Poe, Edgar Allan

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe
(1809-1849)

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor and literary critic. He is now best known for his macabre short stories, collected in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1839), but poems such as ‘The Raven’ and ‘To Helen’ were far more celebrated during his lifetime.

‘The Imp of the Perverse’ (1845) is one of the most extreme statements of his philosophy, expounded in more detail in his last book Eureka (1848), which he subtitled ‘A Prose Poem’ as well as ‘An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe.'

Select Bibliography:

1. Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)


2. Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems (1829)


3. Poems (1831)


4. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)


5. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1839)


6. The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe (1843)


7. Tales (1845)


8. The Raven and Other Poems (1845)


9. Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848)


10. The Complete Tales and Poems. Introduction by Hervey Allen. The Modern Library of the World’s Best Books. New York: Random House, Inc., 1938.


11. Selected Writings: Poems, Tales, Essays and Reviews. Ed. David Galloway. 1967. The Penguin English Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.


12. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Edited with an Introduction and Commentary, Including Jules Verne’s Sequel Le Sphinx des Glaces. 1838 & 1897. Ed. Harold Beaver. 1975. The Penguin English Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980.


13. The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Harold Beaver. 1976. The Penguin English Library. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.


14. Levine, Stuart & Susan, ed. The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Edition. Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1977.


15. The Other Poe: Comedies and Satires. Ed. David Galloway. The Penguin American Library. Ed. John Seelye. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.


16. Poetry and Tales. Ed. Patrick F. Quinn. The Library of America, 19. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


17. Essays and Reviews. Ed. G. R. Thompson. The Library of America, 20. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


18. Collected Stories and Poems. Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke, Gustave Doré, Edouard Manet, & John Tenniel. London: CRW Publishing Ltd., 2006.

Biography & Secondary Literature:

Symons, Julian. The Tell-tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe. 1978. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981.

Homepages & Online Information:

Wikipedia entry

Edgar Allan Poe: Collected Works (1884-94)