Great Edgar Allan Poe Quotes and Reviews: A Fable Reading Guide
Feb 6 2023
Edgar Allan Poe (born in Boston in 1809) is most famous for his dark short stories and poetry. One of the pioneers of the macabre, his work centered around death, lost love, and phantom spirits. He revolutionized the horror genre and continues to influence writers today. To keep you inspired, we’ve created a Fable Reading Guide with famous Poe quotes, facts, and video book reviews about the American master.
Edgar Allan Poe Quotes
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”- letter to George Washington Eveleth, 1846“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream”- A Dream Within a Dream, 1849“We loved with a love that was more than love”- Annabel-Lee, 1849“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed”- Mesmeric Revelation, 1849 “The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world”- The Philosophy of Composition, 1846“Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them.”“Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.”-The Complete Stories and PoemsWhat are 3 of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems?
If you’re new to Edgar Allan Poe, we recommend starting with his poetry to ease you into his intense interest in psychologically twisted protagonists.“I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea,But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee—With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me.”
“Eldorado” centers around a knight’s quest to a mythical land with alleged gold and treasure. However, the entire poem is a metaphor for the emptiness of dreams and the pointlessness of trying to make dreams come true.And, as his strength Failed him at length,He met a pilgrim shadow— ‘Shadow,’ said he, ‘Where can it be—This land of Eldorado?’‘Over the Mountains Of the Moon,Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride,’The shade replied,—‘If you seek for Eldorado!’
The final and most famous Edgar Allen Poe work is, of course, “The Raven.” A harrowing and eerie ballad featuring a talking raven who warns, “nevermore,” this poem is quintessentially Poe. The psychological decay of the protagonist is haunting and imminent, with the reader anticipating the eventual destruction of the narrator.Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more.”
What is Edgar Allan Poe famous for?
Edgar Allen Poe’s most notable achievement was his impact on the Gothic literature movement. Poe himself was a fan of Shakespeare, and Alexander Pope, and was inspired by Romantic writers like Lord Byron, John Keats, and Percy Shelley (Mary Shelley’s husband). The conflation of romantic prose and devilish content defined his work as something unique and original to the literary world. One of the most significant examples of Poe’s ability to articulate mental decay is prominent in his short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Rich with symbolism and imagery, this story follows a man’s visit to his childhood best friend’s dilapidated mansion. However, as his visit continues, the narrator notices his friend’s increasingly odd behavior and creepy sister lurking around the corridors—a beautiful and haunting tale of death and insanity, a perfect dip into Poe’s psyche. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is another of Poe’s most notable works. It centers on an unreliable narrator whose sanity is on the line as he murders his landlord because of his evil eye. In Poe’s fashion, the constant beating of the narrator’s heart has been interpreted as a reminder of his growing guilt and denial of the sin he committed.What were Edgar Allan Poe’s last words?
After the death of his wife (who also happened to be his thirteen-year-old cousin), after a few romantic rendezvous, Poe’s health rapidly declined. He was eventually sent to Washington College Hospital, where on the morning of October 7th, he reportedly whispered the words, “Lord help my poor soul.”Find classic reading book clubs and book recommendations on Fable
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