Which tale or poem is your favorite one and why? Which one do you thing is the best Poe's work and why? This are not questions to make my homework (like almost all the people that get in here do) It's just that I want to listen some intelligent opinions about the Poe's tales and poems and maybe begin a discussion forum o something like that to debate about the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the different points of view of his fans.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2003

Answers

I appricate that this is just for fun. I would have to say my fav. poems are El Dorado, Raven, Dreamland,Fairies and To HELEN. My fav.short story would have to be the Tell Tale Heart.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2003

Of course Poe preferred his later more "mature" works like "Ulalume" and "Ligeia". Most writers do that even if their early successes end up being really superior and more popular. In Poe's case I think the earlier "The Fall of the House of Usher" is the best example. When I say example I mean that Poe is generally consistent in his best efforts throughout his life. "To Helen" and "Alone" are good examples on a par with "The Raven" and "Ulalume". Such consistency in concise popular works with a touch of genius is very rare if not unique.

Not to start a stampede, but the knowingpoe webpage promises to have some good forums. Still waiting.

My favorite poem is "To Helen" but like any grouping of four star works I tend to revisit a number of works like "Annabel Lee" "Ulalume" and even briefer works like "The Lake" which contain jewel like sound structures and very revealing demonstrations of essential Poe themes. I like Usher for having everything in layers and symbols, a special narration, and an excellent related poem "The Haunted Palace", a tour de force that does it all. Delving into the Telltale Heart reveals more than the usual high school presentation discovers. Too often the popular impression, though accurately acknowledging the success of the mood Poe was trying to accomplish, misses a lot, which is an understatement.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2003

My favorite story by Poe would have to be without a doubt The Black Cat. It is both greusome and unlikely but shows a certain remorse for things he has done in the past that he wishes to take back but instead chooses to write about these problems in much more extreme cases as to not alert people of his problems. I believe he used this particular story to show that he was aggrivated at a person in his life but used a black cat to indirectly call that person a demon and he wishes him out of his life.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2003

My favorite Poe story is "Ms Found in a Bottle." I love this story for its numinous grandeur and the sheer incomprehensibility of the narrator's predicament. He's fallen out of the world, but into where? Are the crewmen of that strange ship ghosts, gods, or something else entirely? Or is the narrator himself a ghost, haunting the ship? What will they find at the bottom of the whirlpool? Anhilation, or the discovery promised by the narrator's random daubings on the canvas? Great stuff. My favorite poem is our old friend "The Raven," but "Ulalume" is becoming a close second. I'd love to wander the shores of te dim lake of Auber, in the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir!

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2003