(My copy of Poe, which I've had since junior high)Tonight I'll be winging my way to "Charm City," which is what has inspired this Friday Favorite post about the author who is buried there. The deliciously dark Edgar Allan Poe has been a favorite of mine since the first time I read The Tell-Tale Heart. I was in junior high and was in awe of the story. It was the perfect blend of macabre, unnecessary murder and the dire consequences of a guilty conscious. My love for him grew as I read his famous poem, The Raven, and wrote a school paper about his sweet, yet disturbing, Annabel Lee.
Perhaps my favorite Poe tale is The Cask of Amontillado. It was the most vivid of the stories in my mind. I could feel the chilly air of the cellar. I could hear the faintest tinkle of a jester's bell and the rasp of Fortunato's sickly cough. The eerie calm with which Montresor executes his plot still gives me goosebumps.
Poe's mysterious death fueled my fascination and made me wonder what he would have written if he'd lived a little longer. His story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, featured the detective Dupin, which is considered the first of its kind and was later followed by Sherlock, Poirot and dozens of others. His brilliant Fall of the House of Usher and The Masque of the Red Death still stand as some of the best ghost stories ever told. If you haven't had the chance to enjoy Poe's work you should pick up something immediately. As for me, I'll be back with gravesite pictures next week.
Top photo by moi.
3 comments:
Ooh, he does look deliciously creepy in that photo! My favourite Poe story is The Masque of the Red Death, it's so colourful and eerie. And my husband and I named our (obviously all black) cat Edgar for his story The Black Cat!
The Masque of the Red Death is so good. I'm addicted to Jeopardy, the Huz and I watch it every night and this week they had a Poe category. I was thrilled! Needless to say I swept the category. Masque was one of the answers!
What a cool looking book cover. Poe has been a favorite since junior high and I find myself continuing to collect old and new volumes of his work just because they keep putting them out with irresistible book covers. I would love to visit his grave site someday, glad you enjoyed your trip.
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