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The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe Volume 2 of 5
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe Volume 2 of 5
THE PURLOINED LETTER
THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE
A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM.
VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY
MESMERIC REVELATION
THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR
THE BLACK CAT.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
SILENCE—A FABLE
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH.
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO.
THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE
THE ISLAND OF THE FAY
THE ASSIGNATION
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
THE PREMATURE BURIAL
THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM
LANDOR’S COTTAGE
WILLIAM WILSON
THE TELL-TALE HEART.
BERENICE
ELEONORA
NOTES
THE PURLOINED LETTER
THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE
A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM.
VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY
MESMERIC REVELATION
THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR
THE BLACK CAT.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
SILENCE—A FABLE
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH.
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO.
THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE
THE ISLAND OF THE FAY
THE ASSIGNATION
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
THE PREMATURE BURIAL
THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM
LANDOR’S COTTAGE
WILLIAM WILSON
THE TELL-TALE HEART.
BERENICE
ELEONORA
NOTES
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 30, 2004
72 people are currently reading
771 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,888 books28.5k 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 36 reviews
September 13, 2012
If Edgar was alive I would give him a blow job....
July 28, 2017
What I found out reading this book, and also the first volume of the series, is that my worship of Edgar Allan Poe has waned through the years. I had first read almost all of his short stories as a young adult, and completely fell in love with them. Now, re-reading them, this time in English, I found that, while I still like them a lot, I don't feel such love for them.
There are some stories which are worth all the effort and which are definitely 5 stars for me - I'm thinking of The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, Berenice. Others are 4 stars, as they are great, although I no more think that they are masterpieces: The Purloined Letter, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death.
However, some of the stories I found just plain boring, and that's where Poe starts philosophizing about everything. He certainly was a great thinker, but I simply find those stories not worth a second read.
On the whole, this is a very good collection of (mostly) very good short stories, therefore the overall 4 stars.
There are some stories which are worth all the effort and which are definitely 5 stars for me - I'm thinking of The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, Berenice. Others are 4 stars, as they are great, although I no more think that they are masterpieces: The Purloined Letter, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death.
However, some of the stories I found just plain boring, and that's where Poe starts philosophizing about everything. He certainly was a great thinker, but I simply find those stories not worth a second read.
On the whole, this is a very good collection of (mostly) very good short stories, therefore the overall 4 stars.
July 8, 2012
If I have to say something about this masterpiece I think that tiny little box won't fit; because inevitably I'll find myself digging my way through each short story and Poem I've come across; One of the beauties of Poe is that, since his work was all poetry & short stories, you can get everything in a one volume addition like this one.
A must-read. A whole new journey you're going to undergo.
A must-read. A whole new journey you're going to undergo.
March 6, 2018
Thanks to my grandmother, who let me read these out loud for hours. This is where I began reading to people. Nobody else lets me read Poe, though.
June 28, 2012
Es gibt nichts Besseres nach trüben, ereignislosen Tagen.
October 24, 2018
***The Purloined Letter: As with Poe's other Dupin stories, I appreciated the use of deductive reasoning and the delving into the perpetrator's psyche to figure out what he would do (not to mention the clever simplicity of him having !), but once again the long-winded delivery and unnecessary wordiness quickly got really annoying—Poe takes maybe ten pages to explain something he could easily have managed in one.
**The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade: "Modern technology as seen by a significantly less advanced civilization" is an interesting idea, but it's been done before, and did you really need to ruin the ending of another fairy tale in order to do it?
****A Descent into the Maelström: Fairly good adventure story with a decent dose of horror.
****Von Kempelen and His Discovery: It was pretty amusing to find that the result of someone having finally figured out how to transform lead into gold was . Who says Poe didn't have a sense of humor?
**Mesmeric Revelation: Nice twist at the end, but would have been a whole lot better without the neverending naval-gazing.
***The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar: More gruesome than scary, but still satisfactorily horrifying in its own way.
****The Black Cat: I have rather a soft spot for horror stories in which murderers and abusers are haunted by the ghosts of their victims. It's cathartic, with a nice sense of justice, and I liked that it was left ambiguous whether there was actually anything supernatural going on or the narrator had doomed himself through his own guilty conscience.
****The Fall of the House of Usher: Some of the language was just too abstract and vague, but an interesting look into Poe's psyche nonetheless.
