Samuel Taylor Coleridge publishes Kubla Khan. Jane Austen publishes Emma. 

 1818  Edgar moves to the boarding school of the Reverend John Bransby in London, where he studies Latin and dancing. He is 
   an accomplished but lonely student. The U.S.-Canadian bor der is formalized. Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein. 
 1819  Following the collapse of the London tobacco market, John Allan’s London business closes under the strain of unpaid debts. The S.S. Savannah becomes the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic. Walt Whitman and Herman Melville are born. Walter Scott publishes Ivanhoe. 
 1820  The Allans return to America, arriving in New York in July be fore continuing on to Richmond. Maine and Missouri enter the Union under the Missouri Compromise. 
 1821  Edgar enrolls in the school of Joseph H. Clarke. He begins writing poetry, composing one of his earliest surviving poems, “O, Tempora! O, Mores!” 
 1823  He attends a school run by William Burke. U.S. President James Monroe presents Congress with the Monroe Doctrine, a policy intended to curtail European encroachment into the Western Hemisphere. 
 1824  Edgar transforms his fragile physique and excels in athletics, including boxing, running, and swimming; in the summer, he swims 6 miles up the James River. He joins the Richmond Junior Volunteers, becoming a lieutenant and participating in a military review by General Lafayette during his tour of America. 
 1825  Edgar enters the school of Dr. Ray Thomas. John Allan inherits a sizable fortune from an uncle and purchases a mansion in downtown Richmond called Moldavia. 
 1826  Poe enrolls in the University of Virginia, where he studies an cient and modern languages. He gains a favorable reputation in the Jefferson Society debating club and continues to distin guish himself as an athlete. The fledgling university is, at times, a violent and depraved setting. Poe witnesses riots and assaults, and amasses large gambling debts. He pursues an epistolary romance with Elmira Royster but is rebuffed by her father. Tension between Poe and John Allan grows, partly be cause of Poe’s gambling debts, which exceed $2,000. Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and founder of the University of Virginia, dies. 
 1827  The feud between Poe and John Allan reaches a peak. Poe moves out of his surrogate father’s home and returns to the city of his birth. In Boston, he enlists for a five-year tour in the U.S. Army using the alias “Edgar A. Perry.” Under the pseudo 
   nym “A Bostonian,” Poe publishes a collection of Byronic poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems.  In the fall, Poe’s company is transferred to South Carolina.
 1828  Poe’s company is stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He sends letters to John Allan seeking reconciliation. Andrew Jackson is elected U.S. president.