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The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe Volume 5
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5: By Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe The life of American writer Edgar Allan Poe was characterized by a dramatic series of successes and failures, breakdowns and recoveries, personal gains and hopes dashed through, despite which he created some of the finest literature the world has ever known. Over time his works have influenced such major creative forces as the French poets Charles Baudelaire and Andre Gide, filmmaker D.W. Griffith and modern literary legend Allen Ginsberg. Best known for his poems and short fiction, Poe perfected the psychological thriller, invented the detective story, and rarely missed transporting the reader to his own supernatural realm. He has also been hailed posthumously as one of the finest literary critics of the nineteenth century. In The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe fans may indulge in all of Poe's most imaginative short-stories, including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in Rue Morgue, The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia and Ms. In a Bottle. His complete early and miscellaneous poetic masterpieces are here also, including The Raven, Ulalume, Annabel Lee, Tamerlane, Tell-Tale Heart. Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in th We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
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First published January 1, 1903
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About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,892 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 8, 2017
Once again with Poe, this is a really mixed bag. There's some excellent stories, but then others that were so horribly tedious that I ended up just skimming them.
There's some great poems, but then some others that are so horrible they just made me cringe.
Naming someone D’Elormie because you can't think of another phrase to rhyme with o're me, before me and bore me? Ridiculous.
Or the one where he rhymed El Dorado with Shadow? That A is a different sound. They don't rhyme. At least not to the extent that Poe's poems normally do. He's either forcing the rhyme where it shouldn't be forced or mispronouncing El Dorado.
But, regardless of how much a few of his lesser known poems made me cringe, there were others I hadn't heard of before that I really enjoyed. And even with the others that missed the mark, I found it really interesting how many of his themes, rhyming patterns, and even word choices repeated themselves over the years.
There's some great poems, but then some others that are so horrible they just made me cringe.
Naming someone D’Elormie because you can't think of another phrase to rhyme with o're me, before me and bore me? Ridiculous.
Or the one where he rhymed El Dorado with Shadow? That A is a different sound. They don't rhyme. At least not to the extent that Poe's poems normally do. He's either forcing the rhyme where it shouldn't be forced or mispronouncing El Dorado.
But, regardless of how much a few of his lesser known poems made me cringe, there were others I hadn't heard of before that I really enjoyed. And even with the others that missed the mark, I found it really interesting how many of his themes, rhyming patterns, and even word choices repeated themselves over the years.
October 18, 2019
Stories
*Philosophy of Furniture: Poe Does Interior Decorating. It Does Not End Well. While this might be of interest to a historian, to a casual reader it's nothing but tedious.
*A Tale of Jerusalem: So, wait, the punchline is that Jews don't eat pork? *eye roll* What a fucking surprise. Tell us another one, Poe.
****The Sphinx: Some idiot sees a moth up close and mistakes it for a monster at a distance.
****Hop-Frog: A good story of well-deserved revenge.
***The Man of the Crowd: There's actually something about this that reads a lot like a Ray Bradbury story—unsurprising, given how much inspiration he took from Poe. I like that in the end we're left with more answers than questions—the exact nature and reasons of the man who either cannot or will not be alone remain a mystery.
***Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A cautionary tale... don't do stupid things?
***Thou Art the Man: Yeah, it was pretty easy to see where this was going right from the beginning.
**Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling: This looks like a variation on your old standard joke where two male characters are both pursuing the same woman and end up kissing each other instead. The dialogue was just so distorted that it was hard to follow.
***Bon-Bon: Like most of Poe's attempts at humor, this story is hit or miss. The beginning was mostly tedious, but that was a pretty good punchline right at the end.
****Some Words with a Mummy: It did drag in a few places, but there was also a lot in there that was legitimately funny, from the mummy sitting up and demanding that everybody stop zapping it to the ancients being superior to modern day societies in every way but then being shamed by their inferiority to modern fashion, of all things. This definitely made me shudder a bit, though:
That seems downright prophetic, reading it now.
Essays
****The Poetic Principle: Not a story, but rather an essay on poetry from the master himself. His main points are 1) quality over quantity in terms of poem length, 2) poetry should be written for its own sake, not to reveal some deeper truth, and 3) the primary point of poetry is beauty, and to stir the soul.
***Old English Poetry: Good to know that the Nostalgia Filter was a concept that existed even in Poe's time.
Poems of Later Life
Ah, now we get to the good stuff.
*****The Raven: Poe's best known poem, and for good reason. Haunting imagery and excellent use of language.
******The Bells: Still hands-down my favorite poem of all time. Poe's use of sound is so perfect that I still can't bear to hear it read aloud, because no human voice could hope to capture its real essence. The imagery is superb, from children driving sledges through the snow to a happy wedding celebration to the all-consuming fire to ghouls tolling out a funeral in an iron tower. A subject matter we all can relate to, where the bells represent the passage of time and each subsection is another stage of life.
*****Ulalume
***To Helen
***To Helen:
*****Annabel Lee
***A Valentine: Not particularly compelling, and many of the rhymes feel awkward and forced.
***An Enigma: Well, at the very least, the title is appropriate.
****To My Mother: The real-life context makes this one surprisingly touching.
****For Annie: I like the portrayal of death as a release from the suffering of life, and how it's left ambiguous whether the love is a metaphor for death, or death a metaphor for love.
***To F—: My first reaction to the title was to assume that it was covering for an obscenity (you know the one) rather than a name.
***To Frances S. Osgood
****Eldorado: Yep, recently watched a vlog post on the origins of the myth of El Dorado and how by its very nature it's something completely unattainable. This sounds about right.
****Eulalie
*****A Dream within a Dream: Compelling picture of an existential crisis.
***To Marie Louise (Shew)
*****The City in the Sea
*****The Sleeper
*****Bridal Ballad: Okay, this one I like. Especially this line:
Poems of Manhood
****Lenore
****To One in Paradise
****The Coliseum: Nice imagery of desolation where there had once been glory, and definitely one of Poe's better non-rhyming poems.
****The Haunted Palace: Let's face it, I'm a sucker for once-glorious empires that have fallen to ruin and decay.
****The Conquerer Worm
***Silence
****Dream-Land
***Hymn
***To Zante
**Scenes from "Politian": If I wanted to read Shakespeare, I'd be reading Shakespeare.
Poems of Youth
**Sonnet—To Science: Getting really sick of this notion that scientists are closed-minded killjoys and science is responsible for sucking all the wonder out of the world. Anyone who thinks as much need only watch Cosmos to see differently.
*Al Aaraaf: I've tried to read this poem several times and never yet managed to get all the way through it. Sure, the language is pretty enough, but I'd need to sit down with a notebook and a pen and a very thick dictionary just to figure out what it's even supposed to be about.
****Tamerlane
***To Helen: Seriously, how many poems named "To Helen" did Poe write???
****The Valley of Unrest: Very nice picture of a valley that's deserted because it's been depopulated by war.
****Israfel
***To —
***To —: ...why did Poe give so many of his poems identical names?
****To the River —
***Song
****Spirits of the Dead
***A Dream
****Romance
***Fairy-Land
****The Lake — to —
****Evening Star
****"The Happiest Day"
***Imitation
***Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius
****Dreams
****"In Youth I Have Known One"
***A Pæan
Doubtful Poems
****Alone
****To Isadore
***The Village Street
****The Forest Reverie
*Philosophy of Furniture: Poe Does Interior Decorating. It Does Not End Well. While this might be of interest to a historian, to a casual reader it's nothing but tedious.
*A Tale of Jerusalem: So, wait, the punchline is that Jews don't eat pork? *eye roll* What a fucking surprise. Tell us another one, Poe.
****The Sphinx: Some idiot sees a moth up close and mistakes it for a monster at a distance.
****Hop-Frog: A good story of well-deserved revenge.
***The Man of the Crowd: There's actually something about this that reads a lot like a Ray Bradbury story—unsurprising, given how much inspiration he took from Poe. I like that in the end we're left with more answers than questions—the exact nature and reasons of the man who either cannot or will not be alone remain a mystery.
***Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A cautionary tale... don't do stupid things?
***Thou Art the Man: Yeah, it was pretty easy to see where this was going right from the beginning.
**Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling: This looks like a variation on your old standard joke where two male characters are both pursuing the same woman and end up kissing each other instead. The dialogue was just so distorted that it was hard to follow.
***Bon-Bon: Like most of Poe's attempts at humor, this story is hit or miss. The beginning was mostly tedious, but that was a pretty good punchline right at the end.
****Some Words with a Mummy: It did drag in a few places, but there was also a lot in there that was legitimately funny, from the mummy sitting up and demanding that everybody stop zapping it to the ancients being superior to modern day societies in every way but then being shamed by their inferiority to modern fashion, of all things. This definitely made me shudder a bit, though:
We then spoke of the great beauty and importance of Democracy, and were at much trouble in impressing the Count with a due sense of the advantages we enjoyed in living where there was suffrage ad libitum, and no king.
He listened with marked interest, and in fact seemed not a little amused. When we had done, he said that, a great while ago, there had occurred something of a very similar sort. Thirteen Egyptian provinces determined all at once to be free, and to set a magnificent example to the rest of mankind. They assembled their wise men, and concocted the most ingenious constitution it is possible to conceive. For a while they managed remarkably well; only their habit of bragging was prodigious. The thing ended, however, in the consolidation of the thirteen states, with some fifteen or twenty others, in the most odious and insupportable despotism that was ever heard of upon the face of the Earth.
That seems downright prophetic, reading it now.
Essays
****The Poetic Principle: Not a story, but rather an essay on poetry from the master himself. His main points are 1) quality over quantity in terms of poem length, 2) poetry should be written for its own sake, not to reveal some deeper truth, and 3) the primary point of poetry is beauty, and to stir the soul.
***Old English Poetry: Good to know that the Nostalgia Filter was a concept that existed even in Poe's time.
Poems of Later Life
Ah, now we get to the good stuff.
*****The Raven: Poe's best known poem, and for good reason. Haunting imagery and excellent use of language.
******The Bells: Still hands-down my favorite poem of all time. Poe's use of sound is so perfect that I still can't bear to hear it read aloud, because no human voice could hope to capture its real essence. The imagery is superb, from children driving sledges through the snow to a happy wedding celebration to the all-consuming fire to ghouls tolling out a funeral in an iron tower. A subject matter we all can relate to, where the bells represent the passage of time and each subsection is another stage of life.
*****Ulalume
***To Helen
***To Helen:
*****Annabel Lee
***A Valentine: Not particularly compelling, and many of the rhymes feel awkward and forced.
***An Enigma: Well, at the very least, the title is appropriate.
****To My Mother: The real-life context makes this one surprisingly touching.
****For Annie: I like the portrayal of death as a release from the suffering of life, and how it's left ambiguous whether the love is a metaphor for death, or death a metaphor for love.
***To F—: My first reaction to the title was to assume that it was covering for an obscenity (you know the one) rather than a name.
***To Frances S. Osgood
****Eldorado: Yep, recently watched a vlog post on the origins of the myth of El Dorado and how by its very nature it's something completely unattainable. This sounds about right.
****Eulalie
*****A Dream within a Dream: Compelling picture of an existential crisis.
***To Marie Louise (Shew)
*****The City in the Sea
*****The Sleeper
*****Bridal Ballad: Okay, this one I like. Especially this line:
And thus the words were spoken,
And this the plighted vow,
And, though my faith be broken,
And, though my heart be broken,
Behold the golden token
That proves me happy now!
Poems of Manhood
****Lenore
****To One in Paradise
****The Coliseum: Nice imagery of desolation where there had once been glory, and definitely one of Poe's better non-rhyming poems.
****The Haunted Palace: Let's face it, I'm a sucker for once-glorious empires that have fallen to ruin and decay.
****The Conquerer Worm
***Silence
****Dream-Land
***Hymn
***To Zante
**Scenes from "Politian": If I wanted to read Shakespeare, I'd be reading Shakespeare.
Poems of Youth
**Sonnet—To Science: Getting really sick of this notion that scientists are closed-minded killjoys and science is responsible for sucking all the wonder out of the world. Anyone who thinks as much need only watch Cosmos to see differently.
*Al Aaraaf: I've tried to read this poem several times and never yet managed to get all the way through it. Sure, the language is pretty enough, but I'd need to sit down with a notebook and a pen and a very thick dictionary just to figure out what it's even supposed to be about.
****Tamerlane
***To Helen: Seriously, how many poems named "To Helen" did Poe write???
****The Valley of Unrest: Very nice picture of a valley that's deserted because it's been depopulated by war.
****Israfel
***To —
***To —: ...why did Poe give so many of his poems identical names?
****To the River —
***Song
****Spirits of the Dead
***A Dream
****Romance
***Fairy-Land
****The Lake — to —
****Evening Star
****"The Happiest Day"
***Imitation
***Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius
****Dreams
****"In Youth I Have Known One"
***A Pæan
Doubtful Poems
****Alone
****To Isadore
***The Village Street
****The Forest Reverie
October 20, 2013
It appears I accidentally clicked on Volume 5 first, but how can I not love anything that starts with an essay about the philosophy of furniture and contains this line: "Yet I have heard fellows discourse of carpets with the visage of a sheep in reverie — “d’un mouton qui rêve” — who should not and who could not be entrusted with the management of their own moustachios."
Sure, between the furniture and the Romans besieging Jews it's not been at all what I expected, but so far it's wonderful.
What I ended up liking best about this volume was the anticipation of scary. Even if a given short story wasn't particularly spooky, I'd get all worked up expecting that it would be. At one point I was reading this in the Pyeongtaek train station and Wyatt scared the shit out of me when he arrived and touched my shoulder.
Unfortunately for me, then we hit the poetry bit. I liked The Raven but everything after was all downhill. The problem could be me: I'm not a poetry reader. I find that I can read it and find the rhythm and perhaps a line or a few together will make sense, but after that the poem tends to flow over me and make no sense overall. Since the last third of this volume was all poetry (or even worse, an essay about what makes real poetry), it ended up disappointing a fair bit.
That said, I do intend to try and read the first four volumes over the next four Octobers, so perhaps Poe will be redeemed for me at some point.
Also, that essay about furniture was pure win.
Sure, between the furniture and the Romans besieging Jews it's not been at all what I expected, but so far it's wonderful.
What I ended up liking best about this volume was the anticipation of scary. Even if a given short story wasn't particularly spooky, I'd get all worked up expecting that it would be. At one point I was reading this in the Pyeongtaek train station and Wyatt scared the shit out of me when he arrived and touched my shoulder.
Unfortunately for me, then we hit the poetry bit. I liked The Raven but everything after was all downhill. The problem could be me: I'm not a poetry reader. I find that I can read it and find the rhythm and perhaps a line or a few together will make sense, but after that the poem tends to flow over me and make no sense overall. Since the last third of this volume was all poetry (or even worse, an essay about what makes real poetry), it ended up disappointing a fair bit.
That said, I do intend to try and read the first four volumes over the next four Octobers, so perhaps Poe will be redeemed for me at some point.
Also, that essay about furniture was pure win.
May 5, 2016
In this final volume of the works of Poe we are at the conclusion of all his literary writings. Included in this volume are his poems, thoughts of poetry, some stories, a play and surprisingly an article written about decorating called “Furniture”. Needless to say the man to me was a enigma and not surprisingly that there is an under current of a melancholy which accompanies quite a deal of the work throughout the 5 volumes. Not always macabre in nature but some bits of humor shining though. UN-appreciated in his life, even after death his obituary notice in the New York Times by Griswold is not flattering. “this announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it”. But Griswold, we remember Poe but who are you? I found it interesting that their was a dedication to a published work of his poems as follows... Poems “To the noblest of her sex, The author of “The Drama of Exile”-to Miss Elizabeth Barrett Browning of England, I dedicate this volume with the most enthusiastic admiration and with the most sincere esteem. 1845 E.A.P. The most notable poems Poe wrote would likely be “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”, but my favorite is “Alone” which I think best sums up Poe the man and his brief life.
March 2, 2020
I was totally obsessed with Edgar All Poe as a teenager, I couldn't get enough! I can't believe that I forgot to add it to my read books list!
February 16, 2022
This final volume was the shortest by far, and had a few favorites; those being Hop Frog and Never Bet the Devil Your Head. I had read the latter many years back, and enjoyed it every bit as much with a second reading. Again, there were a few essays that were borderline boring for me. I enjoy Poe's imaginative work much better than his criticism and essays. Regardless, I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and was inspired to buy a complete collection for my Kindle which will be for future reading of specific favorites from Poe's body of work. This has been a fun and enlightening experience, and I am even more of a Poe fan for having read these five volumes. I highly recommend reading them all for anyone interested in Poe's work. It is a fine way to spend the two coldest months of the year!
January 12, 2025
This is the first Edgar Allan Poe I've read. I must admit that it was pure notions on my part that I started reading him at all. But my goodness, I absolutely loved it. The Gold Bug story was utterly brilliant. I couldn't read it quick enough to find out what was happening. I loved, of course, The Tell-Tale Heart but also Oblong Box and many others. The odd story was a bit pants, but I'll forgive much from someone who can write the likes of The Spectacles. Top drawer all round. Good on ye, Eddy!
November 24, 2020
Beş kitaplık serinin son kitabı....
Bu kitabın bence en güzel hikayesi Nantucketli Arthur Gordon Pym'in Öyküsü...
Öykü biraz muğlak şekilde bittiği için bir başka favori yazarım Jules Verne, Buzlar Sfenksi adlı bir devam romanı yazmış olmalı diye düşünüyorum.
Gotik korkunun bir başka üstadı Lovecraft ise Çılgınlık Dağlarında adlı müthiş öyküsünü bu novella'dan etkilenerek yazmıştır.
Kesinlikle okunması gerekiyor, kaçırmayın.
Bu kitabın bence en güzel hikayesi Nantucketli Arthur Gordon Pym'in Öyküsü...
Öykü biraz muğlak şekilde bittiği için bir başka favori yazarım Jules Verne, Buzlar Sfenksi adlı bir devam romanı yazmış olmalı diye düşünüyorum.
Gotik korkunun bir başka üstadı Lovecraft ise Çılgınlık Dağlarında adlı müthiş öyküsünü bu novella'dan etkilenerek yazmıştır.
Kesinlikle okunması gerekiyor, kaçırmayın.
January 26, 2021
Entertaining collection of short stories and essays by Edgar Allen Poe.
1. Philosophy of Furniture
2. A Tale of Jerusalem
3. The Sphinx
4. Hop-Frog
5. The Man of the Crowd
6. Never Bet the Devil Your Head
7. Thou Art the Man
8. Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling
9. Bon-Bon
10. Some Words with a Mummy
11. The Poetic Principle
12. Old English Poetry
1. Philosophy of Furniture
2. A Tale of Jerusalem
3. The Sphinx
4. Hop-Frog
5. The Man of the Crowd
6. Never Bet the Devil Your Head
7. Thou Art the Man
8. Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling
9. Bon-Bon
10. Some Words with a Mummy
11. The Poetic Principle
12. Old English Poetry
August 23, 2020
I'll bump it up to two stars for the raven.
April 28, 2024
Philosophy of Furniture 2* - Poe discusses interior decorating.
A Tale of Jerusalem 1* - This is suppose to be ...a mocking? Satire? Homage? to a Bible story, but it's not very clear.
The Sphinx 3* - A man is visiting a relative's home during a cholera epidemic. He is reading near an open window gazing at the river when he sees a monstrous beast. . Personally, I think this is a sign he probably has contracted the disease.
Hop-Frog 5* - I recently read an article that detailed the Bal des Ardents in 1393 under Charles VI of France, which was the inspiration for Hop-Frog. When the court dwarves suffer at the hands of the king, Hop-Frog decides to take matters into his own hands but convincing the king and his councillors to dress in flammable costumes and sets them aflame at the masquerade.
The Man of the Crowd 2.5* - Our narrator is a people-watcher, but when his fascination with one person in the crowd takes hold, he becomes a stalker.
Never Bet the Devil Your Head 5* - The part I love most about this one is this is basically Poe flipping a bird (A Raven? ba-dum-tss) at the transcendentalist movement by featuring a character named Toby Dammit who gets his comeuppance in a strange situation.
Thou Art the Man 3* - A short murder mystery. This one I had to go back and start several times, which is why my rating is not as high, but it does have a creepy twist.
Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling 1* - I have no clue why he wears his hand in a sling. Poe was trying to write in a Scottish brogue, which means writing in dialect (which I absolutely hate) and most of the words are misspelled.
Some Words with a Mummy 2* - A group of men open the sarcophagus of a mummy to which he awakens and chastises them like a Victorian gentleman and explains history.
The Poetic Principle 1* - An essay on writing a poem.
Old English Poetry 1* - Another essay regarding older poetry.
Poems 3*
A Tale of Jerusalem 1* - This is suppose to be ...a mocking? Satire? Homage? to a Bible story, but it's not very clear.
The Sphinx 3* - A man is visiting a relative's home during a cholera epidemic. He is reading near an open window gazing at the river when he sees a monstrous beast. . Personally, I think this is a sign he probably has contracted the disease.
Hop-Frog 5* - I recently read an article that detailed the Bal des Ardents in 1393 under Charles VI of France, which was the inspiration for Hop-Frog. When the court dwarves suffer at the hands of the king, Hop-Frog decides to take matters into his own hands but convincing the king and his councillors to dress in flammable costumes and sets them aflame at the masquerade.
The Man of the Crowd 2.5* - Our narrator is a people-watcher, but when his fascination with one person in the crowd takes hold, he becomes a stalker.
Never Bet the Devil Your Head 5* - The part I love most about this one is this is basically Poe flipping a bird (A Raven? ba-dum-tss) at the transcendentalist movement by featuring a character named Toby Dammit who gets his comeuppance in a strange situation.
Thou Art the Man 3* - A short murder mystery. This one I had to go back and start several times, which is why my rating is not as high, but it does have a creepy twist.
Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling 1* - I have no clue why he wears his hand in a sling. Poe was trying to write in a Scottish brogue, which means writing in dialect (which I absolutely hate) and most of the words are misspelled.
Some Words with a Mummy 2* - A group of men open the sarcophagus of a mummy to which he awakens and chastises them like a Victorian gentleman and explains history.
The Poetic Principle 1* - An essay on writing a poem.
Old English Poetry 1* - Another essay regarding older poetry.
Poems 3*
April 8, 2013
I love this book. The poems in this book are so twisted and dark, I love poems like this. I love the extremely dark and no happiness in poems. It makes the poems seem more real to me and not so fantasyish and un-real. Love it, love it, and love it. I also love the fact that I can not sleep at night after reading some of these poems because they are so scary and again, makes it feel so realistic. Then he has his romantic, sweet and sad poems which I love as well. I can feel the emotions in all of his poems and that is what makes his poems come to life and the best ones ever.
June 4, 2012
I was kind of ho hum on this one and liked volumes 1-4 better. It's not that I found the stories bad or poor but just seemed to like the other volumes a bit more. My favorite from this collection was 'Some words with a mummy'
May 22, 2013
I like Poe but this volume wasn't my favorite. This volume contained some of his poetry which in itself was good but I am not that in to poetry. When you consider the totality of his work Poe remains one of the masters.
May 12, 2018
Except for Thou Art The Man, most of the stories in this volume were poor. What makes this volume worth reading is the poems collection within its latter half. They're as plenty as Poe's short stories collection, but they're worth the effort.
November 11, 2008
Goofy tales, moral tales and more fancy. Oh Poe, you silly sad man.
November 26, 2012
Mainly because the poems were listed, but not included in this volume.
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December 2, 2012so very good .evry one does need to read this
November 3, 2013
This volume contains Hop Frog and The Raven. Otherwise, I found it pretty dull.
December 28, 2013
The poems don't show up in this Kindle version, which is really too bad.
August 15, 2016
This is the volume of this series that contains all of Poe's poetry. I admit I don't enjoy poetry as much as prose and, so, didn't enjoy this volume as much as the others.
November 18, 2018
Note to Poe: "Thou Art the Man"!
July 8, 2019
The short stories in this one were kind of hit or miss, but the second half is all his poetry which is wonderful.
September 3, 2012
tell tale heart is my all time favorite
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