Website for Short Story Lovers-8: Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

Welcome to PoeStories.com
by Robert Giordano

This site contains short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Allen Poe is a common misspelling), story summaries, quotes, and linked vocabulary words and definitions for educational reading. It also includes a short biography, a timeline of Poe's life, and links to other Poe sites.Most people recognize Poe by his famous poem, "The Raven". Others may have read one of his more popular dark and creepy tales like, "The Fall of the House of Usher" or "The Tell-tale Heart". Poe wrote quite a few gothic stories about murder, revenge, torture, the plague, being buried alive, and insanity. Many modern books and movies have "borrowed" ideas from Poe. Some of Poe's stories were not well accepted in his day because people were just not ready for them- they were too scary.Many people don't know that Edgar Allan Poe also wrote stories about adventure on the high seas, buried pirate treasure, and a famous balloon ride. Poe invented the detective story with tales like "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter". Sherlock Holmes and other fictional detectives would later be based on the characters that Poe created. Poe wrote love stories and even a few strange little comedies. He attempted to explain the composition of the universe in a way that sounds a little like quantum physics. Explore this site and you'll see why I think Edgar Allan Poe deserves to be recognized as one of the most original, imaginative, and ingenious authors of our society.

Summaries
Poe wrote many stories on many different topics. If you don't know where to start, you can browse short summaries of Edgar Allan Poe stories, so you can find something that interests you. Don't worry, I don't give away the endings!!

Wordlist
This site makes it easy for you read Poe's stories. Poe knew several languages and had quite a large vocabulary. Poe's works are not hard to read but sometimes he uses obscure words or references that the average user may not know. Because of this, I've created an ever growing wordlist containing many of these words and their definitions. When a word in the wordlist appears in any story, it becomes hyperlinked to its definition.

Gallery
In the Gallery, you'll find a large collection of Edgar Allan Poe portraits and daguerreotypes. Learn the details behind each of Poe's commonly recognized portraits.In the Poe Artwork section, browse a constantly updated selection of art from current artists who were inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, his poetry, and prose. Artists who have created paintings, drawings, or illustrations based on Poe or his works, are invited to contact me about featuring your work on this site.The Gallery also features photography from various trips to Edgar Allan Poe historic sites, like the ones in Richmond and Baltimore.

About this Site
Poestories.com was built using 100% standards compliant HTML and CSS. That means no tables were used for layout. It means this site should look nearly identical in every modern browser on Macintosh or Windows, like Firefox or Opera. Finally it means this site is fully functional with all styles turned off and is accessible to people with disabilities.This site also works on mobile devices like cell phones and pda's. Try it!!Enjoy your visit and don't forget to sign the guestbook.

This is not a complete list of works by Poe. These are my favorite stories and ones I feel are important and should be read by more people. Several sites listed on the links page have complete collections of Poe's works online. If you can't decide which story to read first, try browsing the summaries page.It should be noted that the year in parenthesis is the year the linked text was published, not the year Poe actually wrote the story. Many of Poe's stories were published several times and some were not published until after he died. Look at the timeline for more information about dates.

"The Angel of the Odd" (1844) Comedy about being drunk"The Balloon Hoax" (1844) Newspaper story about balloon travel"Berenice" (1835) Horror story about teeth"The Black Cat" (1845) Horror story about a cat"The Cask of Amontillado" (1846) A story of revenge"A Descent Into The Maelström" (1845) Man vs. Nature, Adventure Story"Eleonora" (1850) A love story"The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) An old house and its secrets"The Gold Bug" (1843) A search for pirate treasure"Hop-Frog" (1845) A midget seeks revenge"The Imp of the Perverse" (1850) Procrastination and confession"The Island of the Fay" (1850) A poetic discussion"Ligeia" (1838) A haunting supernatural tale"The Man of the Crowd" (1845) How to follow someone"Manuscript Found in a Bottle" (1833) Adventure at sea"The Masque of the Red Death" (1850) The horror of the plague"Mesmeric Revelation" (1849) Conversation with a hypnotized dying man"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) A detective story"Never Bet the Devil Your Head" (1850) A comedy with a moral"The Oval Portrait" (1850) A tragic love story"The Pit and the Pendulum" (1850) A torture chamber"The Premature Burial" (1850) About being buried alive"The Purloined Letter" (1845) A detective story"Silence - A Fable" (1838) A dream"Some Words With a Mummy" (1850) A mummy speaks"The Spectacles" (1850) A great little comedy about love at first sight"The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether" (1856) Inside an insane asylum"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1850) A murderer's guilt