During his life, Poe was a prolific writer, who often published work, revised it, and then republished it under a different title. Though his works were widely published in America during his lifetime, he remained relatively unknown as a literary figure until the printing of his poem "The Raven" in 1844. Poe historians feel that his lack of fame may have been due to the misfortune of his trying to establish a literary career in America during the mid-1800s. J. R. Hammond writes that if Poe had been in England, he not only would have been paid more for his work with various publications but would have most likely enjoyed increased popularity of his works in the favorable English literary climate. (Hammond, pp. 17-24)

Besides the other tragic aspects of Poe's life, perhaps the most unhappy was the unwitting selection of Rufus W. Griswold to be Poe’s literary executor. Griswold, in fact, hated and was envious of Poe. Soon after Poe's death, Griswold printed several defamations of Poe's character and work and neglected to print the author's works as he had collected. Not until the 1940s did historians begin to make efforts to repair Poe's posthumous reputation through scholarly study. In the 1850s, the French poet Baudelaire began to translate some of Poe's works, which helped to ease some of the stigma on his reputation.

Although Poe was a prolific writer and apparently well liked by his colleagues and employers at various literary journals, his lifelong dream was to start his own magazine, a project which, unhappily for him, he was never able realize. Though he worked at many literary magazines during his relatively short life and was widely published as an author and critical essayist, when he died he was largely unknown as a literary figure, partly because much of his work was published in inconsequential journals.

Though readers know many of Poe's tales today and several of his poems, most of his work is not read widely. He wrote hundreds of stories, essays, and poems on a variety of subjects, including politics, religion, and current issues of his day. The type of literature he is best remembered for, though, is of course his collections of tales on the supernatural. Poe had an uncanny gift for storytelling and weaving the elements of a story into an almost explosive climax. Many of the themes of Poe's stories are recurrent and were influenced by the sights and occurrences of Poe's childhood and adolescence. Some of his popular themes included the fleeting nature of beauty, especially that of a woman; the death and reclamation of the soul; the relationship between rationality and insanity; and the power of nature and fate.

Howarth says that Poe's tales are closely related to the period of American history during the nineteenth century from about 1830 to 1865. This was called "The Romantic Age" of American literature by historians. It was a time of growth and change for the country as well as upheaval. Poe's works often reflect his inconsistency about "the relation of art to ideas" as well as his tendency to "reject conventional pieties" and champion the "abnormal and bizarre." As a zealous editor, he frequently attacked the major authors, such as Emerson and Alcott, though his criticisms often turned out to be mainly a matter of differing opinions. (Howarth, pg. 4)

Poe often stated that literature should be written according to form, and in his essay "The Philosophy of Composition," he asserted that he wrote "The Raven" according to "strict, predetermined rules." Howarth maintains, though, that generally it was the other way around, that Poe's strict form arose naturally out of his works. His best-known works, sometimes called "arabesques," were written generally between 1838 and 1844. Inspired by the fanciful nature of "Arabian Nights," Poe liked to create "scarifying subjects of murder, graves, and ghosts," with "intriguing psychological dimensions," for the reader. Howarth says that Poe's tales fascinate us because their mixture of real and supernatural events poses a complex riddle: "Are we haunted in this world, or do we haunt ourselves?" (Howarth, pg. 8)

William Carlos Williams writes that Poe was not "a fault of nature" but rather "a genius intimately shaped by his locality and time," feeling that Poe's "craziness" was a reputation unfairly placed by a literary climate that didn't know how else to deal with him. He lauds Poe's immaculate sense of form and feels that part of the reason that he was unrecognized is because of his American background and nature, "heeding more the local necessities," rather than copying Hawthorne's tendency to imitate what French, German, or English writers were doing. Williams notes the "recurring image of the ape" in such tales as "Hop-Frog," "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" to perhaps show his "disgust with his immediate associates and his own fears." (Williams, pg. 38)

J. R. Hammond comments on Poe's heavy reliance on reminiscences from his youth for the backdrops of many of his tales. The mansion in "Fall of the House of Usher" sounds much like a European chateau set in Poe's dreamlike landscape but is probably based upon an abandoned American mansion the author may have seen in Carolina. "William Wilson," the tale about the mistaken identity of two schoolboys, "draws heavily" on the author's experiences when he attended the Manor House School at Stoke Newington near London. In Hammond's opinion, "There can be no doubt that the antique atmosphere of the school and the surrounding village makes a powerful impact on Poe's imagination." (Hammond, pg. 72)

