allen Poe, the name by which Edgar was known for the rest of his life. Allen was a merchant from Richmond, Virginia, who traded in a variety of commodities, including cloth, tobacco, tombstones, wheat, and slaves. As a father figure, Allen alternated between being a strict disciplinarian and spoiling young Edgar Rotten. He also ensured that Edgar was baptized into the Episcopal Church. In 1815, Allen brought the family to the United Kingdom. While in the UK, Poe was sent to grammar school in Irving, Scotland. After attending the school for a year, Poe was sent back to England where he continued his education. Poe and the Allens were in the UK for five years before sailing back to the United States. In 1826, Poe registered to attend the University of Virginia. At the university, he wanted to study language. During this time, the university was in its infancy and had strict rules that the students needed to abide by. This included rules on gambling, alcohol, guns, tobacco, and horses. Poe was one of the students who ignored the rules. He enjoyed partaking in gambling, causing him to become estranged from his foster father. Poe claimed that Allen had not provided him enough money for classes. Despite Allen sending more money, Poe's debts continued to increase. As a result, he dropped out of the university and moved back to Boston, where he supported himself by working odd jobs. In 1827, Poe decided to join the military under the name Edgar A. Perry, as he knew he could not financially support himself. To join, he lied about his age, claiming to be 22, even though he was only 18. Poe first position was at Fort Independence in Boston During his time at the base he published a collection of poetry The book was 40 pages long entitled Tamerlane and Other Poems 50 copies of the book were published under the author name A. Bostonian, but it got almost no attention. It featured youthful romantic poems, including the long title piece about the conqueror Tamerlane, which reflected on ambition, lost love, and the cost of glory. Of the 50 original copies, only 12 are believed to remain. A copy sold in 2009 for $662,500, a record for a book by an American writer. Poe was moved around while in the military and eventually promoted to artificer. This role was essentially that of a craftsman who repaired weapons and maintained equipment. Poe ultimately served for two years and did well in the military, being promoted to the rank of sergeant major for the artillery. However, he wanted to end his five-year enlistment early. To do so, Poe went to his commanding officer and revealed his real name and life circumstances. His officer had agreed to honorably discharge Poe from the military if Poe would reconcile with his foster father. Poe wrote to Allen for months, but he was unsympathetic to Poe's efforts at reconciliation. This only changed after Poe's foster mother died in February of 1829. Following his foster mother's death, Poe visited her burial site. While there, Allen decided to support Poe in his efforts to gain admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. With his foster father's support, Poe was discharged from the military in April of 1829. Before attending school, he visited Baltimore, Maryland, where he stayed with his aunt, Maria Clem, her daughter, Virginia Eliza Clem, his brother Henry, and his grandmother. During his time in Baltimore, Poe received a review of his poetry from a critic named John Neal. This review was very positive, and Poe was incredibly thankful. To show his appreciation, Poe dedicated a poem to Neal in his second book, El Araf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, which was published in Baltimore in 1829. Poe began his life as a cadet at West Point on July 1, 1830. Around the same time, Poe began to get into more quarrels with his foster father. Allen had remarried, and this, combined with Allen having children outside of wedlock, led to a massive fight between Poe and Allen. And this led to Allen disowning Poe in October of 1830. After being disowned, Poe decided to leave West Point by being court-martialed. This meant that he wanted to be tried intentionally under military law. And to do this, Poe decided to neglect his duties and disobey orders. And this worked, as Poe was tried on February 8th, 1831. Poe decided to plead not guilty, despite knowing that he obviously was guilty, and this worked, and he was dismissed from the military. After being discharged, Poe moved to New York where he published his third work titled Poems. This was financed by donations from his former West Point cadet classmates. The book was dedicated to the U.S. Corps of Cadets, and the book included some republished poems and a few new ones. After it was published, Poe decided to move back to Baltimore in March of 1831. A few short months after arriving, his brother Henry, who had been seriously ill, passed away. Following the death of his brother, Poe stayed in Baltimore with his family and began to write more, this time switching from poetry to short stories. While his efforts to earn money solely through writing were relatively unsuccessful he did eventually succeed One publication company the Southern Literary Messenger took an interest in Poe and published his first horror stories Metzingerstein and Berenice The later was considered so horrifying and graphic that the magazine received complaints from its consumers. It's about a man who becomes obsessed with his cousin's teeth and extracts them after she was buried alive. The magazine's editor, Thomas White, eventually offered Poe a job, which Poe accepted. This led him to move to Richmond, Virginia in 1835 for the position, though he was discharged shortly thereafter for being drunk. Poe then returned to Baltimore, where he got a marriage license to marry Virginia, his 13-year-old cousin, in September of 1835. Poe at the time was 27. There's little actually known about the relationship between Poe in Virginia. Many people today perceive the relationship as more familial, with Poe referring to her as sissy and her mom as muddy or