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Nov 25, 2014ManMachine rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
*Excerpt from "The Raven"* - "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping... As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." Contrary to what many might think, Edgar Allan Poe actually did write more than just tales of terror and the bizarre. In fact, Poe actually had quite a keen sense of humour and certainly wrote plenty of satire, as well as a number of very gripping detective stories, too. Born in 1809, Poe was one of the very first important, American authors of the 19th Century. It was at the age of twenty that Poe seriously embarked on his goal of becoming a full-time writer. I think that it's surprising to note that, during his brief lifetime, Poe's writings were more popular in Europe (especially in France) than they were in his homeland of the USA. Poe's untimely death in 1849 was also something of a mystery. He was found unconscious on a street in Baltimore wearing someone else's clothes. He died shortly after this in the hospital with his last words being - "Lord, help my poor soul." This impressive volume of collected tales & poems contains more than sixty of Poe's stories and more than thirty of his poems.