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He knew that Hop-Frog was not fond of wine; for it excited the poor cripple almost to madness; and madness is no comfortable feeling. By Edgar Allan Poe Wine Feeling Madness Knew Hopfrog

I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. By Edgar Allan Poe Love Lee Child Annabel Coveted

In my own heart there dwells no faith in praeternature. That Nature and its God are two, no man who thinks, will deny. That the latter, creating the former, can, at will, control or modify it, is also unquestionable. I say "at will"; for the question is of will, and not, as the insanity of logic has assumed, of power. It is not that the Deity cannot modify his laws, but that we insult him in imagining a possible necessity for modification. In their origin these laws were fashioned to embrace all contingencies which could lie in the Future. With God all is Now. By Edgar Allan Poe Praeternature God Heart Dwells Faith

By the grey woods, by the swamp, where the toad and newt encamp, by the dismal tarns and pools, where dwell the Gouls. By each spot the most unholy, by each nook most melancholy, there the traveller meets, aghast, sheeted memories of the Past. Shrouded forms that start and sigh, as they pass the wanderer by. White-robed forms of friends long given; In agony, to the Earth - and Heaven. By Edgar Allan Poe Gouls Woods Swamp Encamp Pools

If we examine a work of ordinary art, by means of a powerful microscope, all traces of resemblance to nature will disappear - but the closest scrutiny of the photogenic drawing discloses only a more absolute truth, a more perfect identity of aspect with the thing represented. By Edgar Allan Poe Art Microscope Disappear Truth Represented

In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember. By Edgar Allan Poe Forgotten Remembrance End Remember Endeavors

There is then no analogy whatever between the operations of the Chess-Player, and those of the calculating machine of Mr. Babbage , and if we choose to call the former a pure machine we must be prepared to admit that it is, beyond all comparison, the most wonderful of the inventions of mankind. By Edgar Allan Poe Babbage Machine Chessplayer Comparison Mankind

In death - no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man. Arousing from the most profound slumbers, we break the gossamer web of some dream. Yet in a second afterward, (so frail may that web have been) we remember not that we have dreamed. By Edgar Allan Poe Death Web Lost Man Grave

In other words, I believed, and still do believe, that truth, is frequently of its own essence, superficial, and that, in many cases, the depth lies more in the abysses where we seek her, than in the actual situations wherein she may be found. By Edgar Allan Poe Superficial Words Believed Truth Essence

FAIR river! in thy bright, clear flow Of crystal, wandering water, Thou art an emblem of the glow Of beauty - the unhidden heart - The playful maziness of art In old Alberto's daughter; But when within thy wave she looks - Which glistens then, and trembles - Why, then, the prettiest of brooks Her worshipper resembles; For in his heart, as in thy stream, Her image deeply lies - His heart which trembles at the beam Of her soul-searching eyes. By Edgar Allan Poe Fair River Thy Heart Thou

Actually, I do have doubts, all the time. Any thinking person does. There are so many sides to every question. By Edgar Allan Poe Doubts Time Question Thinking Person

Dreams are the eraser dust I blow off my page.They fade into the emptiness, another dark gray day.Dreams are only memories of the plans I had back then.Dreams are eraser dust and now I use a pen. By Edgar Allan Poe Eraser Dust Dreams Emptiness Pen

The history of human knowledge has so uninterruptedly shown that to collateral, or incidental, or accidental events we are indebted for the most numerous and most valuable discoveries, that it has at length become necessary, in any prospective view of improvement, to make not only large, but the largest allowances for inventions that shall arise by chance, and quite out of the range of ordinary expectation. It is no longer philosophical to base, upon what has been, a vision of what is to be. Accident is admitted as a portion of the substructure. We make chance a matter of absolute calculation. We subject the unlooked for and unimagined, to the mathematical formulae of the schools. By Edgar Allan Poe Collateral Incidental Discoveries Improvement Large

I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect-in terror. In this unnerved-in this pitiable condition-I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR. By Edgar Allan Poe Folly Perish Deplorable Fear Lost

I have not only labored solely for the benefit of others (receiving for myself a miserable pittance), but have been forced to model my thoughts at the will of men whose imbecility was evident to all but themselves By Edgar Allan Poe Receiving Pittance Labored Solely Benefit

The LakeIn spring of youth it was my lotTo haunt of the wide world a spotThe which I could not love the less-So lovely was the lonelinessOf a wild lake, with black rock bound,And the tall pines that towered around.But when the Night had thrown her pallUpon that spot, as upon all,And the mystic wind went byMurmuring in melody-Then-ah then I would awakeTo the terror of the lone lake.Yet that terror was not fright,But a tremulous delight-A feeling not the jewelled mineCould teach or bribe me to define-Nor Love-although the Love were thine.Death was in that poisonous wave,And in its gulf a fitting graveFor him who thence could solace bringTo his lone imagining-Whose solitary soul could makeAn Eden of that dim lake. By Edgar Allan Poe Lake Love Terror Lone Night

The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery-in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks. By Edgar Allan Poe Popular Successful Busybodies Toadies Quacks

Hear the sledges with the bells, Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night, While the stars that oversprinkle All the Heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight: Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tingling of the bells. By Edgar Allan Poe Bells Silver Tinkle Time Hear

I AM come of a race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion. Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligencewhether much that is gloriouswhether all that is profounddoes not spring from disease of thoughtfrom moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. They 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. They penetrate, however, rudderless or compassless into the vast ocean of the "light ineffable", and again, like the adventures of the Nubian geographer, "agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset exploraturi".We will say then, that I am mad. By Edgar Allan Poe Passion Race Noted Vigor Fancy

To My Mother First published : 1849 A heartful sonnet written to Poe's mother-in-law and aunt Maria Clemm, "To My Mother" says that the mother of the woman he loved is more important than his own mother. It was first published on July 7, 1849 in Flag of Our Union. It has alternately been published as "Sonnet to My Mother." Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of "Mother," Therefore by that dear name I long have called you - You who are more than mother unto me, And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you In setting my Virginia's spirit free. My mother - my own mother, who died early, Was but the mother of myself; but you Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, And thus are dearer than the mother I knew By that infinity with which my wife Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life. By Edgar Allan Poe Mother Poe Clemm Maria Published

I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by a the elaborate frivolity of chess. By Edgar Allan Poe Chess Occasion Assert Higher Powers

She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee. And evil was the hour when she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter. He, passionate, studious, austere, and having already a bride in his Art; she a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee; all light and smiles, and frolicsome as the young fawn; loving and cherishing all things; hating only the Art which was her rival; By Edgar Allan Poe Beauty Glee Maiden Rarest Lovely

The believer is happy. The doubter is wise. By Edgar Allan Poe Happy Believer Wise Doubter

Yet mad I am not...and very surely do I not dream. By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Mad Surely

And oh! of all tortures That torture the worst Has abated - the terrible Torture of thirst For the naphthaline river Of Passion accurst: I have drank of a water That quenches all thirst: - Of a water that flows, With a lullaby sound, From a spring but a very few Feet under ground - From a cavern not very far Down under ground. And By Edgar Allan Poe Ground Water Torture Passion Feet

They have not left me (as my hopes have) since;They follow me- they lead me through the years.They are my ministers- yet I their slave.Their office is to illumine and enkindle-My duty, to be saved by their bright light,And purified in their electric fire,And sanctified in their elysian fire. By Edgar Allan Poe Ministers Duty Fire Left Hopes

And I lie so composedly, Now in my bed (Knowing her love) That you fancy me dead - And I rest so contentedly, Now in my bed, (With her love at my breast) That you fancy me dead - That you shudder to look at me. Thinking me dead. But my heart it is brighter Than all of the many Stars in the sky, For it sparkles with Annie - It glows with the light Of the love of my Annie - With the thought of the light Of the eyes of my Annie. By Edgar Allan Poe Dead Bed Fancy Knowing Annie

