Edgar Allan Poe:

A Life

By Richard Kopley

“A richly detailed, sympathetic portrait.” –Kirkus Reviews (★ Starred Review)  

A groundbreaking exploration of one of America’s most iconic and misunderstood authors

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life is the most comprehensive critical biography of Poe yet produced, exploring his fascinating life, his extraordinary work, and the vital relationship between the two. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre found in such works as “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” this legendary American author continues to intrigue and enthrall his devoted readers. Written by one of the world’s leading Poe experts, this biography is a rich and rewarding study for the general reader as well as for the seasoned scholar. Richard Kopley combines a biographical narrative of Poe’s enduring challenges—including his difficult foster father, his personal losses, his great struggles with depression and alcoholism, and the poverty that dogged his existence—with close readings of his work that focus not only on plot, character, and theme but also on language, allusion, and structure in a way that enhances our understanding of both. While incorporating past Poe scholarship, this volume also relates unknown stories of Poe culled from privately held letters unavailable to previous biographers, presenting a range of groundbreaking archival discoveries that illuminates the man and his oeuvre in ways never before possible.

Reviews

“Filled with fresh information and illuminating detail, Richard Kopley’s Edgar Allan Poe: A Life is a work of great erudition and insight. Sure to become an indispensable resource, Kopley’s long-awaited biography is the worthy capstone of a distinguished career in Poe studies. Kopley tells us he has read and researched Poe for so long, the writer has become a friend. Read Edgar Allan Poe and make him yours.”
- Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life and After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart

“Superbly researched and engagingly written, Richard Kopley’s biography of Poe draws from an extraordinary range of sources, many of them previously untapped. Kopley gives us the real Poe, separated from myth and legend. In doing so, he makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of one of the greats of world literature.”
- David S. Reynolds, author of Beneath the American Renaissance and Walt Whitman’s America

“In what is destined to be the definitive biography of one of America’s most pioneering and influential writers, Richard Kopley’s Edgar Allan Poe: A Life reveals in meticulous detail the struggles and triumphs of this singularly complex man. Kopley provides intimate, revelatory readings of Poe’s masterpieces and lesser-known writings while narrating his tormented subject’s personal story. Historically detailed and artfully crafted, this is a magisterial work animated on every page by Kopley’s compassionate and clear-sighted scholarship. Edgar Allan Poe emerges as a fully formed human being forever convinced of his genius no matter how heavily his many life struggles weigh on him. Kopley’s Poe is cause for celebration among scholars and lay readers alike.”
- Bradford Morrow, author of The Prague Sonata and the Forgers trilogy

“This is a great biography, faithful to the life in good times and bad. It is highly original—using previously unseen, personal primary sources—deeply moving, and a real pleasure to read. Kopley offers us the best of both worlds: an up-close, personal account of Poe the man, the son, the friend, and the husband as well as an insightful and dependable critical study of Poe’s works and literary career.”
- Philip Edward Phillips, Middle Tennessee State University, editor of Poe and Place and President of the Poe Studies Association