****Silence—A Fable: Nice eerie atmosphere, but very little by way of actual story.
*****The Masque of the Red Death: This is one of Poe's best-remembered works, and there's a reason for that. This one had a chilling finality in the message that you can't fight fate and you can't run from death.
****The Cask of Amontillado: I really want to know what this Fortunato guy actually did that his friend decided it was perfectly justified to bury him alive.
****The Imp of the Perverse: Ah yes, ye olde murderer who got away clean yet was condemned to confess anyway by his own lingering sense of guilt. Also interesting musings on perversity as the uncontrollable urge to do something specifically because we know that we shouldn't—and I was reading this at a time when I was telling myself over and over again that I need to stop putting off that thing that's due tomorrow and just hurry up and do it already; damn it, brain, we need to do this, so why do you keep refusing to concentrate?
***The Island of the Fay: Well, it was atmospheric at least, but there was very little there by way of an actual story.
**The Assignation: I... guess this is a story of , but it's far too confusing and meandering to really make sense of it. It gets completely lost in its own background descriptions.
****The Pit and the Pendulum:I always automatically want to say "The Poet and the Pendulum", thanks Nightwish. Very suspenseful and horrific. (What was in the pit that the narrator was so afraid of, though?)
****The Premature Burial: Wow, how autobiographical is this? I do like that it ended on a positive note, and that .
**The Domain of Arnheim: What do you do if you're stupidly rich? Two words: scenery porn.
**Landor's Cottage: "Oh look, the last one wasn't pointless and purple enough; better do another!"
*****William Wilson: A rather chilling tale about a man who murdered his own conscience.
*****The Tell-Tale Heart: ...funny how so many of Poe's POV characters are really despicable people. Of course, that only makes it all the more satisfying when their guilt haunts them to insanity.
****Berenice: Chilling as usual, but seriously, where do these characters get their freaky obsessions?
***Eleonora: Go ahead and make your lover make you pointless and ridiculous promises! Go ahead and break the solemn vow you made! Nothing with that scenario that could ever possibly go wrong.
**The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade: "Modern technology as seen by a significantly less advanced civilization" is an interesting idea, but it's been done before, and did you really need to ruin the ending of another fairy tale in order to do it?
****A Descent into the Maelström: Fairly good adventure story with a decent dose of horror.
****Von Kempelen and His Discovery: It was pretty amusing to find that the result of someone having finally figured out how to transform lead into gold was . Who says Poe didn't have a sense of humor?
**Mesmeric Revelation: Nice twist at the end, but would have been a whole lot better without the neverending naval-gazing.
***The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar: More gruesome than scary, but still satisfactorily horrifying in its own way.
****The Black Cat: I have rather a soft spot for horror stories in which murderers and abusers are haunted by the ghosts of their victims. It's cathartic, with a nice sense of justice, and I liked that it was left ambiguous whether there was actually anything supernatural going on or the narrator had doomed himself through his own guilty conscience.
****The Fall of the House of Usher: Some of the language was just too abstract and vague, but an interesting look into Poe's psyche nonetheless.
****Silence—A Fable: Nice eerie atmosphere, but very little by way of actual story.
*****The Masque of the Red Death: This is one of Poe's best-remembered works, and there's a reason for that. This one had a chilling finality in the message that you can't fight fate and you can't run from death.
****The Cask of Amontillado: I really want to know what this Fortunato guy actually did that his friend decided it was perfectly justified to bury him alive.
****The Imp of the Perverse: Ah yes, ye olde murderer who got away clean yet was condemned to confess anyway by his own lingering sense of guilt. Also interesting musings on perversity as the uncontrollable urge to do something specifically because we know that we shouldn't—and I was reading this at a time when I was telling myself over and over again that I need to stop putting off that thing that's due tomorrow and just hurry up and do it already; damn it, brain, we need to do this, so why do you keep refusing to concentrate?
***The Island of the Fay: Well, it was atmospheric at least, but there was very little there by way of an actual story.
**The Assignation: I... guess this is a story of , but it's far too confusing and meandering to really make sense of it. It gets completely lost in its own background descriptions.
****The Pit and the Pendulum:
****The Premature Burial: Wow, how autobiographical is this? I do like that it ended on a positive note, and that .
**The Domain of Arnheim: What do you do if you're stupidly rich? Two words: scenery porn.
**Landor's Cottage: "Oh look, the last one wasn't pointless and purple enough; better do another!"
*****William Wilson: A rather chilling tale about a man who murdered his own conscience.
*****The Tell-Tale Heart: ...funny how so many of Poe's POV characters are really despicable people. Of course, that only makes it all the more satisfying when their guilt haunts them to insanity.
