author
Susan Archer Talley Weiss
b. 1835
A 19th-century American poet and writer, she is remembered both for her own verse and for preserving vivid recollections of Edgar Allan Poe. Her life also reflected unusual resilience: after losing her hearing as a child, she built a long literary career from home.
1 Audiobook
The Home Life of Poe
by Susan Archer Talley Weiss
About the author
Born Susan Archer Talley on February 14, 1822, in Hanover County, Virginia, she grew up in Richmond and lost her hearing in childhood. Even with that challenge, she became known for her poetry and literary interests, publishing work in magazines and later bringing out a collection of poems in 1859.
She is often noted for her connection to Edgar Allan Poe, whom she knew in Richmond when she was young. Years later, she wrote about him in The Home Life of Poe (1904), a book that helped shape how many readers imagined Poe's personal life, even though modern scholars treat some of its details with caution.
After marrying George Weiss in 1860, she continued writing and remained active as a literary figure for decades. She died on April 7, 1917, leaving behind a reputation as a poet, memoirist, and one of the women whose memories became part of Poe's long afterlife in American literature.