Filled with broken hearts and black ravens, Edgar Allan Poe's ghastly tales have delighted readers for centuries. Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at age two. He was soon adopted by a Virginia family who worked as tombstone merchants. In 1827 he enlisted in the Army and subsequently failed out of West Point. His first published story, The Raven, was a huge success, but his joy was overshadowed by the death of his wife. Poe devoted his life...

Follows the life of the reclusive nineteenth-century poet from Amherst, Massachusetts.

An introduction to the life and career of the beloved 19th-century American poet.

Traces the life of the Black American poet who was born in Africa, brought over to New England as a slave, and published her first poem while still a teenager.

An introduction to the life and career of the beloved 20th-century American author, poet, and playwright.

"Did you know that Paul Laurence Dunbar originated such famous lines as "I know why the caged bird sings" and "We wear the mask that grins and lies"? From his childhood in poverty and his early promise as a poet through his struggles to find acceptance as a writer and his tumultuous romance with his wife, to his immense fame and his untimely death, Dunbar's story is one of triumph and tragedy. But his legacy remains in his much-beloved poetry--told...

A biography of an enslaved African woman who became the first African-American poet to be published.

A biography of an African girl brought to New England as a slave in 1761 who became famous on both sides of the Atlantic as the first Black poet in America.