Poe travelled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October of that year, John Allan married his second wife, Louisa Patterson. The marriage, and bitter quarrels with Poe over the children born to Allan out of affairs, led to the foster father finally disowning the poet. Poe decided to leave West Point by purposely being court-martialed. He left for New York in February, which is when he had this third volume of poems published.
The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, many of whom donated 75 cents to the cause, raising a total of $170. They were most likely expecting verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had been writing about commanding officers. Printed by Elam Bliss of New York, it was labelled as Second Edition and included a page saying, “To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated.” The book includes revisions of the long poems Tamerlane and Al Aaraaf, but also six previously unpublished poems.