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The Oblong Box
"The Oblong Box" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844 in "Godey's Lady's Book."
The narrator of the story, while on a packet-ship journey from Charleston, South Carolina, to New York City, becomes unusually curious about an oblong pine box being kept in the state room of an old school acquaintance, Cornelius Wyatt. His friend and his party are acting strangely but why is unclear. And then disaster strikes.
Librarian's note: this entry is for the story "The Oblong Box." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.
The narrator of the story, while on a packet-ship journey from Charleston, South Carolina, to New York City, becomes unusually curious about an oblong pine box being kept in the state room of an old school acquaintance, Cornelius Wyatt. His friend and his party are acting strangely but why is unclear. And then disaster strikes.
Librarian's note: this entry is for the story "The Oblong Box." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.
16 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1844
17 people are currently reading
512 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,896 books28.6k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
April 10, 2020
Intriguing story about a mysterious oblong box that is brought on board a ship. A short and captivating read.
October 24, 2025
CALIFICACIÓN REAL: 3.5 estrellas
Cornelius Wyatt se embarca en el Independence, con rumbo hacia Nueva York. Como equipaje, lleva una misteriosa caja de peculiar forma, que llamará la atención de un conocido excompañero de universidad, quien también se encontraba a bordo.
Este es un relato bastante curioso para reseñar, debido a que ‘’nada es lo que parece’’; cuya lectura se hace muy simpática y agradable, por cómo está estructurada hasta su desenlace. Si bien puede ser algo lenta y poco trepidante durante su desarrollo, no aburre y logra completamente atrapar a cualquiera, ya que nadie querría perderse su conclusión.
Como curiosidad, pensé que el protagonista de esta historia era una mujer. Durante casi todo el relato tuve esa creencia, hasta que se mencionó algo relacionado a los camarotes de hombres. Hubiera sido interesante que, en un relato de Poe, una mujer sea la protagonista o narradora. Aun así, sea hombre o mujer, no simpaticé con el personaje principal, ya que se me hizo demasiado copuchento —cotilla para los amigos españoles—, por querer saber todo y, asimismo, ser altamente inmaduro, al pretender vengarse a causa las muchas películas que se montaba en su cabeza.
Otra cosa para mencionar, que también llamó mi atención, —junto con causarme gracia—, fue cuando se indica: «yo y mi criado negro»… Y es que sí, cristalitos, ya sabemos que mencionar el color de piel está demás en los tiempos que corren; por lo que no intenten funar al autor por esto, ya que no lo escribió en nuestro tan bizarro y sensible siglo XXI.
Por otra parte, el contenido de la caja nos engañó a todos, pues pensaba que en su interior guardaba algún objeto misterioso o un cuadro de la misma índole de El retrato ovalado, pero no. A pesar de las pistas mencionadas y dejadas como lo que se mencionan acerca del , no me imaginaba algo así, ni mucho menos el trasfondo que acarreaba.
En cuanto al final, me parece muy acertado y adecuado, ya que puede dejarte helado o causarte alguna sensación; porque la indiferencia no tiene cabida aquí. En este punto, te puedes dar cuenta de que nada es lo que parece, como ya indiqué, porque todo comienza a cobrar sentido: el comportamiento extraño de las hermanas, Cornelius medio loco y perturbado, su esposa que causaba la burla de los demás pasajeros y el hermetismo con respecto a esta infame o afamada caja, —según como quieran interpretarla—.
Concluyendo, puedo decir que mis únicas quejas con este relato son: que se abusa del vocabulario náutico y, que quizás, le faltó algo más de ‘’acción’’ durante el desarrollo de la trama. De todas maneras, es una historia bastante agradable, amena y simpática, con un ritmo bastante calmado, pero que sorprende con su desenlace.
Mi calificación es de 3.5 estrellas. Recomiendo ampliamente La caja oblonga a quienes quieran sorprenderse con un final que te deje pensando, también para los que quieran leer algo entretenido o breve y para quienes disfruten de las historias de altamar y naufragios.
Sin nada más que agregar, ¡Ahoy, lads!
Para no perder el hilo con las demás reseñas que he hecho sobre las obras de Edgar Allan Poe:
1) El gato negro, cuya reseña está bugueada en el feed de Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2) El cuervo, el único poema que he reseñado de este autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3) Narraciones extraordinarias, recopilatorio en donde reúno a los 28 relatos que he leído de Poe, además de incluir un top personal al respecto; junto con dar mi opinión en profundidad sobre él como autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Cornelius Wyatt se embarca en el Independence, con rumbo hacia Nueva York. Como equipaje, lleva una misteriosa caja de peculiar forma, que llamará la atención de un conocido excompañero de universidad, quien también se encontraba a bordo.