mother. However, we'll never know the true nature of the relationship. In 1837, Poe officially left the Southern Literary Messenger and went to Philadelphia. There he began to write more stories, the most notable of which was The Murders in Rue Morgue, which became the first modern detective story. In the story, Poe becomes the first author to use the character of an eccentric genius, C. Auguste Dupin, who uses his brilliance to solve crimes. And this later inspired characters like Sherlock Holmes. Poe is also known as an early pioneer in the field of science fiction. Most of these stories in the genre were actually considered comedies, which for him is a far cry from his usual dark style. While we explored various genres, Poe's fame endures primarily due to his revolutionary contributions to horror. He completely transformed the genre by shifting the focus to more psychological forms of terror, delving into the internal darkness of humanity, its capacity for evil, and the consequences when that evil manifests. The most famous piece Poe ever wrote was the poem The Raven, which he wrote while living in New York City in 1845. The poem was an instant hit, turning Poe into a household name. Poe's contemplations on lost love and his conviction that the death of a beautiful woman was the most poetic theme shaped his poem. Additionally, the work was inspired by other sources, including The Talking Raven in Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens. Despite Poe being the first American author to earn a living solely from fiction, he struggled to support himself financially. The Raven, despite paying Poe only $15, gave him international success and created new financial opportunities. However, despite these opportunities, Poe seldom acted on them. At the time, he was dealing with personal struggles as Virginia had fallen ill with tuberculosis. She died in 1847, resulting in Poe becoming unstable and erratic. He fell into a period of drug and alcohol use, became involved with numerous different women, culminating in him reconnecting with an old flame, returning to Richmond, and getting engaged. However, the marriage never happened, as Poe died in 1849 at the age of 40. Before his death, Poe was found in a semi-unconscious state in Baltimore at a tavern called Gunner's Ball. He appeared to be inebriated and was wearing someone else's clothes. His state was so bad that he was taken to the hospital. Poe was unable to explain why his condition was so poor or why he was wearing someone else clothes Instead he kept yelling out Reynolds up until the point he died To this date no one has a clue who or what he was referring to Poe passed away on October 7 1849 at Washington University Hospital All medical records relevant to the case, as well as his death certificate, have been lost. His official cause of death was frenitis or inflammation of the brain. This was a common cause of death given to patients when the actual reason for their death was unknown. Because of Poe's mysterious death and his persona while he was alive, there's been a large amount of speculation about the true cause of his death. In many ways, the mystery around his death is perfect for Poe, as he created a mystery around himself that will likely never be solved. Following his death, traditions have been established to honor Poe, and one of the most notable is that of the Poe toaster. For years on Poe's birthday, January 19th, between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m., an anonymous person crept into the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, the cemetery where Poe was buried. The individual was dressed in a large black hat and a white scarf. At the grave, they left a French cognac, a note, and some roses. The tradition began perhaps as early as 1949 and continued into the late 1990s, after which a successor or an imitator carried out the tradition sporadically before it ultimately ended in 2009. In 2007, 92-year-old Sam Popora, a historian at Westminster Church, claimed that he had started the tradition to revive interest in the church, but there were several facts with his story that didn't fit, not the least of which was the fact that witnesses had observed the toaster in the 1950s, and Purpora claimed that he started it in the 1960s. Edgar Allan Poe's influence on literature continues to be seen to this day. Poe influenced the horror genre, the creation of modern detective stories, and the development of science fiction, inspiring writers for almost two centuries. Many authors emulate Poe's signature approaches while making their own work. They use techniques such as rhythmic language, atmospheric description, and psychological complexity to create spine-chilling stories. His tales of psychological horror shaped writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, and the creation of his detective C. Auguste Dupin directly influenced Arthur Conan Doyle in the development of Sherlock Holmes. Poe's insistence that a short story should produce a single unified emotional effect became a foundational principle of modern fiction, and its exploration of madness, guilt, beauty, and death helped define the tone of Gothic literature for generations. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by the Olivia Ashe. Today's review comes from listener Omamaha on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, exceptional. Perfect podcast for people who want to know about many things. Short, succinct, and pleasing to your ears. I have probably listened to all the episodes, but I don't really care if I repeat because I pick up something new each time. Well, thanks, oh mama, huh? You have discovered something that many other people have figured out. You can't comprehensively learn something after a single exposure to a topic, whether it's this podcast or anything else. Even in repeat viewings of a TV show or movie, you'll pick up details that you missed the first time you watched it. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app, Facebook, or Discord, you too can have it right on the show.
