My Project Gutenberg Logo

For information on Project Gutenberg and their affiliates, and tips on using these files on your reading device, please refer to my Newsletter: My NEXT Step in Technology.

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 5

Click the title for your free ebook!

    Volume Five, the last of this large, but not complete set of works by Poe is also the shortest, along with Volume Four. However, because it contains much or most of Poe's poetry, it has by far the greatest number of individual works, which includes a few short stories. As is the case when there are so many stories in one volume, I will only discuss a few. One note about this Project Gutenberg edition: there is another story called Bon-Bon that falls after Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling. The story is included, it is just not designated as a new story, nor is it in the index. I have listed it in my index, however. Incidentally, the latter is a quite amusing story about an Irishman and a Frenchman who are in love with the same widow. Poe equally pokes fun at both nationalities, especially their language. One more comment on this volume—it is filled with typos. I realize these books have been digitized by volunteers, which I greatly appreciate, and I have found typos here and there in just about every free eBook I've read, but this one goes way beyond acceptable.
    Most people think of Poe as a writer mostly of the macabre and supernatural. However, having read five volumes of his works, I have had to change my perceptions. He wrote a bit of everything, but, of his short stories, about half are humorous (granted, a morbid and grotesque humor), but humor indeed!.
    One of my favorites from this volume is Hop-Frog, and it is not humorous. It is about a king whose greatest delight was in jokes, often practical jokes at the expense of someone else. He had a crippled dwarf who had been kidnapped along with a dwarfish young girl, and it was their job to entertain the king. One day, however, the king went too far, and threw a goblet of wine in the face of the girl. Without missing a beat, Hop-Frog continues his jesting, grinding his teeth and inwardly vowing revenge. He succeeds in a most gruesome manner.
    Another of my favorites is Thou Art the Man, which is a murder/mystery, very cleverly constructed. We know, without a doubt, who committed the crime, though all "evidence" points to another, but it is in the revealing of the crime that we are surprised.
    This volume also contains some of Poe's essays, and The Poetic Principle is interesting, quoting many different poems which were Poe's own favorites. However, the typos in this one are so frequent, that reading it becomes frustrating. In one poem by Lord Byron, every time the word "hath" appears, it is written as "bath"!!! Quite a difference in the two words. Hopefully, Project Gutenberg will take steps to correct some of these errors.

The Poems
    The poetry section begins with Poe's poems of later life. The first one, probably his best-known, in fact one of the best-known poems in general, is The Raven. When I had reached this page, I had already read through four volumes of Poe's works, and lots of creepy stuff, but none of it affected me as this one work. I literally got chills up my spine, perhaps because the rhythm of the poem generates an increasingly gloomy energy, which ends in despair and hopelessness.
    The next one, The Bells, does a total about-face, beginning with bells of joy—sleigh bells, wedding bells, but moves to bells of danger. There is a fire! All throughout our reading, we hear the bells tolling, louder, stronger, more ominous. As in The Raven, the intensity is built into the rhythm of the poem. Excellent!
    Annabel Lee is a beautiful love poem about a very young couple whose love is so strong that it is envied in Heaven, so Heaven takes her away, but the love between the two youths never dies:

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me;
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling
And killing my ANNABEL LEE.

    A Valentine and An Enigma have names hidden within the poems. The book gives you directions on how to find them, although you have to play with it because it is not printed properly. After this follows To My Mother, another work that is not listed in the table of contents. This beautiful poem was actually written to Poe's mother-in-law after the death of his wife.
    The poem Eulalie is also missing from the index, as is A Dream within a Dream (which is one of the more well-known of Poe's poems), and Bridal Ballad.
    The next section is Poems of Manhood, and number about half of the previous category. In this section also falls Scenes from "Politian:" An Unpublished Drama. It is the only play written by Poe, and was never finished. Two installments were published, in 1835 and 1836, but didn't receive good reviews, so Poe abandoned the project.
    The play is set in 16th century Rome, but, as was often the case with Poe, it was based on something current. In this instance, it was a murder which was committed in Kentucky in 1825.
    In the last section, Poems of Youth is contained Poe's longest ever poem, which he claims he wrote "before the age of 15." Called Al Aaraaf, it is inspired from writings of the Qur'an. According to Wikipedia:

Its title is "Al Aaraaf" from the Al Aaraaf of the Arabians, a medium between Heaven and Hell where men suffer no punishment, but yet do not attain that tranquil & even happiness which they suppose to be the characteristics of heavenly enjoyment.

    It was also inspired by the discovery of a supernova in 1572. The problem with this poem is that nobody (myself included) could understand it. The Wikipedia article supplies some interesting information that attests to Poe's stubbornness, (and probably obnoxiousness), which no doubt, though a sign of genius, contributed to his lifelong ostracism from society and certainly kept him from prosperity. We look back now, able to judge his literary output from a distance and wonder how he could have been so "unsuccessful," but there most likely was a reason, having more to do with his personality than his talent.
    Tamerlane, also from this period, is much easier to understand. It tells of the great and brutal 14th century Turkish conqueror, but interweaves passions from Poe's own life and lost loves.

For all we live to know is known,
And all we seek to keep hath flown—
Let life, then, as the day-flower, fall
With the noon-day beauty—which is all.

    Israfel is about an angel who is Heaven's greatest musician. According to the Koran, "And the angel Israfel, whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." However, the poet wonders, if they could trade places, and he sing the songs of heaven, while Israfel dwelt upon earth, if the songs would be so sweet. One other note—the last poem, "A PÆAN," is another work missing from the index.
    The last section contains "doubtful poems" although the first one, "Alone," according to this edition, has pretty much been accepted as truly a work by Poe.
    And that concludes this five-volume extensive but by no means complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. I learned a great deal about the author, and no doubt my perception of him has drastically changed. This was an enlightening project for me but certainly not an easy one, or always enjoyable. Poe isn't easy to read, even (and especially) his humorous works. I am going to make a point to keep them up front on my reader, and review his works at a more leisurely pace to ponder their meaning.
    For the index to all five volumes of this set, please go to the Poe Main Page.

The Raven

Raven Raven Raven

Click here

All material on this site copyright © 2016 by Laughing Crow.
This site designed and written by Laughing Crow.