This edition by Dover Publications recreates the 1900 Endymion editions. Poe is mostly known for his short stories, but his poetry is an important part of his work. This edition goes beyond "The Raven", "The Bells", and "Annabel Lee". Some poems seem out of place. Two of his poems "Al Aaraaf" and "Israfel" seem out of place for an American poet of the nineteenth century. "Al Aaraaf" is based on stories from the Koran and influenced by the 1572 supernova discovered by Tycho Brahe. Israfel is an archangel who has the sweetest voice in all of heaven She will blow the trumpet to summon the dead on judgment day according to the Koran.

Poe wrote many poems to or about women. Two of the published poems hide a woman's name in the structure of the poem. In a very Poe like fashion, several of the women are dead -- some obvious and some not right away:

My love, she sleeps Oh, may her sleep,
As it is lasting, so be deep;
Soft may the worms creep about her!

There is little doubt about the gothic tone of his mature work. His early work is also included in this edition in its original form with the admittance of the sin of plagiarism. The young Poe was eager to show his heroes and not everything was quite as dark in his writing.

The edition rounds itself out with excerpts from his unfinished play "Politian", letters to introduce his poems, an essay on poetic principle, and an essay on the philosophy of composition. This edition helps completes the picture of Poe as a writer. Even in poetry though there is little doubt the work is by Poe; it has that familiar feel to it. To add to the poetry this edition richly illustrated with pen and ink drawings from W. Heath Robinson. These drawings add visual drama to the reading and lock the reader into the 19th-century gothic fantasy. A very nice book to keep and enjoy. ( )

This is a reprint of the original hot metal type version of the book, which is interesting in itself. Classic poetry by a master of the macabre. ( )

One who ignores all else, and forgotten all fear, to us, for generations, is labeled insane. Now, this is merely an opinion that someone from long ago, that everyone accepted as their own point of view on other humans. In this glorious collection of Edgar Allan Poe's dark and dreary poems, you will see what had been going through his odd mind. While this kind of book may not appeal to everyone, this book was rather enjoyable. As it is very different from the optimistic books and poems you see today. The poems are dark, and tell tales of grief, laments and suffering.

Throughout the book, you will see that in reality, nothing is ever truly peaceful, and humans are not innocent and pure as we pretend to be. We are not holy beings, nor gifts to this earth. We gain happiness, but something will always take that away. For human kind cannot gain anything, without giving something in return. And we have taken a lot. From each other, and our mother planet, without giving anything of true importance back. My issues with Edgar Allan Poe's style, is he refers to god and the afterlife/supernatural. This irritates me, as i do not believe in god, or spirits of this earth for that matter. And I do understand, that it was around that time, that belief in god was natural to us back then. People had done it for centuries, so I don't imagine they would have stopped then.

Overall, this book was a fantastic read, and is a classic, and should be remembered as such. The poems are dark, scary, gory, sad, depressing, and somethings just makes you feel sad for the pain we all endure. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys dark and gritty writing, or anyone who just enjoys passionately written poems. For ultimate recommendation, the dark and aged Japanese book, Another, which I am not sure whether it has been translated, but it is a dark and gory story indeed. All of these poems were awesome to read, and dark enough to keep me awake at night

exelente libro que nos muestra como era el pensamiento del siglo XIX. ( )