Edgar Allan Poe, the originator of horror stories, sci-fi, detective fiction, true life crimes, and notable poems, is one of America’s most renowned writers. His influence is seen on television and bookstores worldwide.
Edgar Allan Poe’s reputation as a cultural icon and a gifted writer is also known worldwide; all his stories are still unique work of prose that still terrifies every reader to date. In this article, we’ll look at a few of Edgar Allan Poe’s books you’ll love.
Brief Biography Of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar was born into a family Of actor parents on January 19th, 1809, in Boston. He is known as the father of detective fiction, master of macabre, and king of American Gothic. He is famous for his psychological terror books, dark tales of horror & madness, and classic short stories.
Edgar was America’s great editor, writer, and literary critic; he was the first American writer to earn a living through his writing, which resulted in a financially challenging career and life.
Edgar Allan Poe is the second child of his parents, who were both actors -David and Elizabeth Arnold Poe. David, his father, abandoned his family in 1810, and Poe lost his mother the next year to tuberculosis.
John and Frances, Allan of Virginia, took Edgar in but never formally adopted him. Poe faced a lot of struggles and hardships in his early life, and the effect of romantic writings brought out a unique style of Gothic writing in Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe’s writing style is a perfect example of gothic literature; his works invoke fear while exploring suspense, death, misery, and the various shades of romance.
Death constantly happened in Edgar’s life; he lost his mother, Elizabeth Paul, his wife Virginia, and Frances Allan, his foster mother. Poe’s life came to an end on October 1749 in Baltimore. Let’s unveil some of the best books he wrote in his short life.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Books
1. The Pit And The Pendulum.
- Audible Audiobook
- Edgar Allan Poe (Author) – Paul Michael Garcia (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 12/07/2013 (Publication Date) – Blackstone Audio, Inc. (Publisher)
This story takes place in 1842, with a dreadfully nervous unnamed narrator held captive by the Spanish Inquisition. The unnamed narrator is sentenced to the most hideous crimes by his accusers.
He must go through a series of scary tortures until he breathes his final. For his first torture, he is thrown into a dark room, and he soon realizes he’s at the end of a pit.
Secondly, he is tied to a frame after escaping a fatal plunge; overhead, the wooden frame is a giant pendulum shaped like a grim reaper’s scythe. The pendulum swings slowly and then descends towards him a few inches away from his chest.
The Pit and the Pendulum is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most suspenseful terror stories; it traps the reader in the dungeon cell with the narrator and makes them face each torture.
The vividly described fear in this book Poe wrote will also give you firsthand the rising horror in the story. The unnamed narrator reminds us that all is not lost, even in death or the grave.
2. The Tell-tale Heart.
- Audible Audiobook
- Edgar Allan Poe (Author) – Mr. David Ian Davies (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/26/2009 (Publication Date) – One Voice Recordings (Publisher)
This book is a combination of both horror tales and crime stories. It is a masterpiece with Edgar Allan Poe brilliantly explaining the boundary between madness and obsession.
The narrator tells us how an older man’s pale blue eyes drive him to commit murder. The author gives readers a masterclass of maintaining peace, building suspense, and defining mode while skillfully employing unique gradations of sound and light.
This book is an almost perfect monologue with Edgar Allan Poe displaying his sense of the unusual. In this masterpiece, Poe tells readers what they need to know, leaving too much unexplained. This chilling 1843 tale is still a prominent piece for theatres and the school’s favorite.
3. Berenice – 1835.
![Berenice [Classic Tales Edition]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hdk+jHD2L.jpg)
- Audible Audiobook
- Edgar Allan Poe (Author) – B. J. Harrison (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 08/09/2016 (Publication Date) – B. J. Harrison (Publisher)
This beautifully written book is a little story about a man who marries his cousin and unveiles a strange fetish for her teeth. The narrator describes his cousin as a ‘stunning beauty.’
She has a strange sickness that gives her sporadic episodes and makes her appearance deteriorate. Amid her suffering, the narrator becomes obsessed with his wife’s teeth, unaffected by the disease.
She eventually dies from the disease, but the narrator discovers that her grave was raided and his wife is still alive. He becomes captivated by a box close to his bed and realizes his clothes are dirty.
The narrator carefully opens the box and finds another smaller box inside. Inside the smaller box, he sees 32 ivory-looking white substances and then realizes that the white substances are his wife’s teeth.
4. Morella – 1835.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Poe, Edgar Allan (Author)
- French (Publication Language)
- 11 Pages – 06/09/2015 (Publication Date) – Bibebook (Publisher)
The story’s narrator met his wife Morella, a woman obsessed with mystical writings, and fell in love with her. Before long, his burning feeling for his intellectual wife begins to drop. Her obsession crushes him; he can no longer bear her presence.
At that moment, he realizes that the most magnificent can become the most hideous. To the narrator’s relief, his wife Morella dies but gives birth to a beautiful girl who grows up to look and act just like her mother.
The narrator is so afraid of the young incarnation of his late wife that he doesn’t give the child a name. He finally decides to name and baptize her at the age of 10; when the priest asks for her name, he mutters Morella.
At that instant, his young daughter screams, ‘I am here’ and drops dead. The frightening part was when he went to bury his daughter close to her mum, he found out that his wife’s body was missing, implying she might have reincarnated to have revenge on a husband who didn’t love her.
5. The Cask Of Amontillado.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Poe, Edgar Allan (Author)
- French (Publication Language)
- 11 Pages – 06/09/2015 (Publication Date) – Bibebook (Publisher)
This remarkable short story was first published in 1846 and is set in an unnamed city in Italy. In this story, Montresor, the narrator, seeks revenge on his fellow nobleman, Fortunato, who abused him.
Montresso visits Fortunato and tells him of his newly bought rare cask of amontillado sherry. Montresor lures Fortunato below the city into the tunnels with promises of Fortunato tasting his freshly purchased wine.
They walk deep into the tunnel, where Montresor locates a niche in the wall and chains his fellow nobleman Fortunato inside. Fortunato laughs, believing it’s a joke, but realizes it wasn’t.
While sealing Fortunato with the last few bricks, he hears Fortunato trying to escape while wailing loudly in terror. Montresor abandons Fortuna to die behind the wall.
6. The Black Cat.
- Audible Audiobook
- Edgar Allan Poe (Author) – Mr. David Ian Davies (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/26/2009 (Publication Date) – One Voice Recordings (Publisher)
This book is a disturbing hunt into the soul of an unstable and violent individual. The unnamed narrator treats his dear cat poorly but soon becomes tormented by his brutal actions towards his cat.
The central theme of Edgar Allan’s work is guilt; it emphasizes how guilt can torment people. This book contains numerous subject matters that may be uncomfortable to some readers, especially if they are animal lovers. In summary, this book depicts guilt and is unsuitable for cat lovers.
On A Final Note;
Edgar Allan Poe is a distinguished writer of the 19th century; many of his stories are found in collections, which means you can read as many of his stories by purchasing just one book.
We advise you to read a short overview of any of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories before diving in. Grab any of the collections and have a suspense-filled reading experience.
