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Poetry, Tales and Selected Essays
Gathers Poe's poems, tales, and sketches, along with his longer works of fiction and essays on poetry and literature, and offers a chronology of his life and information on his work.
1520 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
33 people are currently reading
286 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,902 books28.7k 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 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 22, 2022
J’ai (re)lu:
Metzengerstein
Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille
Bérénice
Morella
Ligeia
La Chute de la maison Usher
William Wilson
Double assassinat dans la Rue Morgue
Le Portrait ovale
Le Masque de la mort rouge
Le Mystère de Marie Roget
Le Puits et le pendule
Le Cœur révélateur
Le Scarabée d’or
Le Chat noir
L’Enterrement prématuré
La Lettre volée
La Vérité sur le cas de M. Valdemar
Metzengerstein
Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille
Bérénice
Morella
Ligeia
La Chute de la maison Usher
William Wilson
Double assassinat dans la Rue Morgue
Le Portrait ovale
Le Masque de la mort rouge
Le Mystère de Marie Roget
Le Puits et le pendule
Le Cœur révélateur
Le Scarabée d’or
Le Chat noir
L’Enterrement prématuré
La Lettre volée
La Vérité sur le cas de M. Valdemar
January 14, 2009
This review applies to the Library of America "Poetry and Tales," which I read, somewhat masochistically, cover to cover.
The most famous pieces are unquestionably satisfying and admirable, melding high Romantic aspirations with pulpy sensationalism and making it look easy. Sometimes one is the style and the other substance, and sometimes the other way around. I will always have a place in my heart for them.
But the corpus read in its entirety is the story of a sad, troubled, lonely man's "uncongenial, unsatisfactory and ungrateful life," and even the spotlight works reveal themselves as simply the chance high points in his uneven, cynical, and frequently nerdy efforts in the tawdry magazine business. His real aspirations were to be a renowned poet - not of crowd-pleasers like "The Raven" but of wild-eyed gunk and crackpot pseudo-philosophy - and those aspirations were never achieved, as they probably never could have been.
The less you know of Poe's output and biography, the more substantial and gratifying his famous works will seem. So just stick to those, I say.
The most famous pieces are unquestionably satisfying and admirable, melding high Romantic aspirations with pulpy sensationalism and making it look easy. Sometimes one is the style and the other substance, and sometimes the other way around. I will always have a place in my heart for them.
But the corpus read in its entirety is the story of a sad, troubled, lonely man's "uncongenial, unsatisfactory and ungrateful life," and even the spotlight works reveal themselves as simply the chance high points in his uneven, cynical, and frequently nerdy efforts in the tawdry magazine business. His real aspirations were to be a renowned poet - not of crowd-pleasers like "The Raven" but of wild-eyed gunk and crackpot pseudo-philosophy - and those aspirations were never achieved, as they probably never could have been.
The less you know of Poe's output and biography, the more substantial and gratifying his famous works will seem. So just stick to those, I say.
September 12, 2017
I didn't read all of this volume, but 100 pages of excerpts were enough to remind me of Poe's genius. His essay "The Philosophy of Composition" is remarkable for its behind-the-scenes explanation of how he wrote "The Raven" — and the degree to which he was simply showing off his literary skill in that poem!
January 20, 2018
A terrible writer of verse and prose, but what an incredible imagination! He was the inventor of so many genres/sub-genres that we take for granted today.
This Library of America paperback is the best-value single-volume edition I have encountered, containing, in addition to all of his stories and poems, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and his important essay, 'The Poetic Principle'.
This Library of America paperback is the best-value single-volume edition I have encountered, containing, in addition to all of his stories and poems, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and his important essay, 'The Poetic Principle'.
November 9, 2020
I am a huge fan of Edgar Allen Poe. I have read this book many times since I got it as a birthday gift 2011. I love the strange stories and poetry. They were my favorite during childhood and still are wonderful to read to this day.
May 25, 2019
The finest collection of the works of Edgar Allan Poe currently available.
September 27, 2021
My heart belongs to Edgar Allan Poe, so a definite 5 stars.
November 25, 2025
Some tales are just amazing! Others are just ordinary
May 24, 2012
I'll be honest and say that I haven't actually read the entirety of this book, but I did read enough of a selection over the course of four months to be able to give it an adequate review. The book contains only Poe's works without much explanation and minimal endnotes. Poe is an author who is largely overlooked in the literary canon, but he is also one whose works cover a far wider range than I think most people realize. Both his poetry and short stories are filled with a wide variety of subject matter, though most can be categorized as equivocal gothic. His lesser known essays are insightful for attempting to discern how Poe views such topics as writing poetry, the material and spiritual universe (which was remarkably progressive), and composition in general. There are two things that I feel are lacking in this particular edition of Poe's works. First, the organization is a little annoying because in order to find on which page a certain short story starts, you have to first turn to the short story section before you find a table of contents; it would be much better if there were a larger table of contents at the beginning of the volume. Second, though there is a chronology in the back of the book, it would be nice to have a small note on the original publishing information of each poem, story, and essay, even if there is no explanatory note appended. All in all, this is a book worth having, even if it is only perused from time to time for specific stories or poems.
September 9, 2007
I couldn't find COMPLETE TALES AND SKETCHES vols. 1&2 published by the University of Illinois another excellent compilation. I couldn't remember if there were poems, I don't think so. I inheireted an excellent non-authoritative text from my grandparents house. Which is the only thing I was allowed to have-- the complete works of Poe including the letters and some editorials he had written---lucky me. THis book is out of print.
June 5, 2010
He is my favorite author. Some of his stories don't seem that twisted and macabre when read, but if you think about it and place yourself in the situation, it makes your skin crawl a bit. I think that one of my favorite stories of his are "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Masque of the Red Death."
January 13, 2012
Because of my short time limit with the book, considering it was my former Highschool English Teacher's, I finished it within 24 hours.
Poe amazes me and always will. This book was a good taste of how much of a true writer he is. His pain, hatred, and all of that put into one novel is phenomenal . Bravo Poe ! BRAVO
Poe amazes me and always will. This book was a good taste of how much of a true writer he is. His pain, hatred, and all of that put into one novel is phenomenal . Bravo Poe ! BRAVO
Want to read
June 16, 2013I'm just going to put this copy as the one I have, since the other one doesn't look like it either. And this is the only "Tales, Poems, Essays" book by Edgar Allen Poe that looks remotely like the one I have now.
Mine's [fake, I assume] leather and solid red. In gold font on the side it says the title and author.
Mine's [fake, I assume] leather and solid red. In gold font on the side it says the title and author.
December 29, 2009
Everything you would expect and much, much more. Good spooky stories, plus humor (and sometimes both in the same story!). Even his lesser known works were interesting to read because he is such a master at describing an image and creating a mood.
September 9, 2015
It's Poe. His short stories are excellent! His poetry, lacking. His criticism, biting! His "Philosophy of Composition," full of hot air. For my Popsugar reading challenge, this is my short story collection.
July 15, 2012
“Poe's writing is elevated and original, and his inventive delivery of tale in terror and detective forms paved the way for an American literature.”
September 28, 2012
'Permanent loan' from my father. One of my early introductions to the genre
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews