Reviews

The Complete Poetical Works Of Edgar Allan Poe by J. H. Whitty

kandicez's review against another edition

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5.0

Poe is so dreary, but I love his work. Annabel Lee is my very favorite, I always try to read it out loud, with as much inflection as possible. My kids used to laugh at me, but now that they are forced to read poetry in school, they agree, it makes it much easier to enjoy.

rafternorth's review against another edition

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3.0

“Yes, Heaven is thine; but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merely—flowers, And the shadow of thy perfect bliss Is the sunshine of ours.”

I think I like Poe’s stories a lot more than his poetry. There were a few verses I liked a lot, but as far as complete poems are concerned, I would only likely revisit “The Raven” and “For Annie”.

Rating: 3 Stars

lucy_qhuay's review against another edition

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4.0

Beautiful!
My favourites are, without a doubt, "A Dream Within A Dream", "A Dream", "Alone" and "Annabelle Lee".

devilmann69's review against another edition

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5.0

From the introduction written by Jay Parini:
"For Edgar Allan Poe, the art of poetry was ultimately about the contemplation of ideal beauty. Though obsessed with death, and with states of unreality and nightmare, he looked for moments of transcendence, believing that visionary insights were attainable only “in brief and indeterminate glimpses.” In his best poems, he creates a rhythmical language in which a melodious chiming on vowel sounds and consonants works to impress his lines deep in the reader’s memory, giving them the literary equivalent of eternal life. As T. S. Eliot once said, “Only after you find that a poem by Poe goes on throbbing in your head,” he wrote, “do you begin to suspect that perhaps you will never forget it.”"

rosekk's review against another edition

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5.0

I did not love every poem, but for every one that I was ambivalent about, there was another that I loved, so it worked out rather well in the end.

anzuk's review against another edition

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4.0

Ok, so I guess I'm taking a break from this. I managed to read half of it, and I guess I'll resume it in a year or so, when the mood returns. I can only say that I really liked what I've read so far. Poe is pretty fucked up in the head and I admire him for that.

b_niki's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

loyalrobyn's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

i_and_my_annabel_lee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

5.0

odettegray's review against another edition

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5.0

"But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful ANNABELLEE.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the side of the sea."

I don't think I'll ever read a poem quite so beautiful as Annabel lee