A Presentation of the Literary Works of Edgar Allan Poe

By Daniel Zimmermann

These reviews are a good introduction to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. They give all the essentials of the plots of many of his stories and aptly explain the character of his works. This second edition treats three extra stories: Hop-frog. A Descent into the Malström, and The Imp of the Perverse. Also treated are The Raven, Anabelle Lee, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, Ligeia, The Gold Bug. The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Berenice, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Mask of Red Death, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
For each selection, I briefly retell the story and add critical comments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312408081

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A Presentation of the Literary Works of Edgar Allan Poe

A Presentation of the Literary Works of Edgar Allan Poe

By Daniel Zimmermann

Introduction

The following reviews are a good introduction to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. They give all the essentials of the plots of many of his stories and aptly explain the character of his works.

The first review is a general description of the works of Poe. The second treats Poe’s only novel. It is followed by twelve reviews of various short stories and poems, including The Raven, Annabelle Lee, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Gold Bug, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Masque of Red Death.

All the above were treated in the first edition of this e-book. This second edition treats three additional stories:Hop-frog, A Descent into the Maelström, and The Imp of the Perverse.

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe

For the purpose of this article, I am arbitrarily dividing Poe's works into four categories: short stories with a macabre twist, detective stories, humorous essays, and poetry. Poe also wrote reviews of contemporary literary works, but I shall not include them in this essay.

Short Stories with a Macabre Twist

Many of you have read such tales as The Cask of Amontillado, in which Montresor lures Fortunato into a crypt, chains him to a wall, seals the entrance to the crypt with masonry, and leaves him to die. Other familiar tales are The Pit and the Pendulum, The Mask of Red Death, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

However, I doubt whether many have read Ligeia. Ligeia is the beautiful dark-haired wife of an unnamed husband. She is very intelligent and uses her great intellectual endowments to please her beloved husband. She seems to know instinctively what he desires and faithfully fulfills his unexpressed needs.

Ligeia becomes sick; and as she dies, she tells her husband how much she loves him. She expresses her indignation at death by reciting a poem in which angels watch a drama in which the mimes fly hither and thither until they become the food of the conquering worm. Nevertheless, she feels that death cannot overcome her completely.

After the death of Ligeia, the husband marries a fair-haired girl named Rowena. In the second month of their marriage, Rowena becomes sick. Her husband seems to perceive a shadow moving about in the room and notices sinister drops falling into the drink of his new wife. Rowena dies soon thereafter. Later, as he is engaged in the customary vigil near the body of Rowena, the corpse comes back to life, and the husband recognizes the black hair and the wild eyes of his lost Ligeia.

Detective Stories

Edgar Allan Poe wrote detective stories before Arthur Conan Doyle was born. He is credited with inventing the genre.

The Gold Bug is a sort of mystery. There is no crime to solve in this story, but William Legrand must exhibit detective-like ingenuity as he puzzles over a cryptic message leading to the location of Captain Kidd's treasure.

The real detective stories are those featuring Auguste Dupin, namely, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, and The Purloined Letter.

The crime scene in The Murders in the Rue Morgue, illustrates Poe's penchant for the macabre. One of the bodies has-been thrust up the chimney with superhuman force, and the evidence indicates that the murderer slashed wildly with a razor blade.

The police were unable to solve the mystery. The room was locked from the inside, and it would have required superhuman agility to enter and leave by the window. In addition, several witnesses heard the high-pitched voice of the murderer, but none of them could understand what he was saying. Each witness identified the speech as a foreign language, but they did not agree on what language it was.

Dupin reasoned that an animal would utter sounds that no one could understand. He concluded that it would have to be an animal with sufficient strength and agility to thrust a body up a chimney and enter and exit by a window inaccessible to human beings. Eventually he located the guilty orangutan.

Humorous Essays

Poe's humor is strange. It often