Edgar Allan Poe & Edgar Allan Poe 
Essential Tales and Poems (Barnes & Noble Signature Editions) 

It is hard to think of a more influential American writer than Edgar Allan Poe. He brought to the short story genre a new literary polish, writing scores of tales that came to epitomize the form. H invented detective fiction, and the gothic aspect of his work continues to inspire young writers. Poe also changed the direction of American poetry, insisting that-rather than deliver a message-a poems first obligation is to create beauty through rhythm, rhyme, and visual imagery.



 Among the twenty-two eloquently eerie stories collected in
Essential Tales and Poems are “The Pit and the Pendulum, ” “The Cast of Amontillado, ” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue, ” and perhaps the most terrifying of all, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” These stories penetrate a readers subconscious and draw into the light its deepest fears. Poes sensuous poetry is also on display, inviting readers into a world of grief, delirium, and pulsing rhythms. These qualities reach their peak in Poes best-known poems, “The Bells, ” “The Raven, ” “Ulalume, ” and “Annabel Lee.”



 The book also includes Poes only complete d novel,
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, and three of his best short works of nonfiction-most saliently, his groundbreaking essays on aesthetics, “The Philosophy of Compositions.”