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of the macabre and mystery, Poe was one of the early American practitioners of the short story and a progenitor of detective fiction and crime fiction. He is also credited with contributing to the emergent science fiction genre.Poe died at the age of 40. The cause of his death is undetermined and has been attributed to alcohol, drugs, cholera, rabies, suicide (although likely to be mistaken with his suicide attempt in the previous year), tuberculosis, heart disease, brain congestion and other agents. Source: Wikipedia By Edgar Allan Poe American Poe Movement Allan Romantic

The word "Verse" is used here as the term most convenient for expressing, and without pedantry, all that is involved in the consideration of rhythm, rhyme, meter, and versification ... the subject is exceedingly simple; one tenth of it, possibly may be called ethical; nine tenths, however, appertains to the mathematics. By Edgar Allan Poe Verse Rhyme Meter Word Expressing

To muse for long unwearied hours with my attention riveted to some frivolous device upon the margin, or in the typography of a book - to become absorbed for the better part of a summer's day in a quaint shadow falling aslant upon the tapestry, or upon the floor - to lose myself for an entire night in watching the steady flame of a lamp, or the embers of a fire - to dream away whole days over the perfume of a flower - to repeat monotonously some common word, until the sound, by dint of frequent repetition, ceased to convey any idea whatever to the mind - to lose all sense of motion or physical existence in a state of absolute bodily quiescence long and obstinately persevered in - Such were a few of the most common and least pernicious vagaries induced by a condition of the mental faculties, not, indeed, altogether unparalleled, but certainly bidding defiance to any thing like analysis or explanation. By Edgar Allan Poe Lose Long Common Margin Book

The want of an international Copy-Right Law, by rendering it nearly impossible to obtain anything from the booksellers in the wayof remuneration for literary labor, has had the effect of forcing many of our very best writers into the service of the Magazines and Reviews. By Edgar Allan Poe Law Reviews Magazines Labor International

The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death By Edgar Allan Poe Youth Left Character Face Death

Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong and if need be, taken by the strong. The weak were put on earth to give the strong pleasure. By Edgar Allan Poe Strong Life Lived Pleasure Weak

The edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray; but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific tunnel, whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of Niagara ever lifts up in its agony to Heaven. By Edgar Allan Poe Half Round Heaven Niagara Shining

Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten golden notes, And all in tune What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats On the moon! By Edgar Allan Poe Bells Hear Golden Mellow Wedding

I Dwelt aloneIn a world of moan,And my soul was a stagnant tide,Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride-Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride Ah, less-less bright The stars of nightThan the eyes of the radiant girl! And never a flake That the vapor can make With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl-Can vie compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless curl Now Doubt-now Pain Come never again, For her soul gives me sigh for sigh, And all day long Shine, bright and strong, Astarte within the sky, While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye- While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye. By Edgar Allan Poe Eulalie Dwelt Young Soul Bright

Yes, Heaven is thine; but thisIs a world of sweets and sours;Our flowers are merely - flowers,And the shadow of thy perfect blissIs the sunshine of ours. By Edgar Allan Poe Heaven Thine Sours Flowersand Thisis

He admitted but four elementary principles, or more strictly, conditions of bliss. That which he considered chief was (strange to say!) the simple and purely physical one of free exercise in the open air. "The health," he said, "attainable by other means is scarcely worth the name." He instanced the ecstasies of the fox hunter, and pointed to the tillers of the earth, the only people who, as a class, can be fairly considered happier than others. His second condition was love of woman. His third, and most difficult of realization, was the contempt of ambition. His fourth was an object of unceasing pursuit; and he held that, other things being equal, the extent of attainable happiness was in proportion to the spirituality of this object. By Edgar Allan Poe Principles Strictly Bliss Admitted Elementary

It is more than probable that I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adequate idea of that nervous intensity of interest with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technically) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordinary objects of the universe. By Edgar Allan Poe Understood Fear Reader Case Meditation

The teeth! - the teeth! - they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development. By Edgar Allan Poe Teeth Long Narrow White Development

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore. By Edgar Allan Poe Lenore December Sorrow Distinctly Morrow

It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream. By Edgar Allan Poe Existence Dream Irrational Fancy Future

At midnight, in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon. An opiate vapor, dewy, dim, Exhales from out her golden rim, And, softly dripping, drop by drop, Upon the quiet mountain top, By Edgar Allan Poe June Midnight Moon Month Stand

I am excessively slothful, and wonderfully industrious-by fits. There are epochs when any kind of mental exercise is torture, and when nothing yields me pleasure but the solitary communion with the 'mountains & the woods'-the 'altars' of Byron. I have thus rambled and dreamed away whole months, and awake, at last, to a sort of mania for composition. Then I scribble all day, and read all night, so long as the disease endures. By Edgar Allan Poe Slothful Fits Excessively Wonderfully Industriousby

A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young. By Edgar Allan Poe Young Dirge Doubly Dead Died

A singularity apart from the others.Another more beautiful singularity.Found love between the two. Love that exceeds the capacity of comprehension.But it just wasn't meant to last. Some times one just has to die for villains to come to light. And when they do, it's in a beautiful blaze of darkness. By Edgar Allan Poe Love Singularity Othersanother Singularityfound Beautiful

Be silent in that solitude Which is not loneliness - for then The spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee - and their will Shall then overshadow thee: be still. By Edgar Allan Poe Thee Loneliness Silent Solitude Spirits

Thy soul shall find itself alone 'Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstoneNot one, of all the crowd, to pry Into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness - for then The spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee - and their will Shall overshadow thee: be still. [ ... ] By Edgar Allan Poe Mid Thy Crowd Secrecy Thee

Shadows of Shadows passing... It is now 1831... and as always, I am absorbed with a delicate thought. It is how poetry has indefinite sensations to which end, music is an essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception. Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry. Music without the idea is simply music. Without music or an intriguing idea, color becomes pallour, man becomes carcass, home becomes catacomb, and the dead are but for a moment motionless. By Edgar Allan Poe Shadows Music Passing Idea Poetry

Dreams! in their vivid coloring of life, As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife Of semblance with reality, which brings To the delirious eye, more lovely things Of Paradise and Love- and all our own! Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known. By Edgar Allan Poe Dreams Love Shadowy Paradise Life

It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea ... By Edgar Allan Poe Ago Sea Year Kingdom

We grew in age - and love - togetherRoaming the forest, and the wild;My breast her shield in wintry weather -And, when the friendly sunshine smil'd,And she would mark the opening skies,I saw no Heaven - but in her eyes. By Edgar Allan Poe Heaven Age Love Togetherroaming Forest

After all, what is it?- this indescribable something which men will persist in terming "genius"? I agree with Buffon- with Hogarth- it is but diligence after all.Look at me!- how I labored- how I toiled- how I wrote! Ye Gods, did I not write? I knew not the word "ease." By day I adhered to my desk, and at night, a pale student, I consumed the midnight oil. You should have seen me- you should. I leaned to the right. I leaned to the left. I sat forward. I sat backward. I sat tete baissee (as they have it in the Kickapoo), bowing my head close to the alabaster page. And, through all, I- wrote. Through joy and through sorrow, I-wrote. Through hunger and through thirst, I-wrote. Through good report and through ill report- I wrote. Through sunshine and through moonshine, I-wrote. What I wrote it is unnecessary to say. The style!- that was the thing. I caught it from Fatquack- whizz!- fizz!- and I am giving you a specimen of it now. By Edgar Allan Poe Iwrote Wrote Genius Sat Terming

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man." ~ 'The Black Cat. By Edgar Allan Poe Man Brute Unselfish Selfsacrificing Love

To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. By Edgar Allan Poe Dog Derivable Cherished Affection Faithful

I am SHADOW, and my dwelling is near to theCatacombs of Ptolemais, and hard by those dim plains of Helusionwhich border upon the foul Charonian canal. And then did we, theseven, start from our seats in horror, and stand trembling, andshuddering, and aghast, for the tones in the voice of the shadow werenot the tones of any one being, but of a multitude of beings, and,varying in their cadences from syllable to syllable fell duskly uponour ears in the well-remembered and familiar accents of many thousanddeparted friends. By Edgar Allan Poe Ptolemais Helusionwhich Charonian Shadow Canal

Read this and thought of you: Through joy and through sorrow, I wrote. Through hunger and through thirst, I wrote. Through good report and through ill report, I wrote. Through sunshine and through moonshine, I wrote. What I wrote it is unnecessary to say. ~ Edgar Allen Poe By Edgar Allan Poe Wrote Read Sorrow Thought Joy

A strong argument for the religion of Christ is this - that offenses against Charity are about the only ones which men on their death-beds can be made - not to understand - but to feel - as crime. By Edgar Allan Poe Christ Charity Made Understand Feel

And so being young and dipped in folly I fell in love with melancholy. By Edgar Allan Poe Melancholy Young Dipped Folly Fell

Is it not indeed, possible that, while a high order of genius is necessarily ambitious, the highest is above that which is termed ambition? And may it not thus happen that many far greater than Milton have contentedly remained "mute and inglorious"? I believe that the world has never seen - and that, unless through some series of accidents goading the noblest order of mind into distateful exertion, the world will never see - that full extent of triumphant execution, in the richer domains of art, of which the human nature is absolutely capable. By Edgar Allan Poe Ambitious Ambition Order High Genius

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor:And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore! By Edgar Allan Poe Sitting Floor Raven Shadow Pallas

Very suddenly there came back to my soul motion and sound - the tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its beating. Then a pause in which all is blank. Then again sound, and motion, and touch - a tingling sensation pervading my frame. Then the mere consciousness of existence, without thought - a condition which lasted long. Then, very suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state. Then a strong desire to lapse into insensibility. By Edgar Allan Poe Motion Sound Heart Ears Beating

Decorum that bug-bear which deters so many from bliss until the opportunity for bliss has forever gone by. By Edgar Allan Poe Decorum Bliss Bugbear Deters Opportunity

Dreams are the eraser dust I blow off my page.br>They fade into the emptiness, another dark gray day.br>Dreams are only memories of the plans I had back then.br>Dreams are eraser dust and now I use a pen. By Edgar Allan Poe Dreams Eraser Dust Pagebr Emptiness

If we cannot comprehend God in his visible works, how then in his inconceivable thoughts, that call the works into being? By Edgar Allan Poe God Thoughts Works Comprehend Visible

A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul. By Edgar Allan Poe Excites Soul Poem Deserves Title

Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted! By Edgar Allan Poe Bear Enchanted Mind Garden

A Dream Within A DreamTake 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? By Edgar Allan Poe Dream God Weep Brow Wrong

A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it. By Edgar Allan Poe Short Story Single Mood Sentence

The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood for the want of merely a comma, it often occurs that an axiom appears a paradox, or that a sarcasm is converted into a sermonoid. By Edgar Allan Poe Punctuation Mispunctuates Comma Paradox Sermonoid

Is a pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude. And stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks. And nod to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh unto the other ... And the tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with a crashing and mighty sound. And from their high summits, one by one, drop everlasting dews. And at the roots strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And overhead, with a rustling loud noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall of the horizon ... By Edgar Allan Poe Waterlilies Pale Desert Gigantic Sigh

To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven-From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven-From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven. By Edgar Allan Poe Heaven Hell King Groan Throne

O craving heart, for the lost flowers/ And sunshine of my summer hours!/ The undying voice of that dead time,/ With its interminable chime,/ Rings in the spirit of a spell, / Upon thy emptinessa knell. / I have not always been as now: By Edgar Allan Poe Rings Heart Flowers Hours Time

I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. By Edgar Allan Poe Animals Pets Fond Indulged Parents

Tell me truly, I implore Is there is there balm in Gilead?tell metell me, I implore! By Edgar Allan Poe Gilead Implore Balm Metell

After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought, on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment. By Edgar Allan Poe Thought Topics Face God Written

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!Let the bell toll!-a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear?-weep now or nevermore! By Edgar Allan Poe Broken Bowl Golden Guy Vere

But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate;(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrowShall dawn upon him desolate!)And round about his home the gloryThat blushed and bloomed,Is but a dim-remembered storyOf the old time entombed. By Edgar Allan Poe Assailed Things Sorrow Estate Mourn

Nothing further then he uttered--not a feather then he fluttered-- Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before-- On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." Then the bird said, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Flown Till Uttered Fluttered Muttered

The enormous multiplication of books in every branch of knowledge is one of the greatest evils of this age, since it presents one of the most serious obstacles to the acquisition of correct information by throwing in the reader's way piles of lumber in which he must painfully grope for the scraps of useful matter, peradventure interspersed. By Edgar Allan Poe Age Matter Peradventure Interspersed Enormous

I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect - in terror. By Edgar Allan Poe Danger Effect Terror Abhorrence Absolute

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty. By Edgar Allan Poe Define Beauty Poetry Words Rhythmical

Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health. By Edgar Allan Poe Mysteries Health Force Man Injure

From childhood's hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone. By Edgar Allan Poe Childhood Hour Loved Awaken Tone

O, Times! O, Manners! It is my opinionThat you are changing sadly your dominion I mean the reign of manners hath long ceased,For men have none at all, or bad at least;And as for times, altho' 'tis said by manyThe "good old times" were far the worst of any,Of which sound Doctrine I believe each tittleYet still I think these worst a little.I've been a thinking -isn't that the phrase?-I like your Yankee words and Yankee ways -I've been a thinking, whether it were bestTo Take things seriously, Or all in jest By Edgar Allan Poe Times Yankee Thinking Manners Worst

I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation. By Edgar Allan Poe Continued Wont Face Immolation Smile

Ceux qui revent eveilles ont conscience de 1000 choses qui echapent a ceux qui ne revent qu'endormis.The one who has day dream are aware of 1000 things that the one who dreams only when he sleeps will never understand.(it sounds better in french, I do what I can with my translation ... ) By Edgar Allan Poe Qui Ceux Choses Things Understand

I hold that a long poem does not exist. I maintain that the phrase, "a long poem," is simply a flat contradiction in terms. By Edgar Allan Poe Long Exist Poem Hold Phrase

The sole purpose is to provide infinite springs, at which the soul may allay the eternal thirst TO KNOW which is forever unquenchable within it, since to quench it, would be to extinguish the soul's self ... By Edgar Allan Poe Soul Springs Sole Purpose Provide

THE LAKE IN youth's spring it was my lot To haunt of the wide earth a spot The which I could not love the less; So lovely was the loneliness Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, And the tall pines that tower'd around. But when the night had thrown her pall Upon that spot - as upon all, And the wind would pass me by In its stilly melody, My infant spirit would awake To the terror of the lone lake. Yet that terror was not fright - But a tremulous delight, And a feeling undefined, Springing from a darken'd mind. Death was in that poison'd wave And in its gulf a fitting grave For him who thence could solace bring To his dark imagining; Whose wildering thought could even make An Eden of that dim lake. By Edgar Allan Poe Lake Spot Bound Youth Spring

A change fell upon all things. Strange brilliant flowers, star-shaped, burst out upon the trees where no flowers had been before. The tints of the green carpet deepened; and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there sprang up, in place of them, ten by ten of the ruby-red asphodel. And life arose in our paths; for the tall flamingo hitherto unseen, with all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet plumage before us. The golden and silver fish haunted the river ... By Edgar Allan Poe Things Change Fell Flowers Ten

HymnAt morn- at noon- at twilight dim- Maria! thou hast heard my hymn! In joy and woe- in good and ill- Mother of God, be with me still! When the hours flew brightly by, And not a cloud obscured the sky, My soul, lest it should truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee; Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my Future radiant shine With sweet hopes of thee and thine! By Edgar Allan Poe Maria Hymnat Morn Noon Dim

But the aeronaut, still greatly discomposed, and having apparently no farther business to detain him in Rotterdam, began at this moment to make busy preparations for departure; and it being necessary to discharge a portion of ballast to enable him to reascend, the half dozen bags which he threw out, one after another, without taking the trouble to empty their contents, tumbled, every one of them, most unfortunately upon the back of the burgomaster, and rolled him over and over no less than one-and-twenty times, in the face of every man in Rotterdam. By Edgar Allan Poe Rotterdam Tumbled Times Aeronaut Discomposed

A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, he then invents as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect. If his very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first step. In the whole composition there should be no words written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction. The idea of the tale has been presented unblemished because undisturbed: and this is an end unattainable by the novel. Undue brevity is just as exceptionable here as in the poem; but undue length is yet more to be avoided. By Edgar Allan Poe Effect Skillful Literary Artist Constructed

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise?Who wouldst not leave him in his wanderingTo seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?And driven the Hamadryad from the woodTo seek a shelter in some happier star?Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,The Elfin from the green grass, and from meThe summer dream beneath the tamarind tree? By Edgar Allan Poe Hast Thou Science Thee Seek

Those eyes! those large, those shining, those divine orbs! they became to me twin stars of Leda, and I to them devoutest of astrologers By Edgar Allan Poe Eyes Leda Large Shining Orbs

A man's grammar, like Caesar's wife, should not only be pure, but above suspicion of impurity. By Edgar Allan Poe Caesar Grammar Wife Pure Impurity

That motley drama - oh, be sure It shall not be forgot!With its Phantom chased for evermore By a crowd that seize it not,Through a circle that ever returneth in To the self-same spot,And much of Madness, and more of Sin, And Horror the soul of the plot. By Edgar Allan Poe Madness Sin Phantom Horror Drama

With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not - they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind. By Edgar Allan Poe Paltry Purpose Reverence Excited Compensations

There is not a more disgusting spectacle under the sun than our subserviency to British criticism. It is disgusting, first, because it is truckling, servile, pusillanimoussecondly, because of its gross irrationality. We know the British to bear us little but ill willwe know that, in no case do they utter unbiased opinions of American books ... we know all this, and yet, day after day, submit our necks to the degrading yoke of the crudest opinion that emanates from the fatherland. By Edgar Allan Poe British Criticism Disgusting Spectacle Sun

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore! By Edgar Allan Poe Lenore Nepenthe Quaff Kind Forget

When, indeed, men speak of Beauty, they mean, precisely, not a quality, as is supposed, but an effect - they refer, in short, just to that intense and pure elevation of soul - not of intellect, or of heart. By Edgar Allan Poe Beauty Precisely Men Quality Supposed

Thou wouldst be loved? - then let thy heart From its present pathway part not; Being everything which now thou art, Be nothing which thou art not. So with the world thy gentle ways, Thy grace, thy more than beauty, Shall be an endless theme of praise. And love a simple duty. By Edgar Allan Poe Thou Thy Loved Wouldst Art

I have been happy, though in a dream.I have been happy-and I love the theme:Dreams! in their vivid colouring of lifeAs in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife By Edgar Allan Poe Dreams Happy Theme Dreami Happyand

By undue profundity, we perplex and enfeeble thought; and it is possible to make even Venus herself vanish from the firmament by a scrutiny too sustained, too concentrated, or too direct.The Murders in the Rue Morgue By Edgar Allan Poe Morgue Venus Murders Rue Profundity

The first action of my life was the taking hold of my nose with both hands. My mother saw this and called me a genius:-my father wept for joy and presented me with a treatise on Nosology. This I mastered before I was breeched. By Edgar Allan Poe Hands Action Life Taking Hold

I heed not that my earthly lot Hath - little of Earth in it - That years of love have been forgot In the hatred of a minute: - I mourn not that the desolate Are happier, sweet, than I, But that you sorrow for my fate Who am a passer by. By Edgar Allan Poe Hath Sweet Earth Minute Happier

-ev'n with us the breath Of Science dims the mirror of our joy ... By Edgar Allan Poe Science Evn Joy Breath Dims

One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; - hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; - hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; - hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin - a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it - if such a thing were possible - even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God. By Edgar Allan Poe Hung Knew God Sin Merciful

In the internal decoration, if not in the external architecture of their residences, the English are supreme. The Italians have but little sentiment beyond marbles and colors. In France, meliora probant, deteriora sequuntur the people are too much a race of gadabouts to maintain those household proprieties of which, indeed, they have a delicate appreciation, or at least the elements of a proper sense. The Chinese and most of the Eastern races have a warm but inappropriate fancy. The Scotch are poor decorists. The Dutch have, perhaps, an indeterminate idea that a curtain is not a cabbage. In Spain, they are all curtains a nation of hangmen. The Russians do not furnish. The Hottentots and Kickapoos are very well in their way. The Yankees alone are preposterous. By Edgar Allan Poe English Decoration Residences Supreme Internal

And the cloud that took the form(When the rest of Heaven was blue)Of a demon in my view. By Edgar Allan Poe Heaven Form Blue View Cloud

There are two bodies - the rudimental and the complete; corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we call "death," is but the painful metamorphosis. Our present incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary. Our future is perfected, ultimate, immortal. The ultimate life is the full design By Edgar Allan Poe Bodies Complete Butterfly Rudimental Conditions

These trifles are collected and republished chiefly with a view to their redemption from the many improvements to which they have been subjected while going at random the "rounds of the press." I am naturally anxious that what I have written should circulate as I wrote it, if it circulate at all. In defence of my own taste, nevertheless, it is incumbent upon me to say that I think nothing in this volume of much value to the public, or very creditable to myself. Events not to be controlled have prevented me from making, at any time, any serious effort in what, under happier circumstances, would have been the field of my choice. With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not - they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind. 1845. E. A. P. By Edgar Allan Poe Rounds Press Trifles Collected Republished

To Helen Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore To his own native shore. On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome. Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand, Ah! Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy Land! By Edgar Allan Poe Helen Thy Nicean Gently Oer

The higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. By Edgar Allan Poe Chess Higher Powers Reflective Intellect

Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes ... By Edgar Allan Poe Writers Poets Especial Prefer Frenzy

How often we forget all time, when lone Admiring Nature's universal throne; Her woods - her wilds - her mountains - the intense Reply of HERS to OUR intelligence! By Edgar Allan Poe Admiring Nature Reply Time Throne

A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius. By Edgar Allan Poe Judge Man Genius Common Law

We gave him a hearty welcome, for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man.. By Edgar Allan Poe Man Gave Hearty Half Entertaining

The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind. By Edgar Allan Poe Christendom Mind Chess Chessplayer Player

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore ... By Edgar Allan Poe Explore Heart Moment Mystery

Children are never too tender to be whipped. Like tough beefsteaks, the more you beat them, the more tender they become. By Edgar Allan Poe Children Whipped Tender Beefsteaks Tough

On desperate seas long wont to roam,Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,Thy Naiad airs have brought me homeTo the glory that was Greece,And the grandeur that was Rome. By Edgar Allan Poe Rome Naiad Hair Thy Desperate

Finally on Sunday morning, October 7, 1849, "He became quiet and seemed to rest for a short time. Then, gently, moving his head," he said, "Lord help my poor soul." As he had lived so he died-in great misery and tragedy. By Edgar Allan Poe October Sunday Finally Morning Time

His heart is a suspended lute; As soon as you touch it, it resonates. By Edgar Allan Poe Lute Resonates Heart Suspended Touch

The moaning and groaning, The sighing and sobbing, Are quieted now, With that horrible throbbing At heart: - ah, that horrible, Horrible throbbing! The sickness - the nausea - The pitiless pain - Have ceased, with the fever That maddened my brain - With the fever called "Living" That burned in my brain. By Edgar Allan Poe Horrible Throbbing Groaning Sobbing Heart

The old man," I said at length, "is the type and the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow, for I shall learn no more of him, nor of his deeds. By Edgar Allan Poe Length Crime Type Genius Deep

I do believe God gave me a spark of genius, but he quenched it in misery. By Edgar Allan Poe God Genius Misery Gave Spark

When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket. By Edgar Allan Poe Sane Jacket Madman High Time

A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on. By Edgar Allan Poe Lie Travels Round World Truth

To elevate the soul, poetry is necessary. By Edgar Allan Poe Soul Poetry Elevate

Here the vast bed of waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into phrensied convulsion-heaving, boiling, hissing-gyrating in gigantic and innumerable vortices, and all whirling and plunging on to the eastward with a rapidity which water never elsewhere assumes except in precipitous descents. By Edgar Allan Poe Boiling Seamed Channels Burst Convulsionheaving

... your writer of intensities must have very black ink, and a very big pen, with a very blunt nib. By Edgar Allan Poe Ink Pen Nib Writer Intensities

I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression. By Edgar Allan Poe Power Conclusion Doubt Depth Forced

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but i feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee. By Edgar Allan Poe Lee Annabel Beautiful Moon Beams

A short story is a short prose narrative, requiring from a half hour, to one or two hours in its perusal ... having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out ... By Edgar Allan Poe Short Narrative Requiring Perusal Story

Ah, dream too bright to last! Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise But to be overcast! A voice from out the Future cries, "On! on!" - but o'er the Past (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies Mute, motionless, aghast. By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Hope Bright Past Dim

As an individual, I myself feel impelled to fancy ... a limitless succession of Universes ... Each exists, apart and independently, in the bosom of its proper and particular God. By Edgar Allan Poe Individual Fancy Universes Feel Impelled

In the one instance, the dreamerloses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestionsuntilhe finds the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings, ... forgotten. In my case, the primary object was invariably frivolous, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance. By Edgar Allan Poe Forgotten Instance Incitamentum Musings Object

The traveler, travelling through it,May not-dare not openly view it;Never its mysteries are exposed To the weak human eye unclosed;So wills its King, who hath forbidThe uplifting of the fringed lid;And thus the sad Soul that here passesBeholds it but through darkened glasses. By Edgar Allan Poe King Soul Traveler Travelling Unclosed

To the right and left, as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horridly black and beetling cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcibly illustrated by the surf which reared high up against its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking forever. By Edgar Allan Poe Left Reach Outstretched World Lines

In the marginalia ... we talk only to ourselves; we therefore talk freshly - boldly - originally - with abandonment - without conceit. By Edgar Allan Poe Marginalia Boldly Originally Talk Freshly

Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin; Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win. By Edgar Allan Poe Bin Dragon Win Entereth Conqueror

I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom. By Edgar Allan Poe Indulge Pleasure Absolutely Stimulants Madly

The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability. By Edgar Allan Poe Intolerability Goodness True Pun Direct

It is clear that a poem may be improperly brief. Undue brevity degenerates into mere epigrammatism. A very short poem, while now and then producing a brilliant or vivid, never produces a profound or enduring, effect. There must be the steady pressing down of the stamp upon the wax. By Edgar Allan Poe Clear Improperly Poem Effect Undue

There was a discordant hum of human voices! There was a loud blast as of many trumpets! There was a harsh grating as of a thousand thunders! The fiery walls rushed back! An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting, into the abyss. It was that of General Lasalle. The French army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies. By Edgar Allan Poe Voices Discordant Hum Human Trumpets

Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of man. By Edgar Allan Poe Lives Heart Faculties Sentiments Man

At times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond the albatrossat times became dizzy with the velocity of our descent into some watery hell, where the air grew stagnant, and no sound disturbed the slumbers of the kraken. By Edgar Allan Poe Times Hell Stagnant Kraken Gasped

There are things around us and about, of which I can render no distinct accountThings material and spiritual; heaviness in the atmosphere; a sense of suffocation, anxiety, and above all, that terrible state of existence which the nervous experience when the senses are keenly living and awake and meanwhile the powers of thought lie dormant. By Edgar Allan Poe Anxiety Spiritual Heaviness Atmosphere Suffocation

Out- out are the lights- out all! And, over each quivering form,The curtain, a funeral pall,Comes down with the rush of a storm,While the angels, all pallid and wan,Uprising, unveiling, affirmThat the play is the tragedy, "Man,"And its hero the Conqueror Worm. By Edgar Allan Poe Lights Man Worm Conqueror Unveiling

This maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me. By Edgar Allan Poe Maiden Lived Thoughtthan Love Loved

We then busied our souls in dreams - reading, writing, or conversing, until warned by the clock of the advent of the true Darkness. By Edgar Allan Poe Reading Writing Darkness Dreams Conversing

It all depends on the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. - Daupin By Edgar Allan Poe Robber Knowledge Daupin Depends Loser

Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.' The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist.' By Edgar Allan Poe Art Nature Senses Define Briefly

Fill with mingled cream and amber, I will drain that glass again.Such hilarious visions clamber Through the chamber of my brain Quaintest thoughts - queerest fancies Come to life and fade away;What care I how time advances? I am drinking ale today. By Edgar Allan Poe Quaintest Fill Amber Thoughts Queerest

Oh, outcast of all outcasts most abandoned! to the earth art thou not forever dead? to its honors, to its flowers, to its golden aspirations? and a cloud, dense, dismal, and limitless, does it not hang eternally between thy hopes and heaven? By Edgar Allan Poe Abandoned Outcast Outcasts Dense Dismal

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor."Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent theeby these angels he hath sent theeRespiterespite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!"Quothe the Raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Lenore Wretch Nevermore Quothe Raven

While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell upon a narrow ledge in the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit upon which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen inches, and was not more than a foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just above it, gave it a rude resemblance to one of the hollow-backed chairs used by our ancestors. I made no doubt that here was the 'devil's seat' alluded to in the MS., and now I seemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle. By Edgar Allan Poe Ledge Reflection Rock Stood Busied

Perversity is the human thirst for self-torture. By Edgar Allan Poe Perversity Selftorture Human Thirst

Deep in earth my love is lyingAnd I must weep alone. By Edgar Allan Poe Deep Earth Love Lyingand Weep

Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute. By Edgar Allan Poe Years Forgot Minute Love Hatred

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Night Day Cognizant Things

THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. By Edgar Allan Poe Fortunato Revenge Thousand Injuries Borne

In the Heaven's above, the angels, whispering to one another, can find, among their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of 'Mother. By Edgar Allan Poe Mother Heaven Angels Whispering Find

As I imagined, the ship proves to be in a current; if that appellation can properly be given to a tide, which, howling and shrieking by the white ice, thunders on to the southward with a velocity like the headlong dashing of a cataract. By Edgar Allan Poe Imagined Current Tide Howling Ice

Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger, portion of truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant. By Edgar Allan Poe Experience Shown Show Vast Larger

Yes I now feel that it was then on that evening of sweet dreams- that the very first dawn of human love burst upon the icy night of my spirit. Since that period I have never seen nor heard your name without a shiver half of delight half of anxiety. By Edgar Allan Poe Dreams Spirit Feel Evening Sweet

it has the force of a frame to a picture By Edgar Allan Poe Picture Force Frame

If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by wind and spry together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection. By Edgar Allan Poe Gale Sea Heavy Form Idea

Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all. By Edgar Allan Poe Dark Walls Draperies Hung Comfortless

I believe, indeed, that what I could not refrain from saying to him on this head had the effect of inducing him to push on. While, therefore, I cannot but lament the most unfortunate and bloody events which immediately arose from my advice, I must still be allowed to feel some degree of gratification at having been instrumental, however remotely, in opening to the eye of science one of the most intensely exciting secrets which has ever engrossed its attention. By Edgar Allan Poe Refrain Head Effect Inducing Push

And because our reason violently deters us from the brink, therefore, do we the more impetuously approach it. There is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him, who shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a plunge. To indulge for a moment, in any attempt at thought, is to be inevitably lost; for reflection but urges us to forbear, and therefore it is, I say, that we cannot. If there be no friendly arm to check us, or if we fail in a sudden effort to prostrate ourselves backward from the abyss, we plunge, and are destroyed. By Edgar Allan Poe Brink Reason Violently Deters Impetuously

Odors have an altogether peculiar force, in affecting us through association; a force differing essentially from that of objects addressing the touch, the taste, the sight or the hearing. By Edgar Allan Poe Force Odors Association Touch Taste

Our talk had been serious and sober,But our thoughts they were palsied and sere -For we knew not the month was October,And we marked not the night of the year -(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)We noted not the dim lake of Auber -(Though once we had journeyed down here) -Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. By Edgar Allan Poe Year Auber Remembered Weir Night

How long have you had that cough?" "Ugh! ugh! ugh! - ugh! ugh! ugh! - ugh! ugh! ugh! - ugh! ugh! ugh! - ugh! ugh! ugh!" My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. "It is nothing," he said, at last. "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi - " "Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." "True - true, By Edgar Allan Poe Ugh Cough True Long Back

This apartment, which you no doubt profanely suppose to be the shop of Will Wimble the undertaker --a man whom we know not, and whose plebeian appellation has never before this night thwarted our royal ears --this apartment, I say, is the Dais-Chamber of our Palace, devoted to the councils of our kingdom, and to other sacred and lofty purposes. By Edgar Allan Poe Apartment Palace Wimble Undertaker Ears

The death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover. By Edgar Allan Poe Topic World Lover Death Beautiful

And then I fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at the glittering death, as a child at some rare bauble. By Edgar Allan Poe Calm Death Bauble Fell Suddenly

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. By Edgar Allan Poe Effect Atrocity Weakness Seeking Establish

I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity. By Edgar Allan Poe Blush Burn Shudder Atrocity Pen

I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched. By Edgar Allan Poe Touched Insane Occasions Heart

Not altogether a fool," said G., "but then he's a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool.""True," said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his meerschaum, "although I have been guilty of certain doggerel myself. By Edgar Allan Poe True Dupin Fool Poet Fool

For years your name never passed my lips, while my soul drank in, with a delirious thirst, all that was uttered in my presence respecting you ... By Edgar Allan Poe Lips Thirst Years Passed Soul

Imperceptibly the love of these discords grew upon me as my love of music grew stronger. By Edgar Allan Poe Love Imperceptibly Stronger Grew Discords

If Pierre Bon-Bon had his failings--and what great man has not a thousand?--if Pierre Bon-Bon, I say, had his failings, they were failings of very little importance--faults indeed which, in other tempers, have often been looked upon rather in the light of virtues. By Edgar Allan Poe Pierre Failings Bonbon Thousand Importance

I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief oh, no! it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. By Edgar Allan Poe Groan Knew Heard Slight Mortal

For a moment of intense terror she paused upon the giddy pinnacle, as if in contemplation of her own sublimity, then trembled and tottered, andcame down. By Edgar Allan Poe Pinnacle Sublimity Tottered Andcame Moment

Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence. By Edgar Allan Poe Science Intelligence Taught Madness Sublimity

Science has its place in man's search for understanding, but science and the imagination have tended to bifurcate in the modern world; only the true poetic intellect can end this long-established dualism. By Edgar Allan Poe Science Understanding World Dualism Place

These repeated insults were not to be endured by an imperious nobility. Such invitations became less cordial - less frequent - in time they ceased altogether. The widow of the unfortunate Count Berlifitzing was even heard to express a hope "that the Baron might be at home when he did not wish to be at home, since he disdained the company of his equals; and ride when he did not wish to ride, since he preferred the society of a horse." This to be sure was a very silly explosion of hereditary pique; and merely proved how singularly unmeaning our sayings are apt to become, when we desire to be unusually energetic. By Edgar Allan Poe Nobility Repeated Insults Endured Imperious

I might refer at once, if necessary, to a hundred well authenticated instances. One of very remarkable character, and of which the circumstances may be fresh in the memory of some of my readers, occurred, not very long ago, in the neighboring city of Baltimore, where it occasioned a painful, intense, and widely extended excitement. By Edgar Allan Poe Instances Refer Hundred Authenticated Baltimore

A feeling, for which I have no name, has taken possession of my soul. By Edgar Allan Poe Feeling Soul Possession

Coincidences, in general, are great stumbling-blocks in the way of that class of thinkers who have been educated to know nothing of the theory of probabilitiesthat theory to which the most glorious objects of human research are indebted for the most glorious of illustration. By Edgar Allan Poe Glorious Theory Coincidences General Illustration

It was my choice or chance or curse To adopt the cause for better or worse And with my worldly goods & wit And soul & body worship it - By Edgar Allan Poe Goods Wit Soul Body Choice

Marking a book is literally an experience of your differences or agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him. By Edgar Allan Poe Marking Author Book Literally Experience

I never can hear a crowd of people singing and gesticulating, all together, at an Italian opera, without fancying myself at Athens, listening to that particular tragedy, by Sophocles, in which he introduces a full chorus of turkeys, who set about bewailing the death of Meleager. By Edgar Allan Poe Athens Sophocles Meleager Italian Gesticulating

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality. By Edgar Allan Poe Words Reality Power Impress Mind

The best things in life make you sweaty. By Edgar Allan Poe Sweaty Things Life Make

To speak algebraically, Mr. M. is execrable, but Mr. G. is (x + 1)- ecrable. By Edgar Allan Poe Ecrable Algebraically Execrable Speak

To look at a star by glances - to view it in a side-long way, by turning toward it the exterior portions of the retina (more susceptible of feeble impressions of light than the interior), is to behold the star distinctly - is to have the best appreciation of its lustre - a lustre which grows dim just in proportion as we turn our vision fully upon it. By Edgar Allan Poe Star Lustre Glances Retina Interior

Though I said art sure no craven vastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore, tell me why thy lordly name is on the nigts plutonium shore, quoth the raven never more By Edgar Allan Poe Shore Raven Quoth Art Craven

I was cautious in what I said before the young lady; for I could not be sure that she was sane; and, in fact, there was a certain restless brilliancy about her eyes that half led me to imagine she was not. By Edgar Allan Poe Lady Sane Fact Cautious Young

In beauty of face no maiden ever equaled her. It was the radiance of an opium-dream - an airy and spirit-lifting vision more wildly divine than the fantasies which hovered about the slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos. By Edgar Allan Poe Beauty Face Maiden Equaled Delos

One half of the pleasure experienced at a theatre arises from the spectator's sympathy with the rest of the audience, and, especially from his belief in their sympathy with him. By Edgar Allan Poe Sympathy Audience Half Pleasure Experienced

If I venture to displace ... the microscopical speck of dust ... on the point of my finger, ... I have done a deed which shakes the Moon in her path, which causes the Sun to be no longer the Sun, and which alters forever the destiny of multitudinous myriads of stars. By Edgar Allan Poe Displace Sun Venture Dust Moon

Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem. By Edgar Allan Poe Beauty Poem Sole Legitimate Province

I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me? By Edgar Allan Poe Peace Death Clasped Red Walls

They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their grey visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awaking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which i of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of evil. By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Night Day Cognizant Things

Not hear it? yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long long long many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it yet I dared not oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! I dared not I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! By Edgar Allan Poe Dared Hear Long Heard Minutes

The tribe of clerks was an obvious one ... the junior clerks of flash housesyoung gentlemen with tight coats, bright boots, well-oiled hair, and supercilious lips. Setting aside a certain dapperness of carriage, which may be termed [i]deskism[/i] for want of a better word, the manner of these persons seemed to be an exact fac-simile of what had been the perfection of [i]bon ton[/i] about twelve or eighteen months before. By Edgar Allan Poe Clerks Tribe Obvious Coats Bright

Some human memories and tearful lore, Render him terrorless: his name's No More. By Edgar Allan Poe Render Lore Terrorless Human Memories

The rays of the moon seemed to search the very bottom of the profound gulf; but still I could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a thick mist in which everything there was enveloped, and over which there hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which Musselmen say is the only pathway between Time and Eternity. This mist, or spray, was no doubt occasioned by the clashing of the great walls of the funnel, as they all met together at the bottom-but the yell that went up to the Heavens from out of that mist, I dare not attempt to describe. By Edgar Allan Poe Eternity Mist Musselmen Time Gulf

I am walking like a bewitched corpse, with the certainty of being eaten by the infinite, of being annulled by the only existing Absurd. By Edgar Allan Poe Absurd Corpse Infinite Walking Bewitched

If passion it can properly be called, was of the most thoroughly romantic, shadowy, and imaginative character. It was born of the hour, and of the youthful necessity to love. It had no peculiar regard to the person, or to the character, or to the reciprocating affection ... Any maiden, not immediately and positively repulsive, By Edgar Allan Poe Shadowy Character Called Romantic Passion

About the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity - an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn - a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hue By Edgar Allan Poe Atmosphere Dull Sluggish Vicinity Heaven

And, all at once, the moon arouse through the thin ghastly mist, And was crimson in color ... And they lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom. And lay down at the feet of the demon. And looked at him steadily in the face. By Edgar Allan Poe Mist Color Moon Arouse Thin

But Psyche uplifting her finger said: Sadly this star I mistrust By Edgar Allan Poe Sadly Psyche Mistrust Uplifting Finger

All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel - although he neither saw nor heard - to feel the presence of my head within the room. By Edgar Allan Poe Death Vain Victim Shadow Approaching

It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood. And I stood in the morass among the tall and the rain fell upon my head-and the lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation. By Edgar Allan Poe Rain Fell Night Falling Fallen

To be thoroughly conversant with Man's heart, is to take our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of Despair By Edgar Allan Poe Despair Man Heart Conversant Final

The mass of the people regard as profound only him who suggests pungent contradictions of the general idea. In ratiocination, not less than in literature, it is the epigram which is the most immediately and the most universally appreciated. In both, it is of the lowest order of merit. By Edgar Allan Poe Idea Mass People Regard Profound

And thus thy memory is to meLike some enchanted far-off isleIn some tumultuous sea Some ocean throbbing far and freeWith storms - but where meanwhileSerenest skies continuallyJust o'er that one bright island smile. By Edgar Allan Poe Storms Smile Thy Memory Melike

As the strong man exults in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles into action, so glories the analyst in that moral activity which disentangles. By Edgar Allan Poe Ability Delighting Action Disentangles Strong

It is a happiness to wonder; it is a happiness to dream. By Edgar Allan Poe Happiness Dream

And then there are times, Mr. Osgood, when one must just let go." His gaze softened. "I believe," he said after a moment, "that those are the happiest of times. By Edgar Allan Poe Osgood Times Softened Moment Gaze

I have before suggested that a genuine blackguard is never without a pocket-handkerchief. By Edgar Allan Poe Pockethandkerchief Suggested Genuine Blackguard

Believe me, there exists no such dilemma as that in which a gentleman is placed when he is forced to reply to a blackguard. By Edgar Allan Poe Blackguard Exists Dilemma Gentleman Forced

enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting By Edgar Allan Poe Amontillado Consulting Pay Full Price

Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music, without the idea, is simply music; the idea, without the music, is prose, from its very definitiveness. By Edgar Allan Poe Idea Music Poetry Prose Definitiveness

For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude, and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and nod to and fro their everlasting heads. By Edgar Allan Poe Waterlilies Miles Side River Oozy

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore. By Edgar Allan Poe Raven Open Shutter Flutter Yore

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. By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Night Vision Wrong Deemthat

The eye, like a shattered mirror, multiplies the images of sorrow. By Edgar Allan Poe Eye Mirror Multiplies Sorrow Shattered

False hope is nicer than no hope at all. By Edgar Allan Poe False Hope Nicer

If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment ... By Edgar Allan Poe Human Revolutionize Effort Thought Opinion

Ah, not in knowledge is happiness, but in the acquisition of knowledge! In forever knowing, we are forever blessed; but to know all, were the curse of a fiend. By Edgar Allan Poe Knowledge Happiness Acquisition Forever Knowing

We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. By Edgar Allan Poe Intellect Curt Condensed Pointed Verbose

The Merchant, to Secure His Treasure The merchant, to secure his treasure, Conveys it in a borrowed name: Euphelia serves to grace my measure, But Cloe is my real flame. My softest verse, my darling lyre Upon Euphelia's toilet lay - When Cloe noted her desire That I should sing, that I should play. My lyre I tune, my voice I raise, But with my numbers mix my sighs; And whilst I sing Euphelia's praise, I fix my soul on Cloe's eyes. Fair Cloe blushed; Euphelia frowned: I sung, and gazed; I played, and trembled: And Venus to the Loves around Remarked how ill we all dissembled. By Edgar Allan Poe Merchant Secure Treasure Euphelia Cloe

The Bostonians are really, as a race, far inferior in point of anything beyond mere intellect to any other set upon the continent of North America. They are decidedly the most servile imitators of the English it is possible to conceive. By Edgar Allan Poe America Bostonians North Race Inferior

There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction. By Edgar Allan Poe Allabsorbing Fiction Themes Interest Horrible

Always keep a big bottle of booze at your side. If a bird starts talking nonsense to you in the middle of the night pour yourself a stiff drink. By Edgar Allan Poe Side Big Bottle Booze Drink

The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. By Edgar Allan Poe Fury Demon Instantly Possessed Ginnurtured

The most natural, and, consequently, the truest and most intense of the human affections are those which arise in the heart as if by electric sympathy. By Edgar Allan Poe Natural Sympathy Truest Intense Human

There are moments when, even to the sober eye of Reason, the world of our sad Humanity may assume the semblance of a Hell-but the imagination of man is no Carathis, to explore with impunity its every cavern. Alas! the grim sepulchral terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fanciful-but, like the Demons in whose company Afrasiab made his voyage down the Oxus, they must sleep, or they will devour us-they must be suffered to slumber, or we perish. By Edgar Allan Poe Reason Carathis Humanity Hellbut Cavern

Mimes in the form of God on high mutter and mumble low and hither and tither fly, mere puppets they who come and go. By Edgar Allan Poe God Mimes Fly Mere Form

There are surely other worlds than this - other thoughts than the thoughts of the multitude - other speculations than the speculations of the sophist. Who then shall call thy conduct into question? who blame thee for thy visionary hours, or denounce those occupations as a wasting away of life, which were but the overflowings of thine everlasting energies? By Edgar Allan Poe Thoughts Speculations Multitude Sophist Surely

He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, of hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension praeternatural. By Edgar Allan Poe Enigmas Conundrums Hieroglyphics Exhibiting Praeternatural

Many years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family, and had once been wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. By Edgar Allan Poe Legrand William Ago Years Contracted

In the tale properwhere there is no space for development of character or for great profusion and variety of incidentmere construction is, of course, far more imperatively demanded than in the novel. By Edgar Allan Poe Tale Properwhere Space Development Character

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; This it is, and nothing more. By Edgar Allan Poe Entreating Entrance Chamber Visitor Door

The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls ... By Edgar Allan Poe Souls Scariest Monsters Lurk

Boston: Their hotels are bad. Their pumpkin pies are delicious. Their poetry is not so good. By Edgar Allan Poe Boston Bad Hotels Delicious Good

Long suffering had nearly annihilated all my ordinary powers of mind. I was an imbecile - an idiot. By Edgar Allan Poe Long Mind Suffering Annihilated Ordinary

You need not attempt to shake off or to banter off Romance. It is an evil you will never get rid of to the end of your days. It is a part of yourself ... of your soul. Age will only mellow it a little, and give it a holier tone. By Edgar Allan Poe Romance Attempt Shake Banter Days

The principle of vis inertiae ( ... ) seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former, that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress By Edgar Allan Poe Inertiae Metaphysics Principle Vis Identical

Depend upon it, after all, Thomas, Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path. By Edgar Allan Poe Thomas Literature Depend Professions Noble

I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. By Edgar Allan Poe Usher House Horseback Country Passing

In general, from the violation of a few simple laws of humanity arises the wretchedness of mankind - that as a species we have in our possession the as yet unwroght elements of content - and that, even now, in the present darkness and madness of all thought on the great question of social condition, it is not impossible that man, the individual, under certain unusual and highly fortuitous conditions, my be happy By Edgar Allan Poe Condition Conditions General Mankind Content

A gentleman with a pug nose is a contradiction in terms. By Edgar Allan Poe Terms Gentleman Pug Nose Contradiction

It is evident that we are hurrying onward to some exciting knowledge - some never-to-be-imparted secret, whose attainment is destruction. By Edgar Allan Poe Secret Knowledge Destruction Evident Hurrying

We will say, then, that I am mad. I grant, at least, that there are two distinct conditions of my mental existence - the condition of a lucid reason, not to be disputed, and belonging to the memory of events forming the first epoch of my life - and By Edgar Allan Poe Mad Grant Existence Reason Disputed

In visions of the dark nightI have dreamed of joy departed-But a waking dream of life and lightHath left me broken-hearted.Ah! what is not a dream by dayTo him whose eyes are castOn things around him with a rayTurned back upon the past?That holy dream- that holy dream,While all the world were chiding,Hath cheered me as a lovely beamA lonely spirit guiding.What though that light, thro' storm and night,So trembled from afar-What could there be more purely brightIn Truth's day-star? By Edgar Allan Poe Dream Visions Dark Nighti Dreamed

And into this bizarrerie, as into all his others, I quietly fell; giving myself up to his wild whims with a perfect abandon. By Edgar Allan Poe Bizarrerie Fell Giving Abandon Quietly

The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life & of the nineteenth century in general. (I am convinced that every thing is going wrong.) By Edgar Allan Poe Life General Truth Heartily Sick

If [a short story author's] very initial sentence tend not to the out bringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first step. By Edgar Allan Poe Author Effect Step Short Story

In [chess], where the pieces have different and "bizarre" motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex, is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound By Edgar Allan Poe Chess Bizarre Motions Complex Mistaken

If you run out of ideas follow the road; you'll get there By Edgar Allan Poe Road Run Ideas Follow

Sometimes I'm terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants. The way it stops and starts. By Edgar Allan Poe Heart Terrified Constant Hunger Starts

The ninety and nine are with dreams, content, but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true. By Edgar Allan Poe Content Dreams True Ninety Hope

In his opinion the powers of the intellect held intimate connection with the capabilities of the stomach. By Edgar Allan Poe Stomach Opinion Powers Intellect Held

I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. By Edgar Allan Poe Perfectibility Human Faith Humanity Man

Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear. By Edgar Allan Poe Hear Half

I have not always been as now:The fever'd diadem on my brow I claim'd and won unsurprisingly-Hath not the same fierce heirdom given Rome to the Caeser-this is me? The heritage of a kindly mind,And a proud spirit which hath striven Triumphantly with human kind. By Edgar Allan Poe Rome Caeserthis Fever Diadem Brow

He is, as you say, a remarkable horse, a prodigious horse, although as you very justly observe, a suspicious and untractable character. By Edgar Allan Poe Horse Observe Character Remarkable Prodigious

The realities of the world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn, - not the material of my every-day existencebut in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself. By Edgar Allan Poe Visions Turn Realities World Affected

I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It By Edgar Allan Poe Punish Impunity Unredressed Wrong Redresser

If a poem hasn't ripped apart your soul; you haven't experienced poetry. By Edgar Allan Poe Soul Poetry Poem Ripped Experienced

Melancholy is ... the most legitimate of all the poetical tones. By Edgar Allan Poe Melancholy Tones Legitimate Poetical

How had I deserved to be so blessed by such confessions? - how had I deserved to be so cursed with the removal of my beloved in the hour of her making them, But upon this subject I cannot bear to dilate. By Edgar Allan Poe Deserved Confessions Blessed Dilate Cursed

The most expuisite beauty has strangeness in its proportions ... Ligeia By Edgar Allan Poe Ligeia Proportions Expuisite Beauty Strangeness

I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. By Edgar Allan Poe Kinder Man Week Killed

True, nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, but why will say that I am mad?! The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. By Edgar Allan Poe True Nervous Mad Dreadfully Destroyed

Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of to-day; or the agonies which are have their origins in ecstasies which might have been. By Edgar Allan Poe Today Memory Past Bliss Anguish

But as, in ethics, evil is a consequence of good, so, in fact, out of joy is sorrow born. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of today, or the agonies which are have their origin in the ecstasies which might have been. By Edgar Allan Poe Ethics Evil Good Fact Born

Even for those to whom life and death are equal jests. There are some things that are still held in respect. By Edgar Allan Poe Jests Life Death Equal Respect

It may be roundly asserted that human ingenuity cannot concoct a cipher which human ingenuity cannot resolve. By Edgar Allan Poe Ingenuity Human Resolve Roundly Asserted

Human ingenuity could not construct a cipher which human ingenuity could not solve. By Edgar Allan Poe Ingenuity Human Solve Construct Cipher

To him, who still would gaze upon the glory of the summer sun, there comes, when that sun will from him part, a sullen hopelessness of heart. By Edgar Allan Poe Part Heart Sun Gaze Glory

For passion must, with youth, expire. By Edgar Allan Poe Expire Youth Passion

Tell a scoundrel, three or four times a day, that he is the pink of probity, and you make him at least the perfection of "respectability" in good earnest. On the other hand, accuse an honorable man, too petinaciously, of being a villain, and you fill him with a perverse ambition to show you that you are not altogether in the wrong. By Edgar Allan Poe Respectability Scoundrel Day Probity Earnest

The usual derivation of the word Metaphysics is not to be sustainedthe science is supposed to take its name from its superiority to physics. The truth is, that Aristotle's treatise on Morals is next in succession to his Book of Physics. By Edgar Allan Poe Physics Metaphysics Usual Derivation Word

Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door By Edgar Allan Poe Tis Door Visiter Entreating Entrance

Luchesi cannot tell amontillado from a sherry By Edgar Allan Poe Luchesi Sherry Amontillado

In reading some books we occupy ourselves chiefly with the thoughts of the author; in perusing others, exclusively with our own. By Edgar Allan Poe Author Exclusively Reading Books Occupy

Horrors of a nature most stern and most appalling would too frequently obtrude themselves upon my mind, and shake the innermost depths of my soul with the bare supposition of their possibility. By Edgar Allan Poe Horrors Mind Possibility Nature Stern

It is now high time that I should explain to your Excellencies the object of my perilous voyage. Your Excellencies will bear in mind that distressed circumstances in Rