Maegan-Edgar+Allen+Poe


 * The Collected Works Of Edgar Allen Poe**



 Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His mother died when he was only two years old and he then moved in with a man named John Allen and the rest of his family. Poe went to school in England and Richmond, and then enrolled at the University of Virginia. An unknown fact about Poe is that he enlisted in the United States Army in 1827 and served two years. Edgar Allen Poe has published three poetry books, and had 5 of his stories featured in Philadelphia Saturday Courier.  Also Poe married his cousin, Virginia Clemm. He is known mostly for his very successful short story Tell Tale Heart, which is required reading in eight grade. Poe died on October 7, 1849; the cause of his death is still unknown to this day. He has a reputation for writing twisted, and tortured tales. His poetry could shock even the most rugged of people and tells stories that you would never imagine. He is a well known author and will no doubt be remembered as long as his work lives.

In this book, there are twenty-two short stories written by Edgar Allen Poe. They range from a stranded sailor who leaps aboard an eerie futuristic ship filled with blind and deaf elders; to a insane house servant who hates his master for a lazy eye; to an incest house which isn't sturdy, psychologically or physically. They are all connected in their originality and their crude, disturbing content.

The book worked and didn't work for several reasons. It worked because every story is interesting and original, and it's always exciting to see what's next, Poe keeps the audience guessing and maintains their captivation. No stories are connected so there isn't repetition. Also Poe was very good at using literature to paint a picture It didn't work because the language used in the stories was difficult to follow and the paragraphs were long. "For the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible" (Fall of the House of Usher 49). Also the ideas were just plain hard to fully understand and it got confusing more than once. However the book was more interesting than confusing.

The selections in this book fit under the genre of fiction. They could be found under Poe's name in the local library. The book follows a style that only could be described as pertaining to Edgar Allen Poe himself. His stories are very personal and very interesting. I recommend this book to anyone who like to go see horror movies. So if you like those weird people, who don't need motive, the psychopaths then you should read this book. It's classic, yet original. Definitely worth looking it up. Here's my favorite selection:

"If you still think me mad, you will no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms an the legs" (Tell Tale Heart 196). 