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El Rey Peste
The death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1849, has remained mysterious: the circumstances leading up to it are uncertain and the cause of death is disputed. On October 3, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died at 5 a.m. on Sunday, October 7. Poe was never coherent enough to explain how he came to be in this condition. Much of the extant information about the last few days of Poe's life comes from his attending physician, Dr. John Joseph Moran, though his credibility is questionable. Poe was buried after a small funeral at the back of Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, but his remains were moved to a new grave with a larger monument in 1875. It has been questioned whether the correct corpse was moved. The 1875 monument also marks the burial place of Poe's wife, Virginia, and his mother-in-law, Maria. Theories as to what caused Poe's death include suicide, murder, cholera, rabies, syphilis, influenza, and that Poe was a victim of cooping. Evidence of the influence of alcohol is strongly disputed. After Poe's death, Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote his obituary under the pseudonym "Ludwig". Griswold, who became the literary executor of Poe's estate, was actually a rival of Poe and later published his first full biography, depicting him as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman. Much of the evidence for this image of Poe is believed to have been forged by Griswold, and though friends of Poe denounced it, this interpretation had lasting impact.
30 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1835
15 people are currently reading
327 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,889 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 134 reviews
October 18, 2020
This story was splatterpunk before it even existed.
October 1, 2016
Un magnífico relato de Poe que nos cuenta las andanzas de dos marineros que terminan en los bajos fondos de Londres, donde reina la Peste.
El encuentro de estos dos marineros con el Rey Peste es una de las escenas más escalofriantes y graciosas que he leído en mi vida. Las descripciones son tan vívidas que, cuando lo leía, deseé tener esa escenografía en una fiesta de Halloween. Me imaginé entrando en una casa antigua decorada como una mansión embrujada, yendo hacia las puertas dobles del comedor, abriéndolas lentamente y encontrándome esa escena del Rey Peste con toda su corte.
¿Y qué fue lo gracioso? Los nombres y los rasgos exagerados que tenía cada uno.
#LeanAPoe
El encuentro de estos dos marineros con el Rey Peste es una de las escenas más escalofriantes y graciosas que he leído en mi vida. Las descripciones son tan vívidas que, cuando lo leía, deseé tener esa escenografía en una fiesta de Halloween. Me imaginé entrando en una casa antigua decorada como una mansión embrujada, yendo hacia las puertas dobles del comedor, abriéndolas lentamente y encontrándome esa escena del Rey Peste con toda su corte.
¿Y qué fue lo gracioso? Los nombres y los rasgos exagerados que tenía cada uno.
#LeanAPoe
February 16, 2025
This is a short story written in 1835 about two mates, Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, who go on a drinking spree in London, get waylaid and stumble on a den of drunken inequity somewhere down a dingy dark alley.
One friend is extremely short while the other is excessively tall, and there's a smattering of the John Steinbeck story Of Mice And Men about it, which is maybe where he borrowed the idea from? I imagine James Joyce giggling with drunken glee if reading this, too, with its barroom rumbles and stumbles from door to door.
It's written in that compelling Edgar Allan Poe prose: complicated on first glance but easy to understand in comparison to some of his other short stories.
It's also different because of the unusual amount of weird wit and humour.
Finding themselves in Will Wimbles's undertaker shop, Legs and Tarpaulin encounter six pestilent drunks, King Pest, Queen Pest and their lesser subjects, who offer the dreaded Black Strap liquor to drink!
Sup this yon drinking fellows and further submit to alcoholic ruin, or refuse and pay the consequences!
The moral of this story, perhaps, is that no good comes from heavy drinking besides more heavy drinking and a sore head.
This is an entertaining and bizarre little story that's more enjoyable than a tempting tipple of Black Strap.
One friend is extremely short while the other is excessively tall, and there's a smattering of the John Steinbeck story Of Mice And Men about it, which is maybe where he borrowed the idea from? I imagine James Joyce giggling with drunken glee if reading this, too, with its barroom rumbles and stumbles from door to door.
It's written in that compelling Edgar Allan Poe prose: complicated on first glance but easy to understand in comparison to some of his other short stories.
It's also different because of the unusual amount of weird wit and humour.
Finding themselves in Will Wimbles's undertaker shop, Legs and Tarpaulin encounter six pestilent drunks, King Pest, Queen Pest and their lesser subjects, who offer the dreaded Black Strap liquor to drink!
Sup this yon drinking fellows and further submit to alcoholic ruin, or refuse and pay the consequences!
The moral of this story, perhaps, is that no good comes from heavy drinking besides more heavy drinking and a sore head.
This is an entertaining and bizarre little story that's more enjoyable than a tempting tipple of Black Strap.
April 6, 2020
Funny. It seems like I’m almost the only one who read this short story after Corona appeared on world stage.
Well, perhaps it doesn’t exactly fit the topic that’s on everyone’s minds these days?
Anyway, for those of you who think Camus’s THE PLAQUE is too dire and King’s THE STAND too long, I would emphatically entrust this short one to your still beating hearts.
The subtitle says this was “a tale containing an allegory”, and one can assume the allegoratee here is Death; or perhaps it’s the exact opposite?
Set against the backdrop of 14th century, plague-ridden London two seamen flee a shabby joint after dodging the bill. They find themselves in one of those hot-spot plague quarters that are officially barred from entering by penalty of death. They make their way along and over skeletons and rotten bodies in the street and eventually enter a house where the most peculiar society is gathering and having a drinking bout...
I never would have thought the Poe had it in him to write such a hilarious piece of gallows humor. I loved it.
Whistling past the graveyard is what those seamen do in the face of almost certain death, and this is surely an option - as long as one does it at home, or else the graveyard might whistle back at you.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Well, perhaps it doesn’t exactly fit the topic that’s on everyone’s minds these days?
Anyway, for those of you who think Camus’s THE PLAQUE is too dire and King’s THE STAND too long, I would emphatically entrust this short one to your still beating hearts.
The subtitle says this was “a tale containing an allegory”, and one can assume the allegoratee here is Death; or perhaps it’s the exact opposite?
Set against the backdrop of 14th century, plague-ridden London two seamen flee a shabby joint after dodging the bill. They find themselves in one of those hot-spot plague quarters that are officially barred from entering by penalty of death. They make their way along and over skeletons and rotten bodies in the street and eventually enter a house where the most peculiar society is gathering and having a drinking bout...
I never would have thought the Poe had it in him to write such a hilarious piece of gallows humor. I loved it.
Whistling past the graveyard is what those seamen do in the face of almost certain death, and this is surely an option - as long as one does it at home, or else the graveyard might whistle back at you.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
April 6, 2024
One of those rare Poe comedic stories that most readers haven’t experienced. It’s a weird little tale with social commentary and some pretty gross, horrific descriptions. I would recommend reading this story if you are interested in exploring the more unknown side of Poe.
October 9, 2020
El Rey Peste es uno de los tempranos relatos de Poe que se encuadran dentro del subgénero de lo grotesco.
La descripción atomosférica de la primer parte del cuento es excelente, cuando el narrador cuenta de qué manera la peste está asolando Londres.
La segunda trata de dos borrachines que escapando de una situación comprometida, se meten dentro de una taberna donde se encuentran con varios personajes de lo más bizarro y que a partir de allí tornará muy absurda la narración, que además de la supuesta alegoría de la que el autor habla, posee un final que pareciera quedar abierto.
La descripción atomosférica de la primer parte del cuento es excelente, cuando el narrador cuenta de qué manera la peste está asolando Londres.
La segunda trata de dos borrachines que escapando de una situación comprometida, se meten dentro de una taberna donde se encuentran con varios personajes de lo más bizarro y que a partir de allí tornará muy absurda la narración, que además de la supuesta alegoría de la que el autor habla, posee un final que pareciera quedar abierto.
December 19, 2022
A rambling confusing drunken tale of a couple of sailors. It didn’t have much of a point.
February 22, 2025
4 hopPESTere Stars
If you'd like the electrifying experience of slapstick with a frisson of visceral horror I encourage you to read this short story, for free, here: https://poemuseum.org/king-pest/
King Pest is the EAP February group read with the dynamic group HORROR OR HEAVEN, https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
If you'd like the electrifying experience of slapstick with a frisson of visceral horror I encourage you to read this short story, for free, here: https://poemuseum.org/king-pest/
King Pest is the EAP February group read with the dynamic group HORROR OR HEAVEN, https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
June 5, 2011
Most people think of dark and despair and horror stories when they think of Edgar Allen Poe - what many don't realize is that he could be pretty funny, too, when the mood struck him. Take this little tale - in it, a pair of drunken sailors, upon ditching a bill, find themselves in the part of London - near the Thames - which has been shut off due to Plague. There they find a most ... interesting assemblage of characters set up in an undertaker's shop, drinking the various wines, ales and so forth that had been stored underneath. The leader announces himself to be King Pest the I and his five followers have titles that include the word "Pest." Between the amusing puns and the hilarious descriptions of the six inhabitants of the Kingdom of Pest, I was rolling - and reading it aloud to my husband so he could take part in the hilarity.
If you have only read Poe's more somber tales, do yourself a favor and check this one out - it will give you a difference perspective on the author!
If you have only read Poe's more somber tales, do yourself a favor and check this one out - it will give you a difference perspective on the author!
October 27, 2025
October 2025 Poe short story #5
Not ONE WORD of this made any sense lolz dying
Not ONE WORD of this made any sense lolz dying
October 28, 2020
4.5 Stars
rounded up to 5 Stars.
King Pest the First. A Tale Containing an Allegory. "The tale is considered by critics to be one of Poe's most puzzling stories in its disturbing combination of horror and humor. In reviewing John H Ingram's edition of Poe's work in 1875 Robert Louis Stevenson determined that this story which describes wanton drunkenness during a plague, marked Poe as an unsympathetic individual: 'He who could write King Pest had ceased to be a human being.' " Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (123)
This is one of Poe's farcical burlesques where he uses extreme violence to create an atmosphere of discomfiture with his readers generating over the top scenarios which in and of themselves become a form of grim humor. In the 1980's this actually became an official sub genre of horror titled "Splatterpunk. " Well why not since sci-fi literature has "Cyberpunk " and "Steampunk"? Considering I already felt Poe had foreshadowed the Cyberpunk genre with The Man that was Used Up as a prototype cyborg it shouldn't suprise anyone Poe would excel in the horror genre of the Victorian era known as the "Penny Dreadful." [horror stories written in pamphlets costing a penny] the "Splatterpunk" of its time. The pejorative term 'penny dreadful' is roughly interchangeable with 'penny horrible,' 'penny awful,' and 'penny blood'. "To introduce himself to the Messenger’s [The Southern Literary Messenger Magazine] readers, Poe sent a new story named “Berenice.” The response was immediate. The public was disgusted and outraged by this gruesome terror tale. [Yep that's right, so much so they couldn't wait to get their hands on the next copy to see just how disgusting that story was going to be]. Such tales, they thought, would warp young people’s minds and bring about the downfall of society. White [the magazine's owner] was furious. Poe was delighted. As Poe explained in a letter to White, this was exactly the kind of story that would sell magazines. Poe offered to supply a new story every month and that each one would be completely unique, unlike anything anyone had ever read. White took Poe up on his offer, and the Messenger’s subscription rate soared. The magazine established a national reputation, and Poe was famous—or infamous—for his imaginative (and sometimes controversial) stories. Thanks to his first horror story, Berenice, Poe was well on his way to becoming the master of the tale of psychological terror. Poe followed Berenice with the horror stories Morella and Ligeia. Years later, Poe wrote that he considered Ligeia his best tale." http://storytellerschannel.com/whos-b...
With Poe's talent and knack for black humor the Victorian version of Splatterpunk was born and latter blossomed with Sweeny Todd's The String of Pearls serial in England.
King Pest the First. A Tale Containing an Allegory. "The tale is considered by critics to be one of Poe's most puzzling stories in its disturbing combination of horror and humor. In reviewing John H Ingram's edition of Poe's work in 1875 Robert Louis Stevenson determined that this story which describes wanton drunkenness during a plague, marked Poe as an unsympathetic individual: 'He who could write King Pest had ceased to be a human being.' " Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (123)
This is one of Poe's farcical burlesques where he uses extreme violence to create an atmosphere of discomfiture with his readers generating over the top scenarios which in and of themselves become a form of grim humor. In the 1980's this actually became an official sub genre of horror titled "Splatterpunk. " Well why not since sci-fi literature has "Cyberpunk " and "Steampunk"? Considering I already felt Poe had foreshadowed the Cyberpunk genre with The Man that was Used Up as a prototype cyborg it shouldn't suprise anyone Poe would excel in the horror genre of the Victorian era known as the "Penny Dreadful." [horror stories written in pamphlets costing a penny] the "Splatterpunk" of its time. The pejorative term 'penny dreadful' is roughly interchangeable with 'penny horrible,' 'penny awful,' and 'penny blood'. "To introduce himself to the Messenger’s [The Southern Literary Messenger Magazine] readers, Poe sent a new story named “Berenice.” The response was immediate. The public was disgusted and outraged by this gruesome terror tale. [Yep that's right, so much so they couldn't wait to get their hands on the next copy to see just how disgusting that story was going to be]. Such tales, they thought, would warp young people’s minds and bring about the downfall of society. White [the magazine's owner] was furious. Poe was delighted. As Poe explained in a letter to White, this was exactly the kind of story that would sell magazines. Poe offered to supply a new story every month and that each one would be completely unique, unlike anything anyone had ever read. White took Poe up on his offer, and the Messenger’s subscription rate soared. The magazine established a national reputation, and Poe was famous—or infamous—for his imaginative (and sometimes controversial) stories. Thanks to his first horror story, Berenice, Poe was well on his way to becoming the master of the tale of psychological terror. Poe followed Berenice with the horror stories Morella and Ligeia. Years later, Poe wrote that he considered Ligeia his best tale." http://storytellerschannel.com/whos-b...
With Poe's talent and knack for black humor the Victorian version of Splatterpunk was born and latter blossomed with Sweeny Todd's The String of Pearls serial in England.
October 3, 2014
This story reminded me of something that Lewis Carroll would write. The macabre descriptions were wonderful and I kept thinking that I was in the Mad Hatter's tea party. I loved the Queen Pest's nose. So grotesquely amusing!
February 8, 2025
https://poemuseum.org/king-pest/
https://poemuseum.org/king-pest/
3.5 if I could, but rounded up to 4, because that's how rounding is supposed to work.
I read this as part of Horror of Heaven's Short Story Marathon on Edgar Allan Poe. This is our 5th short, I believe. In the interest of my laziness and upset stomach both, I am simply going to copy my own words from last night's post in the group thread:
I read this last night and enjoyed it, as I have enjoyed the other Poe reads we have had so far. The naming of the cast of characters is quite fun.
Our two sailors are Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, the tall and the short duo.
Most of us know what a tarp is, a waterproof covering. This, of course, is a shortened form of tarpaulin, which is the name for a greased and tarred canvas cloth that was used to cover items on ships. Interestingly, sailors would often tarred their outer clothing to make themselves waterproof, and often, a sailor would be referred to as a tarpaulin.
Makes me think of Hugh as "the little greasy guy." :)
Tim Hurlygurly, piano player, was an odd bit. I haven't looked at the etymology of that word yet.
And the court of King Pest was quite fun!
Arch Duchess Ana-Pest
Arch Duke Pest-Iferous
Duke Pest-Ilential
Duke Tem-Pest
Now I want to look and see if any artist, illustrator, or fan has created artwork for the Court of King Pest!
-----------------------------------------------------
And lo and behold! There's a shitload of illustrations about our infamous pestilential dinner party. Here's one of my favorites:
https://poemuseum.org/king-pest/
3.5 if I could, but rounded up to 4, because that's how rounding is supposed to work.
I read this as part of Horror of Heaven's Short Story Marathon on Edgar Allan Poe. This is our 5th short, I believe. In the interest of my laziness and upset stomach both, I am simply going to copy my own words from last night's post in the group thread:
I read this last night and enjoyed it, as I have enjoyed the other Poe reads we have had so far. The naming of the cast of characters is quite fun.
Our two sailors are Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, the tall and the short duo.
Most of us know what a tarp is, a waterproof covering. This, of course, is a shortened form of tarpaulin, which is the name for a greased and tarred canvas cloth that was used to cover items on ships. Interestingly, sailors would often tarred their outer clothing to make themselves waterproof, and often, a sailor would be referred to as a tarpaulin.
Makes me think of Hugh as "the little greasy guy." :)
Tim Hurlygurly, piano player, was an odd bit. I haven't looked at the etymology of that word yet.
And the court of King Pest was quite fun!
Arch Duchess Ana-Pest
Arch Duke Pest-Iferous
Duke Pest-Ilential
Duke Tem-Pest
Now I want to look and see if any artist, illustrator, or fan has created artwork for the Court of King Pest!
-----------------------------------------------------
And lo and behold! There's a shitload of illustrations about our infamous pestilential dinner party. Here's one of my favorites:
December 16, 2015
Un fel de alegorie romanţată. E prima dată când îl văd pe Poe aşa... comic.
June 25, 2020
En esta historia, nos encontramos con Legs y Tarpaulin dos marineros de la tripulación de free and easy, que viven un escalofriante encuentro con el rey peste, los dos personajes son muy graciosos, pero no es un de los mejores cuentos de Poe a mi gusto, no esta plagado de lo que lo caracteriza en las otras historias, en las cuales te produce un verdadero terror, un final abierto, malo y cómico, (Decir esto sobre el magnifico Poe, es horrible).
June 7, 2020
This was a nicely written piece of black humour. Set during the plague years in London, this is riddled with dingy streets, dodgy characters and the ever present pestilence of those times. The two main characters are led to a strange house after breaking the law on trespassing past the plague barriers, and the laughs really start then. This is a quick read that is even more relevant during these times of unrest in lockdown, and showcases Poe's gallows humour nicely.
December 3, 2018
He’s a Pest
3 December 2018 – Sydney
Yeah, kings can be right pests at times, though there probably aren’t all that many around these days to really be all that concerned. Well, that is a bit of an understatement considering here in Australia we still have a monarch, though our monarch is actually pretty cool, particularly since she not only was a mechanic during World War II, but when they wanted to use her image for a clip with her walking down a hall with James Bond, she insisted that she actually do it. However, this isn’t actually about a monarch or anything, but rather one of Poe’s more comical stories. Though, I do think this picture is pretty cool:
Yeah, most people wouldn’t equate Edgar Allen Poe with comedy, but he did write a number of tongue in cheek works, though some of them would probably fall more under the category of black humour. In this particular short story, we have some sailors wandering around London, and they find themselves in the middle of a quarantined area (the plague is still causing a lot of problems for people). During their wanderings they find some more people, who turn out to be a king and his subjects – not the king, just somebody claiming the title of king, or at least the king of this particular domain that has been cut off from the rest of the world.
This is an interesting concept, and sure, these particular people do come across as being rather, well, mad, yet in a way they are rulers of this domain. The authorities have basically left everything here to rot, so not surprisingly, where there is a vacuum, and a power vacuum at that, something, or someone, is going to arise to claim authority over that place. This is basically what has happened here.
I guess this is what Poe is exploring here – the nature of power, and the fact that there will always be something or someone attempting to exert power over people. In a way there is probably no place on Earth, or even in existence, where there isn’t somebody claiming to be a king, or claiming authority over the domain. Well, maybe there is but you would have to be totally isolated for that to happen. Even then if you are the only person for miles around, in a realm that nobody has claimed, then no doubt you will end up claiming to be king.
Maybe that is why the king is known as King Pest. In one sense he is the king over an area that is being decimated by the plague. On the other hand, maybe he is just a pest, somebody who has suddenly appeared and is causing problems. The authorities have withdrawn, but this guy, this pest, has appeared and simply won’t go away. That is the nature of pests, they simply stick to you and cause you no end of problems, and no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot get rid of them.
3 December 2018 – Sydney
Yeah, kings can be right pests at times, though there probably aren’t all that many around these days to really be all that concerned. Well, that is a bit of an understatement considering here in Australia we still have a monarch, though our monarch is actually pretty cool, particularly since she not only was a mechanic during World War II, but when they wanted to use her image for a clip with her walking down a hall with James Bond, she insisted that she actually do it. However, this isn’t actually about a monarch or anything, but rather one of Poe’s more comical stories. Though, I do think this picture is pretty cool:
Yeah, most people wouldn’t equate Edgar Allen Poe with comedy, but he did write a number of tongue in cheek works, though some of them would probably fall more under the category of black humour. In this particular short story, we have some sailors wandering around London, and they find themselves in the middle of a quarantined area (the plague is still causing a lot of problems for people). During their wanderings they find some more people, who turn out to be a king and his subjects – not the king, just somebody claiming the title of king, or at least the king of this particular domain that has been cut off from the rest of the world.
This is an interesting concept, and sure, these particular people do come across as being rather, well, mad, yet in a way they are rulers of this domain. The authorities have basically left everything here to rot, so not surprisingly, where there is a vacuum, and a power vacuum at that, something, or someone, is going to arise to claim authority over that place. This is basically what has happened here.
I guess this is what Poe is exploring here – the nature of power, and the fact that there will always be something or someone attempting to exert power over people. In a way there is probably no place on Earth, or even in existence, where there isn’t somebody claiming to be a king, or claiming authority over the domain. Well, maybe there is but you would have to be totally isolated for that to happen. Even then if you are the only person for miles around, in a realm that nobody has claimed, then no doubt you will end up claiming to be king.
Maybe that is why the king is known as King Pest. In one sense he is the king over an area that is being decimated by the plague. On the other hand, maybe he is just a pest, somebody who has suddenly appeared and is causing problems. The authorities have withdrawn, but this guy, this pest, has appeared and simply won’t go away. That is the nature of pests, they simply stick to you and cause you no end of problems, and no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot get rid of them.
February 11, 2021
I found the idea of this story good, but it seemed a bit diluted by the wordiness of it
December 16, 2020
King Pest is another story from Poe that shows his ability to really set the scene, but the story itself failed to grab me. It certainly had me curious to see what was coming next, yet I feel like I missed the point when the story reached the end. Maybe it’s just me missing the point, but this – what is labelled – mix of horror and humour did not work for me.
If nothing else, King Pest is worth reading simply to see if you can solve the puzzling piece.
If nothing else, King Pest is worth reading simply to see if you can solve the puzzling piece.
October 31, 2025
Just in case you didn't know, Poe is a frickin' weirdo. This was a four star piece due to the quality of the writing, but then we get to the end which is just nonsensical, and I decided to drop it to three. , or something like that. Strange, strange, strange. And pointless. Well, I found it so. The full title of this is "King Pest: A Tale Containing an Allegory," but I'm afraid I missed the lesson. Drink a lot and you'll end up with ugly chicks? I don't know.
But what about the prose? It was grrrrrrreat. I don't know why I liked it tonight but couldn't manage to appreciate it in the other Poe stories I've read so far. There were several witty gems. There's a group of drunks at a table, and each of them has an exaggerated facial feature. One man had "a pair of huge goggle eyes (which) rolled up their awful whites towards the ceiling in absolute amazement at their own enormity." It's lines like that which make this worth reading.
I checked the internet to see if someone had drawn a picture of these loons, and it looks like several have. Here's one I really liked.
Check it out.
***All Poe reviews corralled here.***
But what about the prose? It was grrrrrrreat. I don't know why I liked it tonight but couldn't manage to appreciate it in the other Poe stories I've read so far. There were several witty gems. There's a group of drunks at a table, and each of them has an exaggerated facial feature. One man had "a pair of huge goggle eyes (which) rolled up their awful whites towards the ceiling in absolute amazement at their own enormity." It's lines like that which make this worth reading.
I checked the internet to see if someone had drawn a picture of these loons, and it looks like several have. Here's one I really liked.
Check it out.
***All Poe reviews corralled here.***
January 22, 2018
I always love reading reviews from other people. It's always wildly interesting to see everyone's different takes and see how they looked at the story in a completely different way than I did.
Two drunken sailors stumble into a quarantined part of town. They come upon a macabre party in which every character has a grotesquely distorted facial feature. The descriptions were spot-on and wildly disturbing. Each character has a name that includes the word "pest." The drunken sailors decide to take part in the weird little scene, but don't know the rules.
I tried to find some type of symbolism but any ideas I had were vague and incomplete. I really couldn't get past the descriptions of the characters.
...but her nose, extremely long, thin, sinuous, flexible and pimpled, hung down far below her under lip, and in spite of the delicate manner in which she now and then moved it to one side or the other with her tongue, gave to her countenance a somewhat equivocal expression.
Eek!
The ending was quite alarming and unamusing to me because I can never laugh at I just don't find that funny.
Not his worst, but not his best.
Two drunken sailors stumble into a quarantined part of town. They come upon a macabre party in which every character has a grotesquely distorted facial feature. The descriptions were spot-on and wildly disturbing. Each character has a name that includes the word "pest." The drunken sailors decide to take part in the weird little scene, but don't know the rules.
I tried to find some type of symbolism but any ideas I had were vague and incomplete. I really couldn't get past the descriptions of the characters.
...but her nose, extremely long, thin, sinuous, flexible and pimpled, hung down far below her under lip, and in spite of the delicate manner in which she now and then moved it to one side or the other with her tongue, gave to her countenance a somewhat equivocal expression.
Eek!
The ending was quite alarming and unamusing to me because I can never laugh at I just don't find that funny.
Not his worst, but not his best.
January 25, 2023
This is one of Poe's morbid humorous tales--and one I don't think Id ever read before! Although it was a pleasure to experience some new (to me) Poe--exactly the reason why I'm working my way through his complete writings--this one was rather more gruesome than humorous, thus failed to hit the sweet spot of profundity, although it was entertaining enough for sure.
September 19, 2018
If I could draw, it would be an entertainment to draw the characters described. Strange sizes legs and jaws and winding sheets, etc.
Andale Borrachos Estupidos/Go On with your cheap selves You Stupid Drunks. 😃
Andale Borrachos Estupidos/Go On with your cheap selves You Stupid Drunks. 😃
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2017
I'm not sure what to make of this one. It is about a very macabre tavern. It has a grostesque cast of characters and some nonsensical scenes.
June 17, 2025
kinda scary kinda not but surely not the best what poe can do, I don't understand what happened at the end like how could that alcoholic guy overcome that king with that massive forehead, also I just not fcking get it, but overall it wasn't that bad and was a bit cool and swaggy i think,
xoxo yours lovely and sweet MAJA
xoxo yours lovely and sweet MAJA
October 13, 2025
ocena: 2/5 🌻
forma: 🎧
Abstrakcja, dość za bardzo odklejona jak dla mnie, ciekawa ale totalnie nie w moich preferencjach.
[kryteria oceny dla „opowiadania”]
0,7/2 fabuła
0,3/1 logiczność i ciągłość wydarzeń
0,4/1 płynność, spójność i przyjemność w odbiorze
0,4/0,5 „sedno”/ cel/ morał
0,2/0,25 styl pisania autora
0/0,25 wyjątkowość
forma: 🎧
Abstrakcja, dość za bardzo odklejona jak dla mnie, ciekawa ale totalnie nie w moich preferencjach.
[kryteria oceny dla „opowiadania”]
0,7/2 fabuła
0,3/1 logiczność i ciągłość wydarzeń
0,4/1 płynność, spójność i przyjemność w odbiorze
0,4/0,5 „sedno”/ cel/ morał
0,2/0,25 styl pisania autora
0/0,25 wyjątkowość
April 15, 2023
Dobry klimat, ale fabuła jakoś mnie nie zachwyciła.
August 17, 2024
Dream blunt rotation
Read
February 4, 2025medio silly y medio cripi
May 9, 2024
trochę nah, ale ciekawe
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews