My copy published 1992
Source: bought it for my son
Everyone knows the poem "The Raven" and probably several of Poe's many stories. I had never read any of Poe's other poems prior to reading this book. Not surprisingly, there's not a happy one in the bunch. Poe's life was difficult and filled with the lose of loved ones, many of the deaths being memorialized in his poetry.
There were only a couple of poems that I liked in this collection; I far prefer Poe's stories to his poetry. The relentless sadness, the strange cadence of some of the poems, and the similarity between so many of the poems all served to make this slim volume one I had to fight to get through. This one pretty much sums up so many of them and so much more succintly:
"Deep In Earth"
Deep in earth my love is lying
And I must weep alone.
I have not read much Poe, but have always wanted to. I will agree with you that it does sound like all his writing is rather dark though!
ReplyDeleteI've read several of Poe's stories but haven't read any of his poetry beyond The Raven. I like dark writing so I probably should check it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a Poe freak that my email address is from one of his stories, my old blog was named for it as well, and my spinning wheel is named Annabel Lee. I too like his stories better than his poems.
ReplyDeleteAll three of my kids read The Raven in 8th grade English class, so I reread it several times over the past several years, or heard it being recited. They did a whole unit on Poe--those dark short stories appeal to teens--and my daughter's FB quote is from Annabel Lee, so I guess she ending up liking Poe. :)
ReplyDeleteI do like it, though, and always enjoy the GG episode when the Poe society descends on Starrs Hollow and competing Poes recite The Raven.
My favorite Raven-in-pop-culture, though, is the Simpsons treatment...definitely worth finding on UTube.