Well, what are your thoughts on his writing, both as a poet and an author? What inspiration do you take from his work, whether you consider it good or bad, and how do you think he compares to other poets before and after his time?

you know i've never gotten around to actually sitting down and properly reading some poe, i've read a couple of excerpts in the past, but that's about it.

got any recommendations on where a beginner should start?

complete druggie. ahead of his time in his thinking. unequalled since in his writing. yeah he cool.

:fro:

I like most of his writing - he was totally hat-stand but the father of American gothic so who cares if he married his cousin when she was 14?

I'd recommend The Masque of the Red Death, The Imp of the Perverse, The Pit and the Pendulum and perhaps his most famous work The Fall of the House of Usher.

Usher for sure. to start with his poems i'd go for Annabel Lee (my favourite), and of course The Raven, The Conqueror Worm, A Dream Within a Dream, Lenore and The Bells are not to be missed. some of his non-fiction makes fantastic reading, too. eg. The Philosophy of Composition, and his 'Literati' pieces on literary writing in America.

I'd agree that the Raven HAS to be read - as is Dream within a Dream and Lenore.

Here's a great sonnet of his:


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SONNET–SILENCE
by Edgar Allan Poe
1840

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There are some qualities–some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of that twin entity which springs
From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.
There is a two-fold Silence–sea and shore-
Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,
Newly with grass o'ergrown; some solemn graces,
Some human memories and tearful lore,
Render him terrorless: his name's "No More."
He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!
No power hath he of evil in himself;
But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)
Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod
No foot of man,) commend thyself to God!

THE END


I found a site with all his work on since I left my book with my ex. It can be found here http://eserver.org/books/poe/

EDDY? dyaaaaamn, hell I fucked him

Have you heard Martin Sheens recitation of Annabel Lee.....he was in a movie where his character recited that poem quite a bit, loved it!

I've been a fan since I was 9, someone gave me a collection of his stories: Masque of the Red Death, Cask of the Amontillado, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Gold Bug and The Tell Tale Heart...I loved them.

I have a complete volume of his works, but it's packed already...

Had I known Cowboy, I would have sent one of his stories in with the Burroughs I am sending. There is a Poe museum here in Richmond as he lived here a few times during his life.

Read quite a bit of him myself. He stands out to me b/c nearly every single thing I've read just begs to be read aloud. Never tried myself b/c I was afraid I wouldn't do it justice, but a friend of mine took home some hardware by performing The Tell Tale Heart at a forensics tournament once.

speaking of aloud,

I don't have this yet, but it's on my wish list!!!!!!!!

I've got a version of The Raven read by Christopher Walken...

I'd be very interested to here Willem DeFoe do it as well...

I bet Walken's version is great. I enjoy him as well.

"Alone", Edgar Allen Poe


Since childhood's hour, I have not been;
As others were, I have not seen;
As others saw, I could not bring
My passion from a common spring.
From the same source, I have not taken
My sorrow, I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone-
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in the childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
That mystery which binds me still-
From the torrent, and the fountain
From the red cliff of the mountain-
From the sun that round me roll'd,
In it's autumn tint of gold
From the lightning in the sky,
As it passed me flying by;
From the thunder, and the storm
And the cloud that took the form-
When the rest of Heaven was blue-
Of a demon in my view.