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My favourite of is his The Raven. It is actually one of the only pieces of poetry I can stomach reading. I normally hate poetry. I also really like The Tell-tale Heart. Creepy, but very neat.

I just reread "The Bells" and added it to my favorites list xd If you've ever heard this one professionally read, it just gets you.

I've been a Poe fan for a long time, but haven't had the chance to reread any of his work for about three years. On Halloween, my Lit professor discussed and had us read The Cask of Amontillado and stopped halfway through to bring everyone's attention to me when she said "You're laughing!". I had forgotten about what a kick I get out of all the irony in Poe's work.

I hope I don't sound too harsh saying this, but, E. Poe, in my opinion, is overrated. That is not, however, to say that his works of the Romantic era are unworthy of notice nor are they worthless. The unfortunate point, to me, however, is that in his ambition to use literature as a career, in a time at which it was very difficult, especially poetry, as is still true today with poetry, much of his writing is merely hack writing. However, my reason for him being overrated in my opinion is that it seems that many people innevitably are foremost acquainted with Poe whenever they endeavour upon reading more classical literature. That, however, may be an over-generalization on my part, and I apologize if it is.

I do have to say though, his contributions to the focus upon the irrational, a central theme of the Romantic age in America, for those of you paying attention in English class, were outright amazing. It was not so much the irrational reasoning that he beautified, in my opinion, but, rather, just the ability to dive into the ethereal chasm of the irrational human imagination. In his short story, "The Masque of the Red Death" some of the ways in which he plays with imagination are great, as well as in "The Raven".

As I said, I do believe, that to some extent Poe is overrated, but, that isn't to say that he shouldn't be read or that he does not deserve any merit. I have bought a collection of every piece he ever wrote that we are currently aware of. From his short stories to his poetry, it has all of our compiled writings of Poe.

Unfortunately, I find most of his work a big long and tedious. I remember "The Bells" being used in school as a classic example of onamotapia.

I recommend Cask of Amontiallado. It was amazing.. biggrin