PG13- Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (b?)

Poe is the grand master of horror and the macabre. Lovecraft devoted an entire chapter of "Supernatural Horror in Literature" to Poe, with good reason. (HPL's essay is the best summary of Poe that I have seen, though he goes a little overboard in his praise.) I have now read most of his tales and poems, and am slowly working my way through the rest. Poe is also the inventor of the consulting detective story; "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and its sequels are good stories, but are hampered by long explications upon this new concept (which was necessary at the time, but makes dull reading for those of us born after Holmes and Poirot).

The oldest book of Poe's poetry that I have found is Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, with Memoir. Published by Worthington Co. in New York without a publication or copyright date, it contains numerous poems by Poe and two of his essays, "The Poetic Principle" and "The Philosophy of Composition", the latter of which discusses the composition of Poe's "The Raven". At the end, there is a colloquy called "The Power of Words", which is basically a dialogue about knowledge and such from the perspective of being dead. In appearance, this volume is subtley beautiful, with a dark blue-green relief cover and gold-leaf edges. If you can get a copy and are already a Poe fan, do so. This is a treasure to keep in the family.

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Last Updated: March 1, 2000

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