The Illustrated Poetry

by Edgar Allan Poe

A beautiful edition of the mysterious, brooding poetry of Poe enhanced by the romantic illustrations of Edmund Dulac, whose brilliant interpretations were ideal for Poe's hypnotic words.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

216 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1978

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

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this poetry book aloud with my daughter. Some of it flowed lyrically and smooth while others were like tongue twisters that winded me. My favorite poem, besides the famous popular ones, was For Annie.

[Isabella Doucette · Rating 5 out of 5]

what is there to say about Edgar Allan Poe that has not already been said.

[Sam Sanfratello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultimate Poe

If you like Poe, you like Poe. This ultimate compilation has some of his best work. Give it a try.

[Vicente del Cid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much as with Wilde, I find myself feeling disconnected from those works steeped in mythology. I can appreciate the artistry of them, but they aren’t as viscerally compelling to me. Those poems which do connect though, make the entire reading worth it. I especially enjoyed finding those gems which haven’t stuck in the zeitgeist so much or don’t often get taught in school. Both “For Annie” and “Alone” were like finding treasure. It was also interesting to see the beginnings of what would eventually became cosmic horror and that brand of language so associated with Lovecraft.