Customer Reviews

Edgar Allan Poe Reader (Courage Classics)

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Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849) may be considered the master of the mystery/horror story.His life, fraught with tragedy, shows through in his works, both short stories and poetry. He writes morbidly but beautifully of love and death, fantastick images, and guilt among other things. In "The Black Cat" for instance he writes beautifully about a man's love for all creatures, and a page later this man is morbidly brutalizing a beloved cat, and in a bizarre turn of events,including a grotesque murder, the cat comes back and gets revenge in the end.

The book is an unabridged compilation of Poe's most memorable short stories and poems. It includes such masterpieces as "Ligeia", a very beautiful story of a man's love for a woman, which also turns tradgic and gruesome,"The Tell Tale Heart", a man's guilt over a murder gets the best of him,'The Mask of Red Death", and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".Some of the wonderful poetry you will be treated to includes "The Raven","Tamerlane", and "Annabel Lee", about the death of his young wife. There are many more stories and poems to be enjoyed and to be scared by. The book also includes informative essays on Poe by George Bernard Shaw, and William Carlos Williams.

Many of Poe's works were made into terrific horror films,"The Fall of the House of Usher"/"The Pit and the Pendulum",(both also found in this book) to name a couple and his poetry can be found being quoted in thrillers such as 'Play Misty for Me"("Annabel Lee").(Where would Vincent Price and Elvira be without Poe?)

If you are a fan of Poe or of this genre of stories, or if you would like a great introduction to Poe, you will love this book.You can pick it up again and again to read any of his stories(which make good campfire fare) and poems.

"And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, Still is sitting...." Laurie

I think that this book is a great book for all ages it exprecises the feelings of poe.