Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is a famous and important literary figure for many reasons. He helped popularize the short story and turned the horror story genre on its head, creating detective fiction/the mystery genre in the process. But even his tales of terror and the macabre feature much more character depth and motivation than anything else of his time. Horror stories leading up to Poe’s works tended toward mindless brutality, violence, and shock for their own sake. But Poe’s characters grappled with grief, alcoholism, and hatred, to name a few, and often lost their battles and their sanity in the process. Whether the terrible acts and outcomes in the stories are actual occurrences or the delusions of Poe’s tortured narrators is not always clear. Was she buried alive? Was the tell-tale heart actually beating? Of course, pigeonholing Poe into the horror genre would be a mistake. Aside from establishing the mystery genre (which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle readily credited him for), he wrote satires, humorous pieces and hoaxes, poetry, and even contributed to the burgeoning science fiction genre (Jules Verne actually wrote a sequel to Poe’s only complete novel). Speaking of poetry, who isn’t familiar with “The Raven,” no doubt Poe’s most famous work?
It’s impossible to calculate the impact of Poe’s writings. Without him we probably would not have Sherlock Holmes and perhaps not the works of H.P. Lovecraft or even Stephen King! And though it’s been more than 200 years since his birth, Edgar Allan Poe casts a long shadow we’re still living in today. It seems a fitting image.
Experience Poe!
Any of Poe’s macabre stories would do for Halloween but if you asked my wife, for Poe is her favorite author, she would recommend “The Black Cat,” and it is an excellent choice. Read it online here.
Basil Rathbone, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in a series of movies produced during World War II, does a masterful reading of “The Raven.” Listen to it below.
Nevermore!
I'm a big Poe fan, have his collected works in a nice leather book.
Like I said, Poe is my wife's favorite author, so we have a bunch of Poe books. My favorite is Steampunk Poe 
http://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Poe-Zdenko-Basic/dp/0762441925/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382188689&sr=8-1&keywords=steampunk+poe
Annabel Lee is the poem I remember because it creeps me out.
Hey, I've read that one! I love how you can see the poor guy's mind unraveling.
What really creeps me out is that it suggests at the end that he's sleeping with her corpse. Yuk!
Yowzers, I never thought of that 
Poe is good. I discovered The Raven when I was eight or nine, thought it was the coolest poem ever! at that age.
It's pretty darn cool as an adult 
The Cask of Amontillado is the one story that always seems to come to my mind when I think of Poe. I think that I just prefer it to The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart.
That story really creeped me out because the narrator knew what he was doing. He wasn't drunk or stricken with grief or whatever. He was in his right mind and still walled that guy up *shiver*
My favorite author of all time! My girlfriend's parents got me the Steampunk Poe book last Christmas, and it is mighty awesome! I have a 5 volume anthology of his works that was printed in 1903 that I treasure immensely.
Personally, I've always loved The Fall of The House of Usher and Masque of The Red Death, but I love the whole of his work in general. It is a shame that he didn't get the recognition he deserved while he was alive, at least not here in the states. He was a truly interesting person who's art has inspired so many!
I showed my wife your comment (because Poe is her all time fave too) and she said you're a smart dude. Congratulations, sir! But hopefully you two will never meet because she'd probably kill for that 1903 anthology lol
lol They are beautiful books! your wife sounds like an awesome girl, so congratulations to you, my man!
One day I have to stop doing my Octoberween blogging fests and just relax and read everyone else's posts about my favoriate holiday. I've been missing out, moreso on Basil Rathbone reading of "The Raven"
Nevermore
That can be the problem with blogging so much...you don't have time to read everyone else's 
And yeah, that recording of "The Raven" is pretty good. Rathbone was a classy guy.