Poe's stories of terror include tales of the sea and especially vortexes and whirlpools. Poe was very much aware of the current interest of polar exploration and in exploration in general, and his tales "MS. Found in a Bottle" and "Descent into the Maelstrom" seem to be evidence of this, as well as Poe's trips to England and back to America when he was young. Also of great influence to the author were such works as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Robinson Crusoe. (Hammond, pg. 65)

Poe's obsession with doubles is evident in many of his stories: in "MS. Found in a Bottle," the Captain of the ghost ship is the narrator's double; in "William Wilson," the imitative schoolboy; and Roderick Usher in "Fall of the House of Usher" bears many resemblances to the temperament of the author. Perhaps his best-known use of doubles occurs in his tales of death and rebirth, such as "Morella" and "Ligeia," where the subjects of the stories, both young, beautiful women, die prematurely and seem to come back to life again in the personages of other women, who also die. Poe also shows here his conviction that beauty was fleeting, especially female beauty. Many of the woman with whom he formed romantic attachments and friendships died of illnesses, particularly tuberculosis, or consumption. Poe seems to have been deeply affected by the loss of his friends and especially the death of his wife, Virginia Clemm. (Hammond, pg. 70)

The real meaning in Poe's tales is often closely debated, as in "The Fall of the House of Usher," for example. Many critics tend to read the story as a gothic horror tale where Roderick causes his sister to be buried alive, the result being that she ultimately breaks out of her tomb and comes back to destroy him and the whole house. But more recent critics, such as Walker and Hill, have asserted that such readings of the story do not do justice to Poe's skill as a writer and blatantly ignore definite clues that Poe has written into the work itself. I. M. Walker points to the "tarn" that seems to be everywhere as a symbol of the pervading madness of both Roderick and the narrator. Both Hill and Walker feel that Madeline could never have broken out of her tomb, the way the reader may be led to believe, because of her long illness and the nature of the tomb itself. She is therefore a hallucination, the product of two deranged minds, the effect of which is heightened by the electrical storm. (Howarth, pp. 47-62)

In tales such as "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," the question of perverseness for its own sake is challenged by Gargano and Robinson. Many critics had tended to accept the notion that the protagonists of these tales were being perverse merely for the sake of perverseness and factors that were beyond their control. But more recent critics feel that Poe's tales, particularly "The Black Cat," need to be read on a much more symbolic level than is typically done in order to grasp the real intent of the author. The protagonist's actions in "The Black Cat" are more believably seen as those of a man slowly sinking into the unreality of madness rather than as being a victim of a perverse fate. The black cat symbolizes his nature which changes gradually from good to evil. In the end, the cry that comes from the wall is that not only of the cat and his dead wife but also of his conscience. In the "Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator begins to identify himself in unconscious ways with a dying old man and resolves to kill him because of his "evil eye." It is not the evil in the man that terrifies the narrator, but rather the evil in himself which he sees mirrored in the old man's eye. (Howarth, pp. 87-102)

A Listing of Works
The following is a listing of Poe's short stories and poems, excerpted from An Edgar Allan Poe Companion, edited by J. R. Hammond. This listing gives a brief description of each work and the date it was published. For a more complete listing of Poe's work, including his book reviews and literary essays, see Part II of Hammond's book, "An Edgar Allan Poe Dictionary." The following listing will give an indication of Poe's prolific nature, as well as a chronology to his published works:

"Al Aaraaf." Poem [1829]. From The Koran, the poem discusses nature and the divinity of beauty.

Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. [December 1829]. Contains 13 poems plus major revision of "Tamerlane."

"Alone." Poem [circ. 1829]. Authorship occasionally in question, first printed in 1875.

"The Angel of the Odd." Short story, subtitled "An Extravaganza" [October 1844]. Humorous account of "Angel" who brings about "odd accidents."

"Annabel Lee." Poem [October 1849]. Believed to be about Poe's wife, Virginia Clemm. Published on day of Poe's death.

"The Assignation." Short story [January 1834]. Formerly published as "The Visionary." A tale of multiple poisonings.

"The Balloon-Hoax." Short story [April 1844]. Fictional account of Atlantic Balloon crossing. Caused stir when published in the New York Sun because of its convincing reality.

"The Bells." Poem [April 1849]. Possible subject was Marie Louise Shew. Noted for use of onomatopoeia and insistent repetition.

"Berenice." Short story [March 1835]. Tale of love between two cousins. Heroine is buried alive.

"The Black Cat." Short story [August 1843]. A black cat brings about the discovery of a murder perpetrated by a madman against his wife.

"Bon-Bon." Short story [December 1832]. Originally published as "The Bargain Lost." A satire in which a restaurant owner has drinks with the Devil.

"Bridal Ballad." Poem [January 1837]. Probably about the marriage of a Poe sweetheart, Miss Royster.

"The Cask of Amontillado." Short story [November 1846]. An envious merchant murders his gullible enemy by luring him to a wine cellar and bricking him into a vault.

"The City in the Sea." Poem [1831]. Formerly published as "The Doomed City," and "The City of Sin." Poem contains popular Poe device, the vortex.

"The Coliseum." Poem [October 1833]. On the greatness of Rome.

"The Colloquy of Monos and Una." Short story [August 1841]. A conversation between two spirits about life after death.

"The Conqueror Worm." Poem [January 1843]. About the transitory nature of man. Also part of the short story "Ligeia."

"The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion." Short story [December 1839]. A conversation between two spirits about the destruction of the earth by a comet.

"A Descent Into the Maelstrom." Short story [May 1841]. The tale of a fisherman whose brother and boat are sucked into a giant whirlpool during a storm.

"The Devil in the Belfry." Short story [May 1839]. A satire on the "credulity of the mob."

"The Domain of Arnheim." Short story [March 1847]. Formerly published as "The Landscape Garden." A wealthy man endeavors to "wholly" tame nature.

"A Dream." Poem [1827]. About lost happiness.

"Dream-Land." Poem [June 1844]. About a journey to a fantastic strange land.

"Dreams." Poem [1827]. About youthful happiness and innocence.

"A Dream Within a Dream." Poem [1827]. Formerly entitled "Imitation." Heavily influenced by Byron.

"The Duke De L'Omelette." Short story [March 1832]. A satire in which a mortal (probably representing a leading literary figure of Poe's day, N. P. Willis) against the Devil.

"Eldorado." Poem [April 1849]. Possibly Poe's last poem.

"Eleonora." Short story [1842]. A man finds release from his vows to a dead cousin when he moves to another land and marries.

"The Elk." Short story [1844]. Formerly published as "Morning on the Wissahiccon." A young man believes he is hallucinating on a great lost (pre-industrial) time when he encounters an elk, which is in actuality the pet of a nearby family.

"An Enigma." Poem [ March 1848]. A valentine to Sarah Anna Lewis, her name is concealed in the poem.

"Eulalie—A Song." Poem [July 1845]. A hymn of praise, one of Poe's "happiest creations."

Eureka: A Prose Poem. [March 1848]. A philosophical treatise.

"Evening Star." Poem [1827]. Song of praise to the evening star.

"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." Short story [December 1845]. Published in England as "Mesmerism in Articulo Mortis: An Astounding and Horrifying Narrative." A man suffering from a fatal illness falls into a seven month trance.

"Fairy Land." Poem [September 1829]. Dreamlike, heavily influenced by Shelley and Thomas Moore.

"The Fall of the House of Usher." Short story [September 1839]. A visiting friend of Roderick Usher witnesses the death of Usher and his sister, and the physical destruction of the house.

"For Annie. "Poem [April 1849]. Written for a close friend of Poe's, Mrs. Annie Richmond.

"Four Beasts in One." Short story [March 1836]. Subtitled "The Homo-Cameleopard." Set in the future, a "satirical fantasy" about the barbarism of man as compared to animals.

"The Gold-Bug." Short story [June 1843]. A man tells how his close friend finds the treasure of Captain Kidd. Contains a cryptogram.

"The Happiest Day, The Happiest Hour." Poem [1827]. About past happiness that can never be regained.

"The Haunted Palace." Poem [April 1839]. About a mind haunted by "Phantoms." Also part of the story "The Fall of the House of Usher."

"Hop-Frog or The Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs." Short story [March 1849]. A court jester takes vengeance on the king and his friends by setting fire to them.

"How to Write a Blackwood Article." Short story [November 1838]. Light hearted advice on the subject of the title.

"Hymn." Poem [1835]. Probably Poe's most religious poem.

"The Imp of the Perverse." Short story [July 1845]. A pervert murders his victim by poisoning a candle, which he reads by, and then inherits his estate. He later confesses.

"The Island of the Fay." Short story [June 1841]. A visitor to a remote island, inhabited by fairies, describes the brief life of one.

"Israfel." Poem [1831]. Poe speaks about the nature of poetry through the angel Israfel.

"The Journal of Julius Rodman." A serial story [January-June 1840]. An account of the first passage across the Rocky Mountains (fictionalized).

