Marrying Your Cousin

Celebrate Poe

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Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 269 - Marrying Your Cousin
Many people believe that one of the most controversial subjects regarding Poe is the fact that he married his much younger cousin. Virginia Eliza Clemm. - I guess you could say that the relationship began as a familial bond. Poe first met Virginia when she was seven years old, and he was twenty. Over time, their relationship evolved into a romantic one, culminating in their marriage when Virginia was 13 and Poe was 27 - a relationship that many scholars believe was more like one between siblings that a romantic relationship.
While marrying first cousins was not uncommon or particularly scandalous at the time, Virginia's young age was unusual even by 19th century standards. The average age of first marriage for women in the U.S. during that period was above 20 years old.