Cover of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1

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  • 6 hours to read
  • 9 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1" by Edgar Allan Poe is a collection of various literary works, likely written in the mid-19th century. This volume presents a comprehensive look at Poe’s contributions to the genres of horror, mystery, and poetry, showcasing his unique ability to navigate themes of melancholy and the supernatural. This collection includes not only the celebrated tales such as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," but also illuminating prefaces and analyses of his life and works, inviting readers to delve into the mind of one of America's most iconic writers. The beginning of this volume contains a preface, touching upon Poe's life, struggles, and literary achievements, and it sets the tone for the exploration of his works. Notably, it includes reflections on his early life, detailing his adoption by John Allan, his education, and his tumultuous relationships, as well as mentions of his formative experiences and the challenges he faced in his literary career. The opening gives readers insight into the origins of works that blend the macabre with the poetic, suggesting that Poe's life experiences deeply influenced his storytelling. Moreover, it serves as an introduction to the themes of despair, beauty, and complexity that define his body of work, preparing readers for the profound explorations ahead.

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  • Fantasy fiction
  • Horror tales, American
  • American fiction · 19th century
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849

Read the opening

Edgar Allan Poe

By James Russell Lowell

The situation of American literature is anomalous. It has no
centre, or, if it have, it is like that of the sphere of Hermes.
It is divided into many systems, each revolving round its several
suns, and often presenting to the rest only the faint glimmer of
a milk-and-water way. Our capital city, unlike London or Paris,
is not a great central heart from which life and vigor radiate to
the extremities, but resembles more an isolated umbilicus stuck
down as near as may be to the centre of the land, and seeming
rather to tell a legend of former usefulness than to serve any
present need. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, each has its
literature almost more distinct than those of the different
dialects of Germany; and the Young Queen of the West has also one
of her own, of which some articulate rumor barely has reached us
dwellers by the Atlantic.

Perhaps there is no task more difficult than the just criticism
of contemporary literature. It is even more grateful to give
praise where it is needed than where it is deserved, and
friendship so often seduces the iron stylus of justice into a
vague flourish, that she writes what seems rather like an epitaph
than a criticism. Yet if praise be given as an alms, we could not
drop so poisonous a one into any man’s hat. The critic’s ink may
suffer equally from too large an infusion of nutgalls or of
sugar. But it is easier to be generous than to be just, and we
might readily put faith in that fabulous direction to the hiding
place of truth, did we judge from the amount of water which we
usually find mixed with it.

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Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. Edgar Allan Poe
  3. To Helen
  4. Death of Edgar a. Poe
  5. The Gold-Bug
  6. The Murders in the Rue Morgue
  7. The Balloon-Hoax
  8. Ms. Found in a Bottle
  9. The Oval Portrait

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About this edition

This free edition of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #2147, released 2000-04-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Poetry, Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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