The Fall of the House of Usher and the Other Major Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe (Reader's Library Classics)

by Edgar Allan Poe

Overview

I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

At the request of his good friend Roderick Usher, a visitor travels to the House of Usher where Roderick and his sister Madeline live. From the time the traveler first steps foot onto the Usher property, a mysterious and foreboding presence fills the air. Almost as if the house itself is alive.

Born in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer and poet best known for his tales of mystery and macabre. His short stories have long been entrenched in American pop culture, and he is regarded as one of the greatest inspirations to the modern horror and mystery genres. His fictional C. Auguste Dupin stories, all included in this collection, are widely considered the first modern detective story, and these stories would become a foundational influence to Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Poe's notable works include The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), The Tell-Tale Heart (1843), The Black Cat (1843), and The Raven (1845), among many others. He died in 1849.

The following 13 tales and 13 poems are included:

Tales

• The Fall of the House of Usher
• The Tell-Tale Heart
• the Black Cat
• The Cask of Amontillado
• The Pit and the Pendulum
• The Masque of the Red Death
• The Oval Portrait
• The premature burial
• A Descent into the Maelström
• Ligeia

The C. Auguste Dupin Mysteries

• The Murders in the Rue Morgue
• The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
• The Purloined Letter

Poems

• The Raven
• Annabel Lee
• Alone
• A Dream Within a Dream
• Dream-Land
• Eldorado
• The Sleeper
• Lenore
• The City in the Sea
• To Helen
• The Bells
• The Valley of Unrest
• To One in Paradise

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781954839489
Publisher:	Reader's Library Classics
Publication date:	02/03/2023
Pages:	274
Sales rank:	1,013,003
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was orphaned at the age of three and adopted by a wealthy Virginia family with whom he had a troubled relationship. He excelled in his studies of language and literature at school, and self-published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. In 1830, Poe embarked on a career as a writer and began contributing reviews and essays to popular periodicals. He also wrote sketches and short fiction, and in 1833 published his only completed novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Over the next five years he established himself as a master of the short story form through the publication of "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and other well–known works. In 1841, he wrote "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," generally considered the first modern detective story. The publication of The Raven and Other Poems in 1845 brought him additional fame as a poet.