Edgar Allan Poe

Edger Allen Poe Fall of the House of Usher (1838) The tale opens with the narrator having arrived at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher. Usher complained of an illness and asked for his comfort. Usher informs the narrator that his sister has died and insists that she is entombed in the house. After two weeks Usher admits that strange sounds are being made by his sister, who was in fact alive when she was put in the vault. Madeline escapes, appears, falling on her brother and they both die. The narrator quickly escapes from the house, and as he hurries away, he sees the house sink into the bog.

"Everything we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."

— Edgar Allan Poe (Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe)

"Thank Heaven! The crisis /The danger is past, and the lingering illness, is over at last /, and the fever called ''Living'' is conquered at last."
— Edgar Allan Poe

Major Works

In late 1830s, Poe published Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, a collection of stories. It contained several of his most spine-tingling tales, including "The Fall of the House of Usher," "Ligeia" and "William Wilson." Poe launched the new genre of detective fiction with 1841's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." A writer on the rise, he won a literary prize in 1843 for "The Gold Bug," a suspenseful tale of secret codes and hunting treasure.

Poe became a literary sensation in 1845 with the publication of the poem "The Raven." It is considered a great American literary work and one of the best of Poe's career. In the work, Poe explored some of his common themes—death and loss. An unknown narrator laments the demise of his great love Lenore. That same year, he found himself under attack for his stinging criticisms of his fellow poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Poe claimed that Longfellow, a widely popular literary figure, was a plagiarist, and this written assault on Longfellow created a bit of backlash for Poe.

Continuing work in different forms, Poe examined his own methodology and writing in general in several essays, including "The Philosophy of Composition," "The Poetic Principle" and "The Rationale of Verse." He also produced another thrilling tale, "The Cask of Amontillado," and poems such as "Ulalume" and "The Bells.

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"The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"A woman being never at a loss... the devil always sticks by them."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"Deep in earth my love is lying

And I must weep alone."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"The true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"The best things in life make you sweaty."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"Blood was its Avatar and its seal."

— Edgar Allan Poe

"Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health."

— Edgar Allan Poe (Never Bet the Devil Your Head)

"Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see."

— Edgar Allan Poe