Adam’s Reviews > Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe Poems, Tales, Criticism > Status Update

"How to Write a Blackwood Article": this is really quite silly, and a lot of fun.

"The Fall of the House of Usher": People in the 19th century really feared premature burial, didn't they? It wasn't bad, but I didn't love it.

"Some Passages in the Life of a Lion" - ridiculous and funny. Not what you'd expect from Poe at all. It wasn't great, but I was amused.
"Shadow - a Parable" - a little creepy, I suppose. I could see goth kids getting into it, what with all the black clothes and the ebony table.
"Silence - a Fable" - I'm not sure what to make of it.

So far, most of these have been misses rather than hits.

Of the short works thus far:
"Metzengerstein" - demon horse. Ok.
"Loss of Breath" - odd. Undeath?
"MS. Found in a Bottle" - a weird ocean adventure with no real point. (Probably metaphorical, and I missed the metaphor.) Meh.
"The Assignation" - a lovers' pact. Pretty good, actually.
"Berenice" - was she buried alive, or did he steal the teeth from her corpse? Either way . . . so?

I'm going to cheat on this one and skip the poetry (probably).

This will be a bit of a cheat, since I'll skip the poems and introduction and move right on in to the short stories.