The Mysterious Mr. Poe

by Robert Morgan
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7 books
Edgar Allan Poe is probably the most widely read, around the world, of American authors. Since his death in October 1849, his work has delighted millions of readers. Because he is so unlike anyone else, he seems at once familiar and exotic. To understand his work we want to know the biography. To understand the life we must read the work. An ocean of studies and biographies have been published, and more appear each year. I will list here some of the more interesting and insightful of our own time.
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Poe, Death, and the Life of Writing

J. Gerald Kennedy, 1987
Kennedy is the leading Poe scholar and critic of our time. In this study he offers an exciting, sensitive, and profound reading of Poe’s stories and poems, showing surprising links between the writing and Poe’s life. He has special insights into the meaning that writing had for Poe.

The Poe Log

A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849
Dwight Thomas, David Jackson, David Kelly Jackson, 1995
For readers and students of Poe this is one of the most valuable and delightful resources. The log documents Poe’s life month by month from his birth in January 1809 to his death in October 1849, quoting letters, diaries, memoirs, reviews, biographies. Jackson and Thomas have compiled an essential reference for anyone interested in Poe’s work and dramatic career.

Poetry and Tales

Edgar Allan Poe, 1984
Of all the editions of Poe’s fiction and poetry, this may be the most accessible and complete. In one trim volume Quinn has included virtually everything the student of Poe would need, with endnotes, chronology, and index of titles. Poe’s work is available in scores of editions, but this is probably the best.

The Reason for the Darkness of the Night

Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science
John Tresch, 2021
In this study Tresch concentrates on the importance of science to Poe and his work. Though Poe disparaged science in works such as “Sonnet – To Science,” he kept abreast of developments in chemistry, physics, psychology, mathematics, and fashions such as phrenology and mesmerism. He devoted the prose poem Eureka to an explanation of the physics and meaning of the cosmos. In tales such as “The Balloon Hoax” he contributed to the founding of science fiction.

Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond

The Raven in the River City
Christopher P. Semtner, 2012
Semtner, curator of the Poe Museum in Richmond, has assembled stories from the history and geography of the city where Poe grew up. Poe returned to Richmond in 1835-37 to edit The Southern Literary Messenger, and spent the last months of his life there before his death in October 1849. Richmond is also the place where he became engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster, first in 1826, and again in 1849. Semtner offers previously unknown details and illustrations about the poet’s life.

A Mystery of Mysteries

The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Mark Dawidziak, 2023
One of the most controversial questions about Poe concerns the cause of his death in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. He was found in a lumberyard semi-conscious on October 3. Because he was carried into a tavern, many assumed he died of alcohol poisoning. Some have suggested diabetes, a rabid bat bite, or drugs. Dawidziak and others, including me, have thought tubercular meningitis a more likely explanation. Poe had been exposed to tuberculosis all his life, and the disease may have been eating up his brain.

Fallen Angel

The Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Robert Morgan, 2023
In this biography I try to find links between the trauma of Poe’s early life, and the splendor and mystery of his poems and stories. Also, I point out several subjects passed over by other biographers, including Poe’s memorable writing about the natural world in works such as “The Domain of Arnheim” and “Landor’s Cottage.” Poe witnessed the death of his beautiful mother at around the age of three, and all his heroines die. Poe was fascinated by matrimony, and haunted by the possible ethnicity of his mother