The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4
This fourth volume gathers some of Poe's most unsettling tales and essays, proving why he remains the undisputed master of the macabre. Here sits "The Devil in the Belfry," where a Dutch village's obsession with time collapses into surreal chaos, and "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," a chilling portrait of madness lurking behind the walls of a private asylum. Poe's genius lies in his dual gift: he can freeze your blood with Gothic dread while simultaneously skewering the pretensions of society through razor-sharp satire. The psychological portraits cut deepest, delving into obsession, guilt, and the fragile architecture of the mind pushed to its breaking point. These are not mere ghost stories. They are excavations of the human psyche at its most vulnerable. For readers who crave literature that disturbs and dazzles in equal measure, this collection offers Poe at his most essential, his most relentless, his most unforgettable.
Editions
X-Ray
“Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“Take this kiss upon the brow!And, in parting from you now,Thus much let me avow-You are not wrong, who deemThat my days have been a dream;Yet if hope has flown awayIn a night, or in a day,In a vision, or in none,Is it therefore the less gone?All that we see or seemIs but a dream within a dream.I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,And I hold within my handGrains of the golden sand-How few! yet how they creepThrough my fingers to the deep,While I weep- while I weep!O God! can I not graspThem with a tighter clasp?O God! can I not saveOne from the pitiless wave?Is all that we see or seemBut a dream within a dream?””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“It is a happiness to wonder; -- it is a happiness to dream.””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down."[, August 8, 1839]””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in waking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of evil.””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“To die laughing must be the most glorious of all glorious deaths!””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“Is all that we see or seemBut a dream within a dream?””
— Edgar Allan Poe
“Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old”
— Edgar Allan Poe
