The Island of the Fay

by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe's "plate articles," which are condensed essays intended expressly to appeal to his wide range of readers, including "The Island of the Fay." But Poe elevated such a banal endeavour to a transcendent degree in this work. One of his most ethereal and exquisite works of literature is "Fay." It is also one of his early pieces that hint at his greatest achievement, "Eureka." The unidentified narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's The Isle of the Fay journeys alone and discovers an island populated by fairies. The final imagery was exquisite. The symbolism of the fairy queen travelling through life was amazing. This narrative is written in a Poe-like manner and is a spiritual mirror of the author.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy

18 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1841

About the author

The 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...

Reviews

[Netanella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for free here: https://www.libraryofshortstories.com...

This is a super-short story of a man contemplating the beauty of nature and spotting a little tiny island of fay creatures in a pond. More of an essay than a story.

[Timothy McNulty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe there isn't many of us who would take a break from this busy world in which we live to enjoy an island far away. Thus is exactly what happened to the narrator of this story. Through his eyes we see the Island from all sides. And I must say I caught myself many times asking myself if this were Poe telling this story. But like Poe he let's you see a little of himself at the very end. This was definitely not my favorite but was a nice lunch time read while enjoyed a nice sunny day.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The island of the Fay is one of Poe's earlier works and is decidedly somewhat different that what you would normally expect from him. It almost read like a bedtime story, as if someone was trying to get a child to fall asleep to a tale of the magical. It was beautiful in description and meter, having a flow to it that wasn't quite poetry but almost mesmerizing in the reading of it. I have a particular affinity for faeries, and so this story, along with my love for Poe, holds a special place in my heart. The detail he went into describing the Fae and the island was fantastic. A great read and a mandatory addition to his collection.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was not for me. Very descriptive. Very dreamy. And very verbose. I can appreciate the atmosphere he was going for but I never fully locked in. It felt more like watching someone drift through their thoughts than an actual narrative.

But one line punched me right in the chest.

“Solitude is a beautiful thing but we need someone to tell us that solitude is a beautiful thing.”

That line alone almost made the whole read worth it. It captures something I feel deeply. The duality of loving your solitude but still wanting someone who understands the beauty in it.

Overall not my favorite of Poe’s pieces but that quote is going straight into my favorites.

[Mica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es una meditación sobre la belleza, la mortalidad y la naturaleza cíclica del tiempo. Es un relato bastante diferente a los demás, donde Poe invita a contemplar la fragilidad de la belleza y la importancia de apreciar el momento presente.

[Black Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loving his writing more and more. He paints such a beautiful picture in your mind.

[Jurgen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The musings about the universe being designed thusly by God are a nice insight into Poe's personal philosophy, but the story of the fay feels a bit too #deep.