Edgar Allan Poe - Writers Forum

Cervantes · 12-26-2007, 04:20 PM

Poe is my favorite author. I posses a volume of his works - stories and poems - and I read it everyday. He is an essential literary genius. If anyone has any questions regarding Poe's work, feel free to ask me. I am in the process of writing/creating a critique on his stories. I consider myself a "Poe connoisseur." I know I am not an expert, but I just love his writing; my writing is heavily influenced on his.

My favorite stories are "The Duc De L'Omelette," "The Cask of Amontillado," "King Pest," "Four Beasts in One: The Homo-Cameleopard," "Bon-Bon," "Never Bet the Devil Your Head," and "The Devil in the Belfry."

SteMcGrath · 01-15-2008, 01:11 PM

I've only read a very short biography of him the other day. God- what a life!!! I look forward to reading him though. Just ploughing through Crime and Punishment. Then I might read some Poe. He's worth his mark then?

Bobber · 01-17-2008, 09:57 PM

The Raven is the only work of his i really enjoy.
Fall In The House of Usher was simply too weird and slow paced for me, and The Pit and The Pendulum was ok.
He was definately a dark and disturbing person, good ol' Mr. Poe, but i can't say i enjoyed that many of his writings. I must say that i think The Raven might very well be one of the best poems ever written though.

IrishLad · 01-20-2008, 04:11 PM

One of the most interesting people I've ever read about. His life (and death) mirrored his writing. I own his complete works and read it frequently. "The Gold Bug" is a particular favorite of mine.

He truly had command of the written word. But then, I'm a sucker for tortured souls.

UnderToad · 02-08-2008, 02:54 PM

Poe is the father of the mystery genre. Sure hope you go back and broaden those horizons Bobber.

Damian_Rucci · 02-13-2008, 08:16 AM

I have a volume oh his work as well. Amazing author, did you guys know he was buried alive? I thought it was a lie but they dug up his grave and found scratch marks on the inside of his coffin. I heard he was in an opium induced coma.

Cervantes · 02-13-2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damian_Rucci

I have a volume oh his work as well. Amazing author, did you guys know he was buried alive? I thought it was a lie but they dug up his grave and found scratch marks on the inside of his coffin. I heard he was in an opium induced coma.

Poe was buried alive? Where did you find this???

Damian_Rucci · 02-13-2008, 04:13 PM

Well my mom told me so I didn't believe her and I looked online. I forgot where though. Try wikipedia., they'll probably have it, or look on other sites.

Frabes · 02-13-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

a lie but they dug up his grave and found scratch marks on the inside of his coffin. I heard he was in an opium induced coma.

This is a myth. If you dig up anyone's grave from that age, it'll look like there's scratch marks on the inside of their coffin. The truth is, the wood shrinks and forms cracks on the inside that look like scratch marks.

It's well-known that Poe did have a fear of being buried alive, but there's no way he actually was.

Damian_Rucci · 02-14-2008, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frabes

This is a myth. If you dig up anyone's grave from that age, it'll look like there's scratch marks on the inside of their coffin. The truth is, the wood shrinks and forms cracks on the inside that look like scratch marks.

It's well-known that Poe did have a fear of being buried alive, but there's no way he actually was.

you positive about that? Back then there were large amounts of people being buried alive. Because there was no way really for the mortician to totally find out you were dead except listen if your heart wouldn't beat. Poe was a a hardcore opium addict, and mass amounts of opium can put you in a coma. He could of been in a coma and the mortician couldn't recognize if he was dead.

Frabes · 02-14-2008, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Poe was a a hardcore opium addict

This is also a myth, perpetrated by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Poe's rival who famously wrote an inflammatory obituary for Poe and later wrote a biography that was filled with lies and half-truths designed to make Poe seem like the lesser of the two writers. All of his claims were lated proved false, but since it's the only biography of Poe from that time period, it's still pretty popular.

Quote:

Back then there were large amounts of people being buried alive.

That's not true. There are very, very few cases of that actually happening. People have been pronounced dead and later found to be living many times (at the start of an autopsy, embalming, etc.), but it's almost impossible to be buried alive unintentionally for that same reason.

Poe did write a short story about being buried alive called 'Premature Burial', which is probably where this myth comes from.

Artist · 02-14-2008, 04:43 PM

Edgar Allan Poe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The cask of amontillado was one of his better works.

Malone · 02-14-2008, 11:53 PM

Wikipedia is just shit other people post on there...it's not necessarily true.

And the buried alive thing is a myth. Did they even dig up his grave? Why?

I'm assuming you read or saw something about people being buried alive then coming back as vampires? Very rare. The urban legends would spread, until everyone claimed to know first hand of case. Same thing with Consumption, and buried up bodies being "alive."

Mark Carter · 02-15-2008, 10:41 AM

Oh Jeezee.

I just joined this forum today because I'm looking for a place to find some discussion on some gothic lit and I see this form has sections for Poe and Lovecraft. So, I rush directly to the Poe thread and instead of criticism I find a discussion of whether or not Poe was buried alive. That's just not encouraging.

Poe's life and death are well documented for anyone who takes the time to look. As for the question of could they distinguish a drug induced coma from death in Poe's day all I can say is read Poe himself. You'll be surprised how much medical knowledge was available back then. Poe himself was no dummy and put a fair amount of medical knowledge in his works. If his works seem to imply that people were often buried alive I'd guess that was just because that was his personal fear and he allowed it to skew his works. After all, he was witting horror in those tales and he needed to be creepy.

I'm reading Poe's complete works right now and I only have about 1/8 left to go. Now that I've read most of it I find it interesting how little of his work is known. His reputation seems to be based mostly upon a handful of horror or detective tales when in fact they seem to make a small part of his total works. In reading him for a study of gothic art that I hope to write I was surprised at how few notes I've taken. The general public remembers him as a gothic/horror/detective writer but most of his work is irrelevant to my study. (I also find that his humor doesn't age well.) I wonder if he would be surprised at how we've chosen to remember him?

ArlenOrobono · 02-15-2008, 09:36 PM

It's an easy mistake to make, I suppose. If you google "Poe buried alive", you come up with countless links that say "Premature burial of Edgar Allan Poe". Though, the only reason one would make the assumption he was buried alive is because they didn't actually click on the link o.O.

Poe's one of my favorite writers, absolutely genius.