About This Book

Some of his most famous short stories, including "Masque of the Red Death," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and Poe's most famous poem: "The Raven."

About Edgar Allan Poe

(1809-1849) Son of an American actor and an English actress, Poe was orphaned early, and he was adopted and raised by his godfather, John Allen, and his wife. After a classical education, he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but left the academy without graduating, due at least in part to his gambling and drinking. He began writing and publishing poetry before he was out of his 'teens.

When he was 22, his "Manuscript Found in a Bottle," won a $50 prize. Two years later he became editor of the "Southern Literary Messenger," where he established his reputation as a critical reviewer. Soon afterward, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. (Although there was certainly genuine affection between them, the marriage was undertaken mainly to enable him to protect the orphaned young woman who was even then in poor health, and who died of tuberculosis at about age 26.)

Because of his self-destructive drinking, Poe was dismissed from the "Messenger." They moved to New York where he managed to support himself writing stories, novels, reviews, and poetry, all of which brought him fame, but not fortune. After the death of his wife in 1847, Poe was romantically linked with several women, but he never remarried. He was subject to frequent depression, and his alcoholic binges destroyed his health; sadly, he died at the early age of 40. Although he had been accused of the use of drugs, medical evidence is that he was also the victim of a brain lesion.

Poe was a writer and poet of great gifts. His best-known poems are probably "To Helen," "Annabel Lee" and — famous for its repeated refrain of "Nevermore" — "The Raven." He is most remembered for his beautifully-constructed and eerie stories of terror, mystery, and horror. His short stories and novellas, such as "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Fall of the House of Usher," still make great reading today. Poe is also credited with being the father of the detective story. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" introduces the Great Detective, C. Auguste Dupin, who reappears in "The Purloined Letter," a masterful puzzle-story, the solution of which is highly entertaining still.