A review by heathercottledillon
Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

4.0

As with almost any collection, I enjoyed some of these stories and poems more than others. I love most of the well-known ones, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Black Cat," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Raven," and "Annabel Lee." I discovered a few new favorites, too, such as "Gold-Bug" and "Dream within a Dream." On the other hand, some of the stories didn't hold my attention ("Ligeia" and "Descent into the Maelstrom," I'm looking at you). Nevertheless, this is a fantastic collection. I'm amazed by how much variety there is in Poe's work because all they really focus on in school is the horror. Poe also wrote the first modern detective story, "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (love the ending of that one!) and even science fiction. And while he writes about madness, fear, and revenge in some of his famous work, he also penned some beautiful love poems. He could do logic and reasoning, as in the detective stories, but there's tons of emotion in his poetry. He was truly a versatile author. Everything he wrote about, from the creepy to the sad to the lovey dovey, is just as relevant today as it was when he wrote it more than 150 years ago. My biggest beef with this collection, though, is that they left out "The Premature Burial." That's one of the best--so creepy but has a hilarious ending. Despite that omission, this is one of my favorite classics.