Selected Tales {Penguin Popular Classics}
by Edgar Allan Poe
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Contains a selection of tales including, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, The Murders in the Rue Morgue; and The Purloined Letter.Tags
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And then my vision fell upon the seven tall candles upon the table. At first they wore the aspect of charity, and seemed white slender angels who would save me; but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over my spirit, and I felt every fibre in my frame thrill as if I had touched the wire of a galvanic battery, while the angel forms became meaningless spectres, with heads of flame, and I saw that from them there would be no help. from "The Pit and the Pendulum"
This book includes some of Poe's most famous tales, such as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Read Death and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Some of the stories are really atmospheric, but others had me show more wondering whether he was ever going to finish lecturing me and start telling the story. There was one story that seemed totally out of place amongst the horror and revenant corpses, and that was "How to Write a Blackwood Article", a satirical tale about a woman being taught how to write sensational magazine articles such as those published in Blackwood's magazine. show less
This book includes some of Poe's most famous tales, such as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Read Death and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Some of the stories are really atmospheric, but others had me show more wondering whether he was ever going to finish lecturing me and start telling the story. There was one story that seemed totally out of place amongst the horror and revenant corpses, and that was "How to Write a Blackwood Article", a satirical tale about a woman being taught how to write sensational magazine articles such as those published in Blackwood's magazine. show less
It’s Poe, so you know the deal. As usual, the horror stories are the best. And credit to Poe for inventing the detective genre with Murders in The Rue Morgue, though the other two stories with the detective Dupin “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” and “The Purloined Letter” come across like Poe trying to show you how intellectual he is.
Very overrated writer, even considering the time aspect. The Inspector Dupin tales are about the only ones worth reading, and are actually better than Sherlock Holmes tales (because Arthur Conan Doyle didn't do his research most of the time). Some stories like the one about some ghost ship (?) don't even make sense.
All the classic short stories... beautiful prose, horrific events. Perfect.
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Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. In 1827, he enlisted in the United States Army and his first collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems, was published. In 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals including the show more Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short story writer, and an editor. His works include The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Raven. He struggle with depression and alcoholism his entire life and died on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Selected Tales {Penguin Popular Classics}
- Original title
- Selected tales
- First words
- The Duc de L'Omelette: Keats fell by a ciritcism.
Ms. found in a bottle: Of my country and of my family I have little to say.
The assignation: Ill-fated and mysterious man! - bewildered in the brilliancy of thine own imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youth!
Ligeia: I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia.
How to write a Blackwood article: I presume everybody has heard of me.
The fall of the House of Usher: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly... (show all) dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.
William Wilson: Let me call myself, for the present, William Wilson.
The murders in the Rue Morgue: The mental features discoursed of as the analytical, are, in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis.
A descent into the maelström: We had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag.
The Island of the Fay: 'La musique,' says Marmontel, in those 'Contes Moraux' which, in all our translations, we have insisted upon calling 'Moral Tales', as if in mockery of their spirit - 'la musique est le seul des tale... (show all)nts qui jouissent de lui-même; tous les autres veulent des témoins."
The colloquy of Monos and Una: UNA. 'Born again?' - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Duc de L'Omelette: Had Alexander not been Alexander, he would have been Diogenes; and the Duc assured his antagonist in taking leave, 'que s'il n'eut pas été De L'Omelette il n'aurait point d'objection d'être le Diable.'
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Ms. found in a bottle: ... - amd amid a roaring, and bellowing, and thundering of ocean and tempest, the ship is quivering - oh God! and - going down!
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The assignation: I staggered back toward the table - my hand fell upon a cracked and blackened goblet - and a consciousness of the entire and terrible truth flashed suddenly over my soul.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Ligeia: 'Here then at least,' I shrieked aloud, 'can I never - can I never be mistaken - these are the full, and the black, and the wild eyes - of my lost love - of the Lady - of the LADY LIGEIA.'
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)How to write a Blackwood article: An important event then happened of which the following Blackwood article, in the tone heterogeneous, is the substance and result....
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The fall of the House of Usher: ... - there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the 'House of Usher.'
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)William Wilson: In me didst thou exist - and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The murders in the Rue Morgue: I mean the way he has "de nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)A descent into the maelström: I now tell it to you - and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Island of the Fay: But at length, when the sun had utterly departed, the Fay, now the mere ghost of her former self, went disconsolately with her boat into the region of the ebony flood - and she issued thence at all I cannot say, for darkness fell over all things, and I beheld her magical figure no more.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The colloquy of Monos and Una: ... - for that which had no form - for that which had no thought - for that which had no sentinence - for that which was soulless, yet of which matter formed no portion - for all this nothingness, yet for all this immortality, the grave was still a home, and the corrosive hours, co-mates.
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