Selected Prose and Poetry

by Edgar Allan Poe, W.H. Auden

Edited by, and includes, an introduction by T O Mabbott.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Horror, Short Stories, Classics

484 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 1950

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

[Georgia Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Edgar,
I've tried. You know I have. Last night even. I dimmed the lights and got into something comfortable. I took you into my lap and . . . well, you tried, too. Not even the drawings of houses on a hill, spooky woods, and a bat on this Russian edition from 1983 helped. I'm sorry. But things aren't the same.

If there hadn't been a pandemic I'd still love The Masque of the Red Death. What I can't bear is The Cask of Amontillado, not with the wars raging now. Cellars? Being buried alive?? I need no more nightmares. And before you say it, Hop Frog isn't enough to keep us together.

But, your poems I'd like to keep if you don't mind. I'll always love them. Their sound is the scent of our youth. Yours and mine. But the stories, I can't anymore. It's me, not you, who has changed.
Yours ever,
Gigi

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone for your excellent narrations of classic author Edgar Allen Poe, audio collection. 7 of 10 stars

[Swarna Pashine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Object there was none. Passion there was none" (Poe 244). This may be true for the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart, but this was definitely untrue of Edgar Allen Poe.

Edgar Allen Poe was a 19th century author whose many works have been compiled into the book, Selected Poetry and Prose of Poe, published in the mid-20th century. He is the author of numerous works of poetry, short stories, and essays, and his dark past definitely shines through to his dark, mysterious, and disturbing works of literature. Overall, I found that Poe's works stood out from other authors of his time. His poems, such as "The Raven, contain stylistic elements that make them unique, such as epistrophe, diction, alliteration, and repetition. His stories, such as The Tell-Tale Heart, contain a balance of unexpected excessive detail and mysterious objectivity. Furthermore, his essays, such as "The Poetic Principle" were influential, but dangerous in that they posed controversy. All in all, Edgar Allen Poe was an unapologetic author who knew how to take risks. Many of his ideas and techniques were too early for his time, but are appreciated after his death, such as this collection. Today, Poe's significance to the world of literature can finally be seen, and this collection is proof that he was a pioneer in the field of mysterious fiction and horror literature.

The book, Selected Poetry and Prose of Poe, stood out to me as a reader since it kept me on my feet. I have only recently dipped my feet in the pool of the genre of horror, and Poe's works were definitely the place to start. The stories were unpredictable, but not confusing. There were plot twists, but not plot holes. His ideas were bold and new, but not radical. I would undoubtedly recommend this book to other readers of various backgrounds and interests. Before reading this book, I thought historical fiction was my favorite genre of literature, but Poe's works opened the doors to a whole new field of interest for me. I believe that despite their interests or preconceptions of Poe's style of writing, Poe's Selected Poetry and Prose of Poe would appeal to many readers, one of whom may be you.

[Morgan Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved "The Raven", but was ready to dive deeper into the world of poetry and specifically the poetry of Poe. I really enjoyed the poems portion of the book, Poe was a fantastic writer, and some of his more positive and love-filled thoughts can be seen. His tales show his more macabre, twisted inner thoughts which I enjoyed even more. Obviously, "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a classic, but there is much more here to unpack! The most difficult section was the essay portion at the end of the book, and I skipped freely but read most of it.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

never really read much poe before, except the raven and tell tale heart in school. it was interesting to see some other works of his. you can definitely see where he influenced writers that came after him.

favorite short stories:
william wilson
the pit and the pendulum
the gold bug
bernice

it was also interesting to read his critiques and philosophy. one always just thinks of poe as some crazy snape-like character that writes weird stuff. he is actually incredibly smart, and an excellent poet.

this took way too long to read. i started it because i was reading a few books and i thought it would be good to read a short story from time to time to change things up. there is a 250 page "short story" thrown into the middle of the collection, and it finishes with a 100+ page metaphysical explanation of the universe as poe understood it based on his ideas and the scientific ideas of the times. not exactly things to read in between chapters, so the book sat on the back burner for a few week+ long stretches.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was, for me, a great reminder of Poe’s short stories. As someone who thought of Poe as primarily a poet, reading selected short stories from this book was a wonderful way to pass a few winter afternoons. The stories were mostly short enough to fit into a days commute as well which was nice.

Despite, Poe’s morbid mentality carried through as a dominant mood for most of the works, what struck me chiefly was his near worship of logic in many of the short stories. Many of the characters exhibited either near superhuman logic or a logic so corrupted with disease as to render the character more monster-ous than any animal could ever be.

[Keith Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the three best writers America has produced; the other two are Mark Twain and William Faulkner. All of his work is in the public domain so there are lots of inexpensive collections, but this paperback has all the famous stories and poems as well as some that are not as well know but very much worth reading.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a Poe fan. I don't know what it is, I just really like him. I enjoy finding patterns throughout his short stories and as creepy as some are, I just really like them. This is a good collection that I keep on my bookshelf.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite tales:
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Oval Portrait
The Masque of the Red Death
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Black Cat
The Purloined Letter
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Cask of Amontillado
Hop-Frog

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was only the fourth of a 20 volume set, I have read so far. I did not like most of it in any way. the essay, THE POWER OF WORDS was ok and THE PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE was fun to read even though I disagreed with the author on most of his thoughts.

[Michele A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book so much....some of the works are so scarey.