****Berenice: Chilling as usual, but seriously, where do these characters get their freaky obsessions?
***Eleonora: Go ahead and make your lover make you pointless and ridiculous promises! Go ahead and break the solemn vow you made! Nothing with that scenario that could ever possibly go wrong.
January 10, 2013
Due to my fascination for dark stories that can both scare and intrigue the reader, it was an inevitable fate that I pick up pieces from the genius literary minds of H. P. Lovecraft and of course Edgar Allan Poe. This semester I read The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe by none other than Edgar Allan Poe. I found every story to be similar to an amusement park ride, you get on feeling anxious with the title of the attraction drawing you in and after a thrilling turn of events with surprises around every turn you leave feeling quite satisfied (and sometimes a little nauseous!)
Stories such as The Cask of Amontillado, A Descent into the Maelstrom, Silence, The Tell-Tale Heart and Never Bet the Devil Your Head were personal favorites of mine because of the intriguing stories and thought provoking endings that occurred. These works left me with lots of excitement and intrigue as I followed each character as they either rose to become wiser and grown individuals or ended up slowly sinking into madness until they made that last fatal decision. Although I never found that the fates of the characters would happen for no reason because of the interesting pasts they had that would help form who they would become. In stories such as Silence, the main character learns the importance of the landscape around him with the character cursing aloud, therefore he affects the world “with the curse of silence, the and the lilies, and the wind, and the forest, and the heaven and the thunder...(becoming) still” These effects that leave you taking something more out of many of his stories helped me to enjoy The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.
The more I read this collection of literary pieces, I felt a connection between Poe’s work and strangely enough J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and the effects each book had on me. I came to see the connection between the two authors with their use of dark imagery to paint a story full of vile evils. The characters also have similarities in the way that they have intriguing origins that help to make up who they are and why they act a certain way. Seeing the characters of Poe’s stories grow as the tale progressed was also similar to the way the Harry Potter characters grew throughout the series. Finally, I found the same enjoyment I received from reading the Harry Potter series as I found in reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe with the dark illustrations they portrayed and the memorable characters they featured.
I rate The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe 5 out of 5 stars, it was a joy to read this book. The fact that I found new stories that aren’t very well known but still gave me a thrill which I think really solidifies how great of an author Edgar Allan Poe really was. I hope I will get the chance to read more stories like Edgar Allan Poe’s work.
Stories such as The Cask of Amontillado, A Descent into the Maelstrom, Silence, The Tell-Tale Heart and Never Bet the Devil Your Head were personal favorites of mine because of the intriguing stories and thought provoking endings that occurred. These works left me with lots of excitement and intrigue as I followed each character as they either rose to become wiser and grown individuals or ended up slowly sinking into madness until they made that last fatal decision. Although I never found that the fates of the characters would happen for no reason because of the interesting pasts they had that would help form who they would become. In stories such as Silence, the main character learns the importance of the landscape around him with the character cursing aloud, therefore he affects the world “with the curse of silence, the and the lilies, and the wind, and the forest, and the heaven and the thunder...(becoming) still” These effects that leave you taking something more out of many of his stories helped me to enjoy The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.
The more I read this collection of literary pieces, I felt a connection between Poe’s work and strangely enough J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and the effects each book had on me. I came to see the connection between the two authors with their use of dark imagery to paint a story full of vile evils. The characters also have similarities in the way that they have intriguing origins that help to make up who they are and why they act a certain way. Seeing the characters of Poe’s stories grow as the tale progressed was also similar to the way the Harry Potter characters grew throughout the series. Finally, I found the same enjoyment I received from reading the Harry Potter series as I found in reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe with the dark illustrations they portrayed and the memorable characters they featured.
I rate The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe 5 out of 5 stars, it was a joy to read this book. The fact that I found new stories that aren’t very well known but still gave me a thrill which I think really solidifies how great of an author Edgar Allan Poe really was. I hope I will get the chance to read more stories like Edgar Allan Poe’s work.
March 15, 2012
This book has some real high points and some real humdrum boring parts, but overall it was an enjoyable read. I liked how many of Poe's stories were narrated by murderers, deranged, and delusional characters. At the end you ask yourself what part of it was real and what was in the person's head. Many of these stories I was familiar with even if I hadn't read them all, but there were some hidden gems in here as well. I especially enjoyed The Adventures of A. Gordon Pym, which was EAP's only completed novel. It was idiosyncratic and had a strange ending, but kept me riveted until the end.
July 11, 2017
It takes a little while to get used to Poe's long and winding style of writing. It is hard to rate this collection as a whole. It contains brilliant stories like The Telltale Heart, The Purloined Letter and The Black Cat - but there are also pieces which I found to be mediocre, and a bit of a chore to read. Overall I am happy to have read this, but the lack of curation makes the reading experience bumpy and uneven. It will satisfy those who want to familiarize themselves with the more unknown works of Poe, but for the average reader a selected "Best of" collection will likely be more enjoyable.
April 12, 2012
Goodreads didn't seem to have the exact edition of the volume I read but this one is close enough. It really showcases some of Poe's best and most haunting work. The Tell-Tale Heart is still one of my all time favorite short stories. Add that to tales like The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Premature Burial, this is a volume guaranteed to keep you up at night. Of course not every story in the volume is fantastic but the ones that are heavily outweight those that are not.
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October 4, 2013I can't give this a rating because it's not quite the right book. I downloaded a free e-book from kobo, and the only Poe work in it that I recognized was the Raven. The other stuff was...really very not interesting. Some essays on poetry, some strange short stories. I am guessing this is a collection of his early work, but I cannot find the right book/edition in goodreads, nor in Gutenberg. So I will leave this unrated, and try and find some of the good Poe stuff to read, sometime soon.
It was worth it to read the Raven again, though. LOVE that poem.
It was worth it to read the Raven again, though. LOVE that poem.
September 14, 2011
Really, it's overrated. As a huge fan of Gothic literature, I was expecting to see Poe as a hero... really, there isn't anything scary about his books. I tried to like them, I really did, but I couldn't really find anything about them that I enjoyed.
The Raven was excellent, though. One of my favorite poems to date. The perfect mix of mystery, darkness, and suspense.
The Raven was excellent, though. One of my favorite poems to date. The perfect mix of mystery, darkness, and suspense.
August 5, 2012
Edgar Allan Poe is...amazing. He is such a great inspiration in writing. I cannot see how people call him overrated.
He was a genius and yes, I am a huge Poe fan.
His stories are so disturbing and thought provoking that they give me chills. Poe is not scary, he is disturbing, thrilling, but most of all, amazing.
He was a genius and yes, I am a huge Poe fan.
His stories are so disturbing and thought provoking that they give me chills. Poe is not scary, he is disturbing, thrilling, but most of all, amazing.
December 27, 2011
I've read just about everything Poe has written. I started reading his work early in my life. In modern day his works may not be as "scary" as others, but he tells one heck of a story.
So for all the kids out there, pick up some of his classic darkness!
So for all the kids out there, pick up some of his classic darkness!
October 29, 2012
I read the Project Gutenberg in 5 volumes from the iBooks store. Though I wasn't thrilled with the narratives, I reveled at his chilling descriptions and shocking plots of his stories. Poe is a master.
October 12, 2011
You are sad individual if you don't love Poe. :-)
March 24, 2013
I only read the "Tales of Suspense and Horror." Mr. Poe was not healthy.
February 7, 2012
LOVE his stories.
August 10, 2012
I've read all of Poe's works and continue to revisit them regularly.
October 22, 2012
Poe is just amazing. Duh.
August 5, 2021
Typically I like happy endings, but it's such a pleasure to be drawn into the darkness of the human mind by Poe!
September 6, 2012
I racconti sono avvincenti, tormentati e maledettamente mozzafiato! Da leggere assolutamente!
February 12, 2013
Wat did he write that was not perfect?
February 17, 2013
You're one of my favorites Poe.
May 25, 2013
Από τους πρώτους συγγραφείς που διάβασα. Τώρα τον διαβάζω και στα αγγλικά και μ' αρέσει ακόμα περισσότερο. Αλλά δεν είναι για όλους.
August 8, 2013
Poe should never be read in one sitting. Every short story becomes the same: paranoia, perversion, burial (usually while alive).
December 11, 2013
This is either you like or you don't so I rated it accordingly. I think his work is sad and even though the words are beautiful it still brings sadness especially his earlier work.
February 21, 2014
Gothic and fantastic
September 3, 2014
I haven't read all of Edgar's poems, but I would like to.
October 16, 2015
The Fall of the House of Usher! What can I say? Either you love Poe or you loathe him. I love Him!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews