Tag: Edgar Allan Poe

“The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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Edgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of mystery and madness in this outstanding collection of Poe’s prose and poetry are sixteen of his finest tales

Let me give you a quick explanation of why I’m again reviewing Edgar Allan Poe. In December I got an Kindle, and I was playing around with it and I say that this e-book was for free on the “Prime Reading” category so I decided to read the short stories and poem of EAP (Edgar Allan Poe) because I really enjoyed reading his work the first time around. So I decided to review this book because some of my opinion about the EAP’s work included in this book have changed.

This book contains The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, Ligeia, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Pit and the Pendulum, Ms. Found in a Bottle, The Premature Burial, William Wilson, Eleonara, Silence-A Fable, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Stanzas, Romance, To Helen, Israfel, The City in the Sea, The Sleeper, The Valley of Unrest, Lenore, The Raven, A Valentine, Ulanume-A Ballad, For Annie, Annabel Lee, The Bells & Alone.

The last time I read anything by EAP was in 2021, which is now solid 4 years ago and I need to be honest here and admit that majority of the stories and poems in this book have been much better now on re-reading them than what I felt about them back in 2021 when I read them for the first time. 

The reason behind it might be that my opinions, thoughts, likes and dislikes changed in those 4 years or the amount of books ive read in those 4 years have affected me without me realizing it.

Of course if you want me to re-read all of EAP’s work again and re-review them then let me now in the comments because now I would have given them different ratings and different opinions in the reviews than what I did on the first read of them. 

But I gotta say that this book surprised me a lot, because it gave me the joy of being a new reader back in 2020 and 2021 and why I decided to start this website to talk about the books, short stories and poems ive read and maybe help people decide what books, short stories or poems they should pick up and which once they shouldn’t.

Yes after reading this book, I come to the realization that EAP is easily one of my top 5 authors (so far in my life at least.)

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“King Pest” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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It is about the adventure of two drunk sailors who venture into a deserted part of the city, escaping without payment from the local pub

Need to say that this story remind me of The Hangover. If The Hangover happened in the 14th century London during the Black Death pandemic.

It was pretty interesting and fun to read, but there were a lots of things which I personally didn’t like or didn’t quit understand.

The writing style was good, but not as quit gothic and dark as you might expect from Edgar Allan Poe. But still it was good.

This story was good and quick to read, but still it could have been better than it was actually was. 

To be honest the entire story reminded me of something that Lewis Carroll would write and not something Edgar Allan Poe would write. 

For the most part it was written nicely with some black humour in it.

I give this poem 1 / 5

“Silence” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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This poem portrays how humans can feel about silence; how it both brings people joy and causes them sorrow.

I really had high expectations for this one but it didn’t live up to my exceptions which is sad because I really wanted to like this one.

I either love Edgar Allan Poe’s work or hate and there is nothing in between these two. 

This poem was easy and a quick read but still there were a lots of things missing in this one at least for me.

I didn’t bother even to remember this poem because it was so bad and nothing more than that. It was so boring and uninteresting that I don’t even have words for it.

I give this poem 1 / 5

“An Enigma” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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To find her name, use the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, the third letter of the third line, and so on.

This poem had the potential to get the full score but Edgar Allan Poe didn’t use that potential for whatever reason.

The plot itself was super interesting but it could have been much better if only Edgar Allan Poe had put some more work into this one. 

The writing style was amazing in this one. I shouted Edgar Allan Poe vibe which I truly loved in this one.

I give this poem 5 / 5

“Elizabeth” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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It was written for Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore cousin, Elizabeth Rebecca Herring.

I gotta say that it pissed me off because it is full of expiation from Edgar Allan Poe about the topic of why he had written it the way he did.

The writing style in this one was good but quit not on the level with Edgar Allan Poe. Which really disappointed me because I had sort of high expectations for this one. 

This poem doesn’t have neither the Edgar Allan Poe vibe to it because I really missed in this because the plot to this one was really speaking that it was written by Edgar Allan Poe.

I give this poem 2/ 5

“Landor’s Cottage” By Edgar Allan Poe Review.

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Landor’s Cottage describes an idyllic house that the narrator stumbles upon on a country walk. Poe was inspired in this account by his final home, a farmhouse in New York State (now part of the Bronx) where he took up residence in 1846. The house has become a museum dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe.

So I had some expectations for this story which it didn’t live up to and it makes me sad. Because there are a lots of stories and poems from Edgar Allan Poe which I didn’t give so high rating to and I want give them a high rating but most of them doesn’t seem to me like they are good enough to give them higher rating.

The writing for the most part was the best part of this story but it could have been so much better than it was. 

Gotta say that this one is full of too long descriptions of almost everything which you can find in this story. 

This story is about nature and a quaint cottage that the narrator happens upon. I like the idea behind it but it wasn’t used as it could have been. 

I give this novel 1 / 5

“The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales” By Edgar Allan Poe Review.

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The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is a pivotal work in which Poe calls attention to the act of writing and to the problem of representing the truth. It is an archetypal American story of escape from domesticity tracing a young man’s rite of passage through a series of terrible brushes with death during a fateful sea voyage. Included are eight related tales which further illuminate Pym by their treatment of persistent themes–fantastic voyages, gigantic whirlpools, and premature burials–as well as its relationship to Poe’s art and life.

It is important to mention that this novel is the only novel written by Edgar Allan Poe.

This novel was sort of an odd, enjoyable and weird read. It was interesting read but it felt like it was missing something.

This story sort of sets the mood that it sort of was written by two different authors. Because the whole story is Edgar Allan Poe ghostwriting the first two parts novel and the rest is written by the so-called “Pym” himself. 

This whole novel was split into a preface and 25 chapters. Which I wasn’t a fan of.

I really had trouble with connecting with the story in this novel so that’s why I can’t really tell you what I think about it.

This novel as I said above was enjoyable but very far from interesting or okay. 

I give this novel 1 / 5

“A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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This tale begins with an identified narrator whose story is the loose outer frame for the central tale of Augustus Bedloe, a wealthy young invalid whom the narrator has known “casually” for eighteen years yet who still remains an enigma.

First thing first and that’s why I need to say that I’m giving short story extra points for being mysterious and overall an original story.

The writing style here again was not good enough for Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was fully able to write better than he did in this one.

The plot was kind of okay, but the potential of this story wasn’t fully used. Of course it was interesting enough to read it. But I wouldn’t reread it. 

The old English really comes to place in this one. And I needed to pull up my dictionary a lots. 

And to be honest here I was confused while reading it and after I’ve read it I was still confused. 

Overall its a little weird short story.

I give this poem 1 / 5

“The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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This short story is about one Thingum Bob, who is a son of a brilliant and successful businessman.

This short story is a little wordy story, which i don’t mind but i’m not a huge fan of.

The writing style was pretty okay but Edgar Allan Poe was able to much better work than what he did here.

I had again hard time connecting with the story. So again a low rating is in order. 

This short story needs to get points for having some funny moments but there weren’t a lot of them.

The story in this short story was far from great. Its a bit of a disappointment if you are an Edgar Allan Poe like me. 

I give this poem 1 / 5

“The Spectacles” By Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The narrator, 22-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte Froissart, changes his last name to “Simpson” as a requirement to inherit a large sum from a distant cousin, Adolphus Simpson. At the opera he sees a beautiful woman in the audience and falls in love instantly.

Overall the plot behind this short story was pretty decent and at some part it reminded me of an episode from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Which I really enjoyed. Im a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock if you didn’t know.

The writing style however was kind of poor, as someone who have read all of Edgar Allan Poe’s literature work and as someone who have reviewed most of them I gotta say that Edgar Allan Poe was able to write better than he did in this one.

This one had a huge Gothic vibe to it which I give it extra points for doing that.

In this short story Edgar Allan Poe makes again an attempt at being humorous and as some of you might know I’m not a big fan of that. Because every time he tries to be humorous in his short stories or poems they don’t go well with me for whatever reason. 

But also it was too long and it would be better if the short story was like 4-5 pages long and not as long as it was.

And gotta say that this one is different from the rest of Edgar Allan Poe’s work because it sort of wasn’t about death. 

The ending was surprising which I give it extra points for.

But in the end this short story didn’t go well with me for whatever reason. It was a okay short story, it was fun to read.

I give it 1 / 5