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. The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. 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. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself.

Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.

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. 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. 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 The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. Poe no doubt was a man with the capability to make the most horrific into dramatic, beautiful and sublime :). The essays were a bit of a bore for me, but through the letters I could understand the mind behind the tales and poems. A little advice, if any one starts reading his work, then make them read the poems and then the stories, as I feel the poems sets the mood for the works that will commence. I especially loved the poems and the tales. Poe no doubt was a man with the capability to make the most hor A collection which should be the gateway for anyone who wants to get introduced to Edgar Allan Poe. A collection which should be the gateway for anyone who wants to get introduced to Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar allan poe famous books