Este es un relato bastante curioso para reseñar, debido a que ‘’nada es lo que parece’’; cuya lectura se hace muy simpática y agradable, por cómo está estructurada hasta su desenlace. Si bien puede ser algo lenta y poco trepidante durante su desarrollo, no aburre y logra completamente atrapar a cualquiera, ya que nadie querría perderse su conclusión.
Como curiosidad, pensé que el protagonista de esta historia era una mujer. Durante casi todo el relato tuve esa creencia, hasta que se mencionó algo relacionado a los camarotes de hombres. Hubiera sido interesante que, en un relato de Poe, una mujer sea la protagonista o narradora. Aun así, sea hombre o mujer, no simpaticé con el personaje principal, ya que se me hizo demasiado copuchento —cotilla para los amigos españoles—, por querer saber todo y, asimismo, ser altamente inmaduro, al pretender vengarse a causa las muchas películas que se montaba en su cabeza.
Otra cosa para mencionar, que también llamó mi atención, —junto con causarme gracia—, fue cuando se indica: «yo y mi criado negro»… Y es que sí, cristalitos, ya sabemos que mencionar el color de piel está demás en los tiempos que corren; por lo que no intenten funar al autor por esto, ya que no lo escribió en nuestro tan bizarro y sensible siglo XXI.
Por otra parte, el contenido de la caja nos engañó a todos, pues pensaba que en su interior guardaba algún objeto misterioso o un cuadro de la misma índole de El retrato ovalado, pero no. A pesar de las pistas mencionadas y dejadas como lo que se mencionan acerca del , no me imaginaba algo así, ni mucho menos el trasfondo que acarreaba.
En cuanto al final, me parece muy acertado y adecuado, ya que puede dejarte helado o causarte alguna sensación; porque la indiferencia no tiene cabida aquí. En este punto, te puedes dar cuenta de que nada es lo que parece, como ya indiqué, porque todo comienza a cobrar sentido: el comportamiento extraño de las hermanas, Cornelius medio loco y perturbado, su esposa que causaba la burla de los demás pasajeros y el hermetismo con respecto a esta infame o afamada caja, —según como quieran interpretarla—.
Concluyendo, puedo decir que mis únicas quejas con este relato son: que se abusa del vocabulario náutico y, que quizás, le faltó algo más de ‘’acción’’ durante el desarrollo de la trama. De todas maneras, es una historia bastante agradable, amena y simpática, con un ritmo bastante calmado, pero que sorprende con su desenlace.
Mi calificación es de 3.5 estrellas. Recomiendo ampliamente La caja oblonga a quienes quieran sorprenderse con un final que te deje pensando, también para los que quieran leer algo entretenido o breve y para quienes disfruten de las historias de altamar y naufragios.
Sin nada más que agregar, ¡Ahoy, lads!
Para no perder el hilo con las demás reseñas que he hecho sobre las obras de Edgar Allan Poe:
1) El gato negro, cuya reseña está bugueada en el feed de Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2) El cuervo, el único poema que he reseñado de este autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3) Narraciones extraordinarias, recopilatorio en donde reúno a los 28 relatos que he leído de Poe, además de incluir un top personal al respecto; junto con dar mi opinión en profundidad sobre él como autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
January 10, 2022
No es de los mejores relatos de Poe.
No es el tema principal, pero Poe recurre otra vez al viaje en barco y al hundimiento debido a una gran tormenta como eslabón importante para el desarrollo de la trama.
It is not one of Poe's best stories.
It is not the main theme, but Poe again uses the boat trip and the sinking due to a great storm as an important link in the development of the plot.
No es el tema principal, pero Poe recurre otra vez al viaje en barco y al hundimiento debido a una gran tormenta como eslabón importante para el desarrollo de la trama.
It is not one of Poe's best stories.
It is not the main theme, but Poe again uses the boat trip and the sinking due to a great storm as an important link in the development of the plot.
July 29, 2019
I absolutely enjoyed this story by Poe. The narrator is on a sailing trip from Charleston to New York. Aboard is a friend of his, an artist named Wyatt and his entourage. But what is in the oblong box he brought along with him? And why is his wife he adores and loves such a simple and clumsy person? When confronted about his box the artist gets into a frenzy. Why? Things are getting interesting when the vessel thinks and Wyatt swims back to the sinking ship? What is he trying to resuce? Who reveals the secret of the oblong box in the end? Wonderful idea, great plotting and an eerie twist to close the story. Really recommended!
October 22, 2016
Edgar Allan Poe's THE OBLONG BOX is enticingly baffling right from the beginning with a delayed voyage, a mysterious box, strange nightly noises followed by muffled sobbing, and then......dead stillness.
Threatening weather soon arrives....a hurricane....a brave and daring rescue of the box ensues.....and then.....absolutely NOT the ending I anticipated.
POE fooled me on this one!
November 14, 2021
3.5 stars. A cleverly written tale of a ship’s passage and the oddities aboard it. The ending was surprising and unexpected.
October 26, 2016
A lovely Poe to enhance the spooky feelings of the month of Halloween. Don't think I had ever read this one before and I was wondering right up to the reveal. It went the way of Poe's usual endings, but who would have it any other way.
Thanks to Carol for steering me to this one.
Thanks to Carol for steering me to this one.
November 29, 2020
This is one of those stories that will give you goose pimples and shivers.
November 29, 2023
- قصة قصيرة تجري على متن باخرة متجهة الى نيويورك، يتخللها شك الراوي بصديقه لإستئجاره غرفة ثالثة واخذ صندوق معه وتبدأ تحليلات الراوي لتنتهي القصة بتراجيدية غير متوقعة.
November 1, 2022
Our narrator tells us a story about the Independence and its journey at Sea… and an Oblong Box.
Quick read of 10 pages (≈ 29 minutes).
I am not sure what to make out of this, but it was entertaining enough for a good rating.
If you would like to read or listen to the short story, here are the Links.
For your ears -> »The Oblong Box« @ Youtube
For your eyes -> »The Oblong Box« @ Public Library
Quick read of 10 pages (≈ 29 minutes).
I am not sure what to make out of this, but it was entertaining enough for a good rating.
If you would like to read or listen to the short story, here are the Links.
For your ears -> »The Oblong Box« @ Youtube
For your eyes -> »The Oblong Box« @ Public Library
December 15, 2019
At first it seemed like a detective story with a touch of supernatural. But it turned out to be of a completely different type.Even though this one is predictable, I still enjoyed it. Small,interesting and thrilling also.The tale is centered around a mysterious box and a sea travel. The story opens with the unnamed narrator recounting a summer sea voyage from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City aboard the ship Independence. The narrator learns that his old college friend Cornelius Wyatt is aboard with his wife and two sisters, though he has reserved three state-rooms.
After conjecturing the extra room was for a servant or extra baggage, he learns his friend has brought on board an oblong pine box. The narrator notes its peculiar shape and an especially odd odor coming from it. Even so, he presumes his friend has acquired an especially valuable copy of THE LAST SUPPER. The box, the narrator is surprised to learn, shares the state-room with Wyatt and his wife, while the second room is shared by the two sisters.
For several nights, the narrator witnesses his friend’s surprisingly unattractive wife leaving the state-room every night around 11 o’clock and going into the third state-room before returning first thing in the morning. While she is gone, the narrator believes he hears his friend opening the box and sobbing, which he attributes to “artistic enthusiasm “. Then....
After conjecturing the extra room was for a servant or extra baggage, he learns his friend has brought on board an oblong pine box. The narrator notes its peculiar shape and an especially odd odor coming from it. Even so, he presumes his friend has acquired an especially valuable copy of THE LAST SUPPER. The box, the narrator is surprised to learn, shares the state-room with Wyatt and his wife, while the second room is shared by the two sisters.
For several nights, the narrator witnesses his friend’s surprisingly unattractive wife leaving the state-room every night around 11 o’clock and going into the third state-room before returning first thing in the morning. While she is gone, the narrator believes he hears his friend opening the box and sobbing, which he attributes to “artistic enthusiasm “. Then....
October 4, 2021
Listened to while on the way to work and while cleaning. Predictable, but not bad.
January 5, 2020
3.5 stars
A very inquisitive unknown narrator tells the story of his voyage, where one of the passengers brings a mysterious extra baggage, an oblong box to the board. Our narrator is quite sure about the content of the box...
Of course he is mistaken, and not only about the box, but about the reason behind the passengers’ behavior.
The mystery is pretty obvious from the beginning, but the narration is brilliant and very entertaining.
A very inquisitive unknown narrator tells the story of his voyage, where one of the passengers brings a mysterious extra baggage, an oblong box to the board. Our narrator is quite sure about the content of the box...
