are any of edgar allen poes stories or poems real???

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Answers

All are stories, some abstractions from real events(Mary Rogers/ Marie Roget, etc) Some examples taken from real life. Politian was based on events in Kentucky but set in Renaissance Italy. But I think you might be meaning the whole thing like Usher, the Black cat, The Pit and the Pendulum etc.which are stories. Poems addressed to real people that are personal are real. Story poems containing a thread of plot are symbolic at best. Poe never claims to have seen anything supernatural nor to have believed any without trying to explain everything scientifically. he enjoyed the "sense" of the unreal, the awe of first surprise or mysterious horror, but then tried to work it out rationally. Poe preferred imagination or fakery to biography(Junius Rodman, Balloon Hoax)and was close about his own life.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002