"King Pest." Short story [September 1835]. Set during the Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century, two seamen stumble upon the pestilence.

"The Lake. To ——. " Poem [1827]. About contemplated suicide.

"Landor's Cottage." Short story [June 1849]. Subtitled "A Pendant to the 'Domain of Arnheim.'" The narrator encounters a "fairy-like avenue."

"Lenore." Poem [1831]. Formerly titled "The Paean." Suggestive of a popular ballad of the time.

"Ligeia." Short story [September 1838]. A husband is widowed twice but finds that the body of his second wife is actually that of the first.

"The Lighthouse." Short story [published April 1942]. Poe's last short story, an unfinished tale about a lonely man living in a lighthouse.

"Lines Written in an Album." Short story [May 1835]. About a duel in which the narrator shoots off his opponent's nose.

"The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esquire." Short story [December 1844]. A writer plagiarizes and tries to publish the works of Dante, Shakespeare and Homer but is rejected on the lack of merit of his work.

"Loss of Breath." Short story [November 1832]. Formerly titled "A Decided Loss," and subtitled "A Tale neither in nor out of Blackwood." A series of misadventures of a man who loses his voice and is subsequently hanged and buried, but later escapes.

"The Man of the Crowd." Short story [December 1840]. A man observing passers-by decides to follow an old man.

"The Man That was Used Up." Short story [August 1839]. A satire about a supposed military hero who turns out to be mostly "artificial."

"MS. Found in a Bottle." Short story [October 1833]. A wealthy traveler blown off course in a storm is carried down a great whirlpool in the South Pole.

"The Masque of the Red Death." Short story [May 1842]. A prince trying to escape the plague, "The Red Death," encounters it in an abbey in the form of a corpse.

"Mellonta Tauta." Short story [February 1849]. About a voyage by balloon across North America.

"Mesmeric Revelation." Short story [August 1844]. A conversation with an invalid who is mesmerized.

"Metzengerstein." Short story [January 1832]. Subtitled "In Imitation of the German." A nobleman from Hungary is possessed by the spirit of a huge horse.

"Morella." Short story [April 1835]. A woman dies giving birth to her daughter, who later also dies. Her father buries her in her mother's tomb but can find no trace of the mother's body.

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Short story [April 1841]. Two women are brutally murdered under mysterious circumstances.

"The Mystery of Marie Roget." Short story [November-December 1842, February 1843]. A detailed account of a murder in Paris.

"Mystification." Short story [June 1837]. Formerly titled "Von Jung." A nobleman avoids a duel by literarily mystifying his opponent.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Novel [July 1838]. Poe's only full length novel. A mutiny and shipwreck that ends up at the South Pole.

"Never Bet the Devil Your Head." Short story [September 1841]. Subtitled "A Tale With a Moral." A man loses a bet with the Devil.

"The Oblong Box." Short story [September 1844]. A young man tries to deliver the body of his wife to her mother by sea voyage and ends up tying himself to the box during a violent storm.

"The Oval Portrait." Short story [April 1842]. Originally published as "Life in Death." A young man learns that the subject of a painting he favors died at the moment of its completion.

"The Pit and the Pendulum." Short story [1843]. A victim of the Spanish Inquisition describes his torture.

Poems. [March 1831]. Nine poems published in New York by Elam Bliss.

"A Predicament." Short story [November 1838]. Subtitled "The Scythe of Time." The tale of the narrator's decapitation by the minute hand of a church tower clock.

"The Premature Burial." Short story [July 1844]. A tale based on dreams and real-life accounts of premature burials.

"The Purloined Letter." Short story [1845]. The narrator succeeds in reclaiming a valuable stolen letter. Suggestive of Sherlock Holmes.

"The Raven." Poem [January 1845]. Probably Poe's most famous poem.

The Raven and Other Poems. [November 1845]. A collection of thirty poems dedicated to Elizabeth Barrett.

"Rise Infernal Spirits." Poem [1822]. Written when Poe was thirteen.

"Romance." Poem [1829].

"Scenes From 'Politian.'" Poem [December 1835]. About a sensationalized murder trial in Kentucky in 1825.

"Shadow—A Parable." Short story [September 1835]. Based on the plot of "The Masque of the Red Death."

"Silence—A Fable." Short story [1838]. Formerly titled "Siope." A prose poem about a meeting between a deity and a demon.

"The Sleeper." Poem [1831]. On the theme of the beautiful female corpse, as in "Berenice," "Ligeia," and "Morella."

"Some Words With a Mummy." Short story [April 1845]. A revived mummy criticizes modern society, and politicians.

"Sonnet—Silence." Poem [April 1840]. A reflection on death as perceived by the senses.

"Sonnet—To Science." Poem [1829]. A criticism of the study of poetry.

"Sonnet—To Zante." Poem [January 1837]. An elegiac meditation on the theme of the association of memories with particular places.

"The Spectacles." Short story [March 1844]. A vain, near-sighted man is taught a lesson when he is deceived into marrying his own great-great grandmother.

"The Sphinx." Short story [January 1846]. A man thinks he sees a huge insect on a distant hill.

"Spirits of the Dead." Poem [1827]. Formerly titled "Visit of the Dead," about the author's resentment of the end of a love affair.

"Stanzas." Poem [1827]. Similar to Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality" in theme. About mystical communion with nature.

"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether." Short story [November 1845]. A satire about an extremely lenient lunatic asylum in France.

"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains." Short story [April 1844]. A young wanderer in the mountains dreams he is in another place.

Tales by Edgar Allan Poe. [June 1845]. Including: "The Gold-Bug," "The Black Cat," "Mesmeric Revelation," "Lionising," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "A Descent into the Maelstrom," "The Colloquy of Monos and Una," "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Mystery of Marie Roget," " The Purloined Letter," "The Man of the Crowd." Poe originally submitted more than 70 stories.

Tales of the Folio Club. Short stories [1831] submitted to the Courier, included his satirical pieces.

Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Short stories [December 1839]. A collection of 24 stories.

"Tamerlane." Poem [1827]. On the theme of the lost paradise. The hero ultimately turns to ashes.

Tamerlane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian. [May 1827]. Published in Boston by a private printer. The collection is now very rare.

"The Tell-Tale Heart." Short story [January 1843]. A man describes the grisly murder and dismemberment of an old man, the memory of which drives him mad, and he begins to think he can still hear the old man's heart beating.

"Thou Art the Man." Short story [November 1844]. A man is accused of murdering his wealthy uncle, but the real murderer is ultimately exposed and confronted with the corpse who speaks via a ventriloquist.

"The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade." Short story [February 1845]. Scheherazade describes to her husband modern inventions, including the railway and the telegraph. The king has her put to death for lying.

"Three Sundays in a Week." Short story [November 1941]. A young man convinces his grand uncle to let him marry.

"To Helen." Poem [1831]. Probably about Poe's boyhood benefactor, Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard.

"To Helen." Poem [November 1848]. Addressed to a poetess, Sarah Helen Whitman, with whom Poe had a romance.

"To Isadore." Poem. A tribute to Poe's wife, Virginia, who died tragically.

"To M. L. S." Poem [March 1847]. To Marie Louise Shew who took care of Poe and his wife when they were ill.

"To My Mother." Poem [July 1849]. Addressed to Poe's mother-in-law, Mrs. Maria Clemm.

"To One in Paradise." Poem [January 1834]. A lament for a dead lover. Also part of the short story "The Assignation."

"To The River ——." Poem [1829]. An elegy to the river Wissahiccon in the short story "The Elk."

"To — —," "To —," (and other similar unnamed poems). Poe wrote various poems to his romantic interests and friends.

"Ulalume—A Ballad." Poem [December 1847]. A conversation between the body and the soul.

"The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall." Short story [June 1835]. A supposed voyage to the moon in a balloon that turns out to be a hoax.

"A Valentine." Poem [1846]. For Frances Sargent Osgood, whose name is buried in the poem.

"The Valley of Unrest." Poem [1831]. Formerly published as "The Valley of Nis." A description about the home of the dead.

"Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling." Short story [circa 1839]. A farce written in Irish brogue about a love rivalry.

"William Wilson." Short story [October 1839]. Schoolboy William Wilson is tormented by another boy of the same name who imitates him. Wilson later is murdered by his namesake.

"X-ing a Paragragh." Short story [May 1849]. A newspaper discovers that all the o's have been stolen from the printing shop. About the rivalries between competing newspapers.

Bibliography
Allen, H., ed. Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Random House, 1944.

Hammond, J. R. An Edgar Allan Poe Companion. London: Macmillan, 1981.

Howarth, W. L. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poe's Tales. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1971.

Lass, A. H., and L. Kriegel, eds. "The Black Cat." In Masters of the Short Story. New York: Mentor, 1971, pg. 75.

Regan, R. Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1967.

Williams, M. "Poe's 'Shadow—A Parable' and the Problem of Language." In American Literature, Vol. 57, No. 4, December 1985, pp. 622-632.