Ethan’s Reviews > Complete Tales and Poems > Status Update

“Philosophy of Furniture”: Am I really thinking about rating as essay about home decoration as one of Poe’s best works? Funny, very readable, convincing (if potentially problematic in places). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

“A Tale of Jerusalem”: Romans play a prank(?) on some Jews during a siege of Jerusalem. An empty, meaningless waste of time. ⭐️⭐️ ½

“Shadow - A Parable”: Too short to really contain a narrative. Contains strong imagery, but it’s buried in establishing the setting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

“Silence - A Fable”: Not particularly entertaining or interesting. The repetitiveness was mildly annoying, enough to drop it half a point. ⭐️⭐️ ½

“The Colloquy of Monos and Una”: Monos sucks, and this is another afterlife conversation without much happening. But he writes beautifully about death by the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

“The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion”: Telling an old friends about the end of the world in the afterlife. Long-winded and less interesting than the last one. ⭐️⭐️ ½

“The Power of Words”: A philosophical conversation between an angel and a dead guy. Nothing happens, but too short to be a drag. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Maelzel’s Chess-player”: A well-written essay debunking a real-life, chess-playing automaton. An interesting read and window into Poe’s thought process, but not a story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

“The Man That Was Used Up”: This is a story about the narrator asking about someone and never getting a straight answer. It’s exactly as boring and frustrating as it sounds. ⭐️⭐️ ½

“Mellonta Tauta”: A rumination on how and what we remember of history, made more interesting by the years since it was written. Occasionally funny, and occasionally too long. ⭐️⭐️⭐️½