Reviews

The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

lalawoman416's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Love a good repeat. Although I don't remember them all having such similar themes.

wanderingstories's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0



A Dream Within A Dream questions the distinction between reality from fantasy. In the poem he is asking "Is that all we see or seem but a dream within a dream?

nithya_m's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

My (at this point) annual reread of Poe's entire collection did not disappoint. I adore his poetry, but I paid more attention to his short stories this time around. As I attempt to write a gothic short story of my own for a class, I'm reminded of just how extraordinary his pen was when it came to the genre and format. The Fall of the House of Usher and The Murders in the Rue Morgue are all-time favorites for a reason <3

lareinadehades's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense slow-paced

4.25

jmfjump's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I expected these works to be dark which they were, and I learned to look at such topics from a different angle after reading, but what I didn't expect was for each story to be so adventurous, varied, and interesting.

a_bloom's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

isa_booktracker_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

annamickreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

A compendium like this of the majority (if not all) of Poe's writings is really handy for someone who meant to read them back before "The Fall of the House of Usher" on Netflix like myself.

That said, I think putting all of Poe's works right next to each other shows how he often repeated themes and concepts throughout his short stories, especially when it came to women. That's not to say most authors don't have a signature style, but how many stories can one person write about their beloved actually being dead/seeing the dead/dying mysteriously and haunting the narrator forever.

That said, obviously his most popular works are popular for a reason, and it was extremely fun to read through "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Masque of the Red Death" again.

geliopoulos's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

truly the best way to enjoy poe is to have basil rathbone and vincent price read it to you. unparalleled.

breathehopebooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

The stories i enjoyed i really liked, but the ones i didn’t i found absolutely boring and/or ridiculous.
Since i wasn’t familiar with most of the stories, though, i found this to be a bit of a slog, especially considering the overly pretentious prose, which tends to be characteristic of the Gothic era writing style.

I think i’m more just here for the nostalgia of Poe.