This point, therefore, I considered as sufficiently settled. I chuckled excessively when I thought of my acumen.
Of course he is mistaken, and not only about the box, but about the reason behind the passengers’ behavior.
The mystery is pretty obvious from the beginning, but the narration is brilliant and very entertaining.
My conclusion, from what I saw and heard, was, that, the artist, by some unaccountable freak of fate, or perhaps in some fit of enthusiastic and fanciful passion, had been induced to unite himself with a person altogether beneath him, and that the natural result, entire and speedy disgust, had ensued. I pitied him from the bottom of my heart…
October 9, 2020
"La Caja Oblonga" es de los típicos relatos en los que Poe sostiene el misterio debido a algo que no está bien, pero para ello, el lector deberá llegar al final. Es una cuestión de curiosidad literaria.
Hacía muchísimo tiempo que no releía este cuento y gratamente descubro que volví a compenetrarme en la lectura como la primera vez, ya que no recordaba nada.
Mi sorpresa volvió a ser la misma. Volví a maravillarme por cómo Poe cierra el cuento dejándome asombrado.
Suspenso e intriga son dos características de la gran mayoría de sus cuentos y este caso no es la excepción.
Hacía muchísimo tiempo que no releía este cuento y gratamente descubro que volví a compenetrarme en la lectura como la primera vez, ya que no recordaba nada.
Mi sorpresa volvió a ser la misma. Volví a maravillarme por cómo Poe cierra el cuento dejándome asombrado.
Suspenso e intriga son dos características de la gran mayoría de sus cuentos y este caso no es la excepción.
October 17, 2021
I gotta say I expected this one to be scarier. The title just had me expecting something more. Instead of a scary gotcha ending, we got a bittersweet and almost funny ending.
Overall I enjoyed it even if it wasn't what I expected. It's Poe so it was obviously well written and greatly paced despite its small page count.
Overall I enjoyed it even if it wasn't what I expected. It's Poe so it was obviously well written and greatly paced despite its small page count.
June 15, 2022
Well I didn’t guess what was in the oblong box…
March 21, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bv...Description: A passenger on a summer voyage to New York is curious about an artist, his new wife and his luggage. Read by James Aubrey.
August 6, 2021
Un cuento que vale totalmente la pena y mucho más sin conocer absolutamente nada de la trama (tal como me sucedió a mí).
Una historia tan bien escrita, muy bien contada y con uno de los mejores finales del autor que he visto hasta ahora.
Una historia tan bien escrita, muy bien contada y con uno de los mejores finales del autor que he visto hasta ahora.
July 14, 2025
Poe, ever the master of macabre, is so good in luring us in with a seemingly simple premise: a sea voyage, a curious artist and a conspicuously large, oblong box.
I knew that the box contained a...
It's more heartbreaking than horrifying!!!
I knew that the box contained a...
It's more heartbreaking than horrifying!!!
January 19, 2021
#2/148
The oblong box starts with a narrator getting onto a ship "independence" where he comes to know an old acquaintance- an artist named Wyatt would be joining him for the journey with his wife and sisters. Narrator has heard a lot about his wife's beauty and intelligence and quite excited to meet her in person.
Upon meeting Wyatt though, he feels something is really off and wrong with Wyatt. Also he is carrying a mysterious 6 feet long box with him in his room. Weird. But you can not expect Poe to not be weird.
Weird is Poe's strong suit.
Poe always lead the reader in an opposite direction while giving subtle clues as to solve the mystery which is totally nowhere near we are.
Things go awry, when the storm hits independence and everyone has to get on a lifeboat. But Wyatt is not ready to give up the box. He is even perfectly okay with risking his life for the box.
So what's in the box? Why Wyatt holds in that box that he always wanted it in his room? Why is he ready to give up his life to save the box?
Of course I wouldn't answer all that. It's just 16 pages long, grab a copy and unfold the mystery.
Happy reading!!!
The oblong box starts with a narrator getting onto a ship "independence" where he comes to know an old acquaintance- an artist named Wyatt would be joining him for the journey with his wife and sisters. Narrator has heard a lot about his wife's beauty and intelligence and quite excited to meet her in person.
Upon meeting Wyatt though, he feels something is really off and wrong with Wyatt. Also he is carrying a mysterious 6 feet long box with him in his room. Weird. But you can not expect Poe to not be weird.
Weird is Poe's strong suit.
Poe always lead the reader in an opposite direction while giving subtle clues as to solve the mystery which is totally nowhere near we are.
