Books with title Edgar Allan Poe

Filled with broken hearts and black ravens, Edgar Allan Poe’s ghastly tales have delighted readers for centuries. Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at age two. He was soon adopted by a Virginia family who worked as tombstone merchants. In 1827 he enlisted in the Army and subsequently failed out of West Point. His first published story, The Raven, was a huge success, but his joy was overshadowed by the death of his wife. Poe devoted his life to writing and his tragic life often inspired his work. He is considered to be the inventor of detective fiction and the father of American mystery writers. His work continues to influence popular culture through films, music, literature, and television.

A white family adopts a small black child and then, because they are fearful of what will happen in their small town, make a terrible decision."This is not a novel about prejudice or race relations or brotherhood It is about parents and children, young people and older people, about love and failure, loss and discovery, coming to terms with ourselves and others. Edgar Allan is a work of art."-The New York TimesAn American Library Association Notable BookAn Outstanding Book of the Year, The New York Times

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most famous American writers of all time. Yet he was almost ignored while he was alive. He spent much of his life in desperate struggle trying to earn enough money to support himself. As a child, he was an excellent athlete. As he grew older, he was subject to fits of depression and became an alcoholic. He was thrown out of the U.S. Military Academy. He had a hard time holding a steady job. He married his 13-year-old cousin. His problems may have been a result of losing both his parents when he was very young. Poe's turmoil is reflected in his stories and poems. They show the horror and anguish that he almost always felt.

Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps best known as a writer of mystery tales. However, he was also of great importance as a poet -- a serious craftsman who influenced many later writers and himself took bold, imaginative strides into the future.While some of his poems have the macabre overtones of his stories, others are simple, lyrical expressions of emotion evoking a timeless and haunting quality.This selection of his verse is accompanied throughout by watercolours painted by Edmund Dulac for The Bells and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, 1912.

The works of American author Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) include many poems, short stories, and one novel. His fiction spans multiple genres, including horror fiction, adventure, science fiction, and detective fiction, a genre he is credited with inventing. These works are generally considered part of the Dark romanticism movement, a literary reaction to Transcendentalism. Poe's writing reflects his literary theories: he disagreed with didacticism and allegory. Meaning in literature, he said in his criticism, should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface; works whose meanings are too obvious cease to be art. Poe pursued originality in his works, and disliked proverbs. He often included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. Though known as a masterly practitioner of Gothic fiction, Poe did not invent the genre; he was following a long-standing popular tradition.Poe's literary career began in 1827 with the release of 50 copies of Tamerlane and Other Poems credited only to "a Bostonian", a collection of early poems that received virtually no attention. In December 1829, Poe released Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in Baltimore before delving into short stories for the first time with "Metzengerstein" in 1832. His most successful and most widely read prose during his lifetime was "The Gold-Bug", which earned him a $100 prize, the most money he received for a single work. One of his most important works, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", was published in 1841 and is today considered the first modern detective story. Poe called it a "tale of ratiocination". Poe became a household name with the publication of "The Raven" in 1845,though it was not a financial success. The publishing industry at the time was a difficult career choice and much of Poe's work was written using themes specifically catered for mass market tastes.