The works of American author Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) include many poems, short stories, and one novel. His fiction spans multiple genres, including horror fiction, adventure, science fiction, and detective fiction, a genre he is credited with inventing.[1] These works are generally considered part of the Dark romanticism movement, a literary reaction to Transcendentalism.[2] Poe's writing reflects his literary theories: he disagreed with didacticism[3] and allegory.[4] Meaning in literature, he said in his criticism, should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface; works whose meanings are too obvious cease to be art.[5] Poe pursued originality in his works, and disliked proverbs.[6] He often included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology[7] and physiognomy.[8] His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning.[9] Though known as a masterly practitioner of Gothic fiction, Poe did not invent the genre; he was following a long-standing popular tradition.[10]
Poe's literary career began in 1827 with the release of 50 copies of Tamerlane and Other Poems credited only to "a Bostonian", a collection of early poems that received virtually no attention.[11] In December 1829, Poe released Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in Baltimore[12] before delving into short stories for the first time with "Metzengerstein" in 1832.[13] His most successful and most widely read prose during his lifetime was "The Gold-Bug",[14] which earned him a $100 prize, the most money he received for a single work.[15] One of his most important works, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", was published in 1841 and is today considered the first modern detective story.[16] Poe called it a "tale of ratiocination".[1] Poe became a household name with the publication of "The Raven" in 1845,[17] though it was not a financial success.[18] The publishing industry at the time was a difficult career choice and much of Poe's work was written using themes specifically catered for mass market tastes.[19]
The Journal of Julius Rodman (First six installments, January–June 1840 – Burton's Gentleman's Magazine) – Incomplete[116]
Plays
Politian (Two installments, December 1835 – January 1836 – Southern Literary Messenger) – Incomplete
Other
Tales of the Folio Club – A projected collection of Poe's tales on "dunderism" satirizing the Delphian Club which was never completed in his lifetime[117]
The Philosophy of Animal Magnetism – A pamphlet on Mesmerism credited to a "Gentleman of Philadelphia" (1837), attributed to Poe using stylometry [22]
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Poetry'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
^Hubbell 1945, pp. 314–321
^ a bSchöberlein 2017, pp. 650–653
^ a b c dSova 2001, p. 233
^ a b c d e f g h i jSova 2001, p. 271
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Dreams'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Foye 1980, pp. 22–23
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'To Margaret'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Sova 2001, p. 8
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'To Isaac Lea'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^ a b cSova 2001, p. 240
^ a bSova 2001, p. 238
^ a bSova 2001, p. 225
^ a b c d e fSova 2001, p. 239
^ a b c d eSova 2001, p. 194
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Enigma'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Fanny'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'The Coliseum'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Serenade'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^ a b c d eQuinn 1998, p. 208
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'May Queen Ode'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Spiritual Song'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Spiritual Song'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Sova 2001, p. 34
^Silverman 1991, p. 138
^Sova 2001, p. 220
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Lines on Joe Locke'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^ a bSova 2001, p. 282
^Silverman 1991, p. 201
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'A Campaign Song'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Impromptu – To Kate Carol'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Quinn 1998, p. 480
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'Epigram for Wall Street'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'The Raven'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'The Divine Right of Kings'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Sova 2001, p. 249
^Meyers 1992, p. 207
^Foye 1980, p. 29
^ a b c d e f g h iSova 2001, p. 285
^Foye 1980, p. 30
^ a bSova 2001, p. 219
^Quinn 1998, p. 605
^Meyers 1992, p. 244
^Sova 2001, p. 73
^ a b cQuinn 1998, p. 192
^Sova 2001, p. 162
^Silverman 1991, p. 93
^ a bQuinn 1998, p. 230
^Sova 2001, p. 90
^ a bSova 2001, p. 165
^Sova 2001, p. 134
^ a b cSova 2001, p. 200
^Sova 2001, p. 68
^Quinn 1998, p. 283
^Quinn 1998, p. 284
^ a b cSova 2001, p. 279
^ a b cSova 2001, p. 280
^Quinn 1998, p. 309
^Sova 2001, p. 54
^Quin, 325
^Quinn 1998, pp. 328–329
^Quinn 1998, p. 330
^Quinn 1998, pp. 330–331
^Quinn 1998, p. 331
^Sova 2001, p. 129
^Meyers 1992, p. 134
^Sova 2001, p. 188
^Meyers 1992, p. 137
^Meyers 1992, pp. 135–136
^Sova 2001, p. 28
^ a bSova 2001, p. 79
^ a bQuinn 1998, p. 400
^Quinn 1998, p. 418
^Sova 2001, p. 154
^ a b cQuinn 1998, p. 422
^Sova 2001, p. 11
^Sova 2001, p. 204
^Sova 2001, p. 237
^Silverman 1991, p. 294
^Sova 2001, p. 199
^Silverman 1991, p. 263
^Quinn 1998, p. 469
^Quinn 1998, p. 470
^Quinn 1998, p. 499
^Meyers 1992, p. 201
^Sova 2001, p. 71
^Tschachler 2013, p. 186
^Sova 2001, p. 261
^Sova 2001, p. 128
^Sova 2001, p. 276
^Sova 2001, p. 186
^Rosenheim 1997, p. 19
^Quinn 1998, p. 410
^Sova 2001, p. 82
^Silverman 1991, p. 395
^Meyers 1992, pp. 95–96
^Sova 2001, p. 119
^Hammond, Alexander (1972). "A Reconstruction of Poe's 1833 'Tales of the Folio Club': Preliminary Notes". Poe Studies (1971–1985). 5 (2): 25–32. doi:10.1111/j.1754-6095.1972.tb00190.x. JSTOR 45296608. Archived from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
^Poe, Edgar Allan. "'The Light-House'". Edgar Allan Poe Society online. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^Silverman 1991, p. 68
^Silverman 1991, p. 153
^Ostram 1987, p. 40
^Sova 2001, p. 232
^Silverman 1991, p. 299
Sources
Fisher, Benjamin Franklin IV (2002). "Poe and the Gothic tradition". In Hayes, Kevin J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 71–91. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521793262.006. ISBN 978-0-521-79727-6.
Foye, Raymond, ed. (1980). The Unknown Poe: An Anthology of Fugitive Writings by Edgar Allan Poe. San Francisco: City Lights Books. ISBN 978-0-87286-110-7.
Grayson, Eric (2005). "Weird Science, Weirder Unity: Phrenology and Physiognomy in Edgar Allan Poe". Mode 1: 56–77. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
Hayes, Kevin J. (2002). "Visual Culture and the Word in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Man of the Crowd'". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 56 (4): 445–465. doi:10.1525/ncl.2002.56.4.445.
Hoffman, Daniel (1998) [1972]. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-2321-8.
Hubbell, Jay B. (1945). "'O, Tempora! O, Mores!' A Juvenile Poem by Edgar Allan Poe". Studies in the Humanities, Series B. 2 (4). University of Colorado Studies: 314–321. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
Hungerford, Edward (1930). "Poe and Phrenology". American Literature. 1 (3): 209–231. doi:10.2307/2920231. JSTOR 2920231.
Kagle, Steven E. (1990). "The Corpse Within Us". In Fisher, Benjamin Franklin IV (ed.). Poe and His Times: The Artist and His Milieu. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society. ISBN 978-0-9616449-2-5.
Kennedy, J. Gerald (1987). Poe, Death, and the Life of Writing. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03773-9.
Koster, Donald N. (2002). "Influences of Transcendentalism on American Life and Literature". In Galens, David (ed.). Literary Movements for Students Vol. 1. Detroit: Thomson Gale.
Krutch, Joseph Wood (1926). Edgar Allan Poe: A Study in Genius. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. (1992 reprint: ISBN 978-0-7812-6835-6)
Meyers, Jeffrey (1992). Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy (Paperback ed.). New York: Cooper Square Press. ISBN 978-0-8154-1038-6.
Ostram, John Ward (1987). "Poe's Literary Labors and Rewards". In Fisher, Benjamin Franklin IV (ed.). Myths and Reality: The Mysterious Mr. Poe. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society. pp. 37–47.
Poe, Edgar Allan (November 1847). "Tale-Writing—Nathaniel Hawthorne". Godey's Lady's Book: 252–256. Archived from the original on June 23, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
Quinn, Arthur Hobson (1998). Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5730-0.
Rosenheim, Shawn James (1997). The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5332-6.
Schöberlein, Stefan (2017). "Poe or not Poe? A stylometric analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's disputed writings". Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. 32 (4): 650–653. doi:10.1093/llc/fqw019.
Silverman, Kenneth (1991). Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance (Paperback ed.). New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-092331-0.
Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work (Paperback ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. ISBN 978-0-8160-4161-9.
Tschachler, Heinz (2013). The Monetary Imagination of Edgar Allan Poe: Banking, Currency, and Politics in the Writings. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7583-4.
Whalen, Terance (2001). "Poe and the American Publishing Industry". In Kennedy, J. Gerald (ed.). A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512150-6.
Wilbur, Richard (1967). "The House of Poe". In Regan, Robert (ed.). Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. pp. 99. ISBN 978-0-13-684963-6.
External links
Wikisource has original works by or about: Edgar Allan Poe
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe Archived August 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at the Edgar Allan Poe Society online – includes multiple versions of fiction, essays, criticisms
Complete list of Poe's contributions Archived April 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine to various journals and magazines at bartleby.com