Things go awry, when the storm hits independence and everyone has to get on a lifeboat. But Wyatt is not ready to give up the box. He is even perfectly okay with risking his life for the box.
So what's in the box? Why Wyatt holds in that box that he always wanted it in his room? Why is he ready to give up his life to save the box?
Of course I wouldn't answer all that. It's just 16 pages long, grab a copy and unfold the mystery.
Happy reading!!!
December 21, 2015
This story didn't seem like it followed the usual line of Poe; instead of the foreboding atmosphere of horror, this felt more inquisitive. I figured out by the middle of the story what was in the oblong box, but I wasn't filled with horror like I have been with Poe's other stories I've read so far. I just pitied the husband and thought the narrator was totally out of line for being such a rude and thoughtless little shit. I mean, hello, as soon as he mentioned the dimensions of the box, it was pretty clear it was essentially a casket. But, this is Poe, so the reader expected it, whereas the character probably wouldn't expect something so grotesque.
January 25, 2016
Cred că e prima opera prin excelenţă romantică ce aparţine lui Poe pe care eu o citesc. Personaje excepţionale, hipersensibile, în situaţii excepţionale. Condiţia artistului şi moartea pentru causa prima: iubirea!
Dacă Poe ar fi dezvoltat şi latura psihologică a personajului şi, prin urmare, ar fi făcut scrierea mai amplă, mai fluentă şi mai uşor de savurat, ar fi ieşit o capodoperă!
Andrei Tamas,
25 ianuarie 2016
Dacă Poe ar fi dezvoltat şi latura psihologică a personajului şi, prin urmare, ar fi făcut scrierea mai amplă, mai fluentă şi mai uşor de savurat, ar fi ieşit o capodoperă!
Andrei Tamas,
25 ianuarie 2016
June 27, 2017
Ummmm....okay.
I am sure I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the narrator hadn't sounded like he was lecturing instead of reading an Edgar Allan Poe short story.
VERY weird little story [yes I KNOW its Poe and therefore automatically is weird] that I had mostly figured out by the end. But the end truly made it even weirder. I am so glad that I didn't have to live in Mr. Poe's head. ;-)
I am sure I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the narrator hadn't sounded like he was lecturing instead of reading an Edgar Allan Poe short story.
VERY weird little story [yes I KNOW its Poe and therefore automatically is weird] that I had mostly figured out by the end. But the end truly made it even weirder. I am so glad that I didn't have to live in Mr. Poe's head. ;-)
July 19, 2013
What can I say? It's Poe. Not as spine chilling or grotesque of some of the other work, but dark & dreary all the same.
July 18, 2020
Mysterious, a story of a strange box on the ship.
November 24, 2013
In the beginning I thought that this would be a detective story, something like the Dupin' stories but it wasn't. I loved the narration and of course, how it ends.
March 25, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A passenger on a summer voyage to New York is curious about an artist, his new wife and his luggage. Read by James Aubrey.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bv04c
A passenger on a summer voyage to New York is curious about an artist, his new wife and his luggage. Read by James Aubrey.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bv04c
January 26, 2018
Quite the chuckle.
Loved this line: "For this I resolved to have my revenge."
Loved this line: "For this I resolved to have my revenge."
July 13, 2025
One of the best psychological horror stories ever written. If there ever was such a thing as “Cursed Love”, this is it. Even when the person is not with you anymore, the love stays, weighing you down, haunting your every waking hour until you are reunited, like a phantom hell-bent on letting you go. Till death do us part.
April 25, 2023
4 Stars. The problem is that I knew it was Edgar Allan Poe. I didn't know the story but Poe was the author. He writes so well. Was he leading me down an intriguing but confusing pathway to unknown horror? I knew there was something. Tell me the author was J.T. Smith, my apologies if such an author exists, and my approach to the story is 180 degrees different. It would then be just a pleasant but increasingly rough ocean voyage - leading where? With the conclusion more stunning and the horror magnified. It first came out in "Godey's Lady's Book" in 1844 and I found it in "The Penguin Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" of 2011. Our narrator is in Charleston SC and must travel to New York City, a distance of 760 miles / 1,225 kilometres. A short flight or a one day drive today. But it's by passenger ship, the "Independence" under sail. The pace of life was so much slower. He arrives a day early and reviews the passenger list and finds his friend from university, Cornelius Wyatt, an artist, has reserved three state rooms. Wonderful but why three? And why has be brought this box? It becomes stranger every day. And I knew it was Poe. (March 2021)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews