Edgar Allan Poe

What work of his is your favorite?

I read The Raven in middle school and I fell in love. I read that poem for a forensics meet and got a 1st place ribbon.

EAP is my favorite author of all time; which poem/story of his do you think is the best?

 

Masque of the Red Death and The Cask of Amontillado, along with The Outsider by Lovecraft and Frankenstein are my favourite horror stories. I'm going to have to dig up my copies of Poe's work and read through them again, it's been too long.

 

Cask of Amontillado was my first story of his I ever read. Something about his style, so haunting and dark yet absolutely beautiful, draws me in.

 

To be honest, I think The Raven is probably my least favorite of Poe's work.
The Cask of Amontillado and The Masque of the Red Death are definitely my top two.

IMO, his poetry, while not bad, is not nearly as strong as his stories.

 

The City in the Sea, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Gold Bug are my favourite. Fine bits of work, by anyone's standards.

 

The Mystery of Marie Roget is, IMO, his worst work; it just dragged on. I wasn't VERY fond of The Murders in the Rue Morgue but at least it was good and I could get through it.

 

The Cask of the Amontillado, hands down for me.

 

I love Annabel Lee as well... I memorized both The Raven and Annabel Lee once and I can still quote entire stanzas... :redface:

 

And The Gold Bug was pretty good too IMO.

 

The Masque of the Red Death was always my favorite.

 

That has been perpetually stuck as Mr. Second Place for me. I love it, but somehow it never tops my list, as far as Poe goes.

 

Same here. AND- we have the same top two.

There's something about "Yes. For the love of God."
That is just chilling!

 

I've noticed a little rule with Poe: his shorter works tend to be his most popular.

 

Fairly true, but I do not enjoy his poetry (Yes, go rant at me or whatever, but it's my opinion). I just like his short to medium length stories. =/

 

Haha. I would, but I like you as a person too much to subject you to pages and pages of me talking about Poe's poetry. You are safe from me, at least ...

 

The Tell-Tale Heart. HANDS DOWN. (well, okay, you can keep them up.)

Cask of Amontillado is pretty delicious, too. Never was too sweet on Poe, though...

 

The Pit and the Pendulum was a promising favorite for me until the utterly horrendous ending.

 

I didn't like the opening that much either.

 

Huh, that's actually one of the parts that really stuck with me. I really liked the imagery of the judges lips as they passed his sentence.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a very descriptive, memorable story; but that's really all it has going for it. Structurally its story is rather weak.

 

From what I remember of The Pit and the Pendulum (that's saying something right there) is that I read it, said "meh" to myself, and then moved on. Not bad, but not awe-inspiring either. There are just others I like better. My picky-ness is really shining through in this thread...crap =/

 

I had exactly the same reaction.

 

The Masque of the Red Death is among my favourite short stories ever. In my opinion, that's his most interesting story.

 

I'll agree on that point. It is probably the most interesting one.

 

Most of Poe's stuff is amazing in fairness. The Purloined Letter is probably my favorite, though I've always loved The Black Cat too.
I read his biog': A Life Cut Short, awhile ago. Its written by Peter Ackroyd.
Poe edited various magazines and published most of his best work 10-15 years before he died but was always destitute. He didn't get the recognition for his work 'til after he was dead. His alcoholism killed him ultimately.
I think he led one of the strangest, and in many ways most miserable lives in the history of great writers (that's quite a feat in itself!). An incredible man! One of the finest American writers ever, undoubtedly.