Table of Contents From the Pages of The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Title Page Copyright Page Edgar Allan Poe The World of Edgar Allan Poe Introduction POEMS The Lake—To Sonnet—To Science Fairy-land Israfel To Helen The Sleeper The Valley of Unrest The City in the Sea The Coliseum Sonnet—Silence Dream-Land The Raven Ulalume: A Ballad The Bells I. II. III. IV. A Dream within a Dream Eldorado Annabel Lee TALES Metzengerstein Bon-Bon MS. Found in a Bottle The Assignation Shadow—A Parable Silence—A Fable Berenice Morella King Pest - A TALE CONTAINING AN ALLEGORY Ligeiba How to Write a Blackwood Article A Predicament The Fall of the House of Usher William Wilson The Murders in the Rue Morgue A Descent into the Maelström Never Bet the Devil Your Head - A TALE WITH A MORAL Eleonora The Masque of the Red Death The Pit and the Pendulum The Tell-Tale Heart The Gold-Bug The Black Cat The Oblong Box A Tale of the Ragged Mountains The Premature Burial The Purloined Letter The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether “Thou Art the Man” The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar The Sphinx The Cask of Amontillado Hop-Frog THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM Preface Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Endnotes Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales and Poems Comments & Questions For Further Reading From the Pages of The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe I kneel, an altered and an humble man, Amid thy shadows, and so drink within My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory! (from “The Coliseum,” page 19) 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 visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more.” (from ”The Raven,” page 24) On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! (from “The Bells,” page 33) A feeling, for which I have no name, has taken possession of my soul—a sensation which will admit of no analysis, to which the lessons of bygone time are inadequate, and for which I fear futurity itself will offer me no key. (from “Ms. Found in a Bottle,” page 74) “The first thing requisite is to get yourself into such a scrape as no one ever got into before. The oven, for instance,—that was a good hit. But if you have no oven, or big bell, at hand, and if you cannot conveniently tumble out of a balloon, or be swallowed up in an earthquake, or get stuck fast in a chimney, you will have to be contented with simply imagining some similar misadventure.” (from “How to Write a Blackwood Article,” page 143) During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. (from “The Fall of the House of Usher,” page 159) I could not help remarking and admiring (although from his rich ideality I had been prepared to expect it) a peculiar analytic ability in Dupin. He seemed, too, to take an eager delight in its exercise—if not exactly in its display—and did not hesitate to confess the pleasure thus derived. (from “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” page 200) The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. (from “The Masque of the Red Death,” page 261) The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence its velocity was also much greater. But what mainly disturbed me was the idea that it had perceptibly descended. I now observed— with what horror it is needless to say—that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel, about a foot in length from horn to horn; the horns upward, and the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor. (from “The Pit and the Pendulum,” page 274) It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. (from “The Tell-Tale Heart,” page 285) “The Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather through non- admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are engaged. They consider only their own ideas of ingenuity; and, in searching for any thing hidden, advert only to the modes in which they would have hidden it.” (from “The Purloined Letter,” pages 371-372) We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame. (from “The Cask of Amontillado,” page 430) Published by Barnes & Noble Books 122 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011 www.barnesandnoble.com/classics Published in 2004 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction, Notes, Biography, Chronology, Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales and Poems, Comments & Questions, and For Further Reading. Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading Copyright @ 2004 by Benjamin F. Fisher. Note on Edgar Allan Poe, The World of Edgar Allan Poe, Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales and Poems, and Comments & Questions Copyright © 2004 by Barnes & Noble, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Barnes & Noble Classics and the Barnes & Noble Classics colophon are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-064-8 ISBN-10: 1-59308-064-6 eISBN : 978-1-411-43214-7 LC Control Number 2004102193 Produced and published in conjunction with: Fine Creative Media, Inc. 322 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10001 Michael J. Fine, President and Publisher Printed in the United States of America QM 7 9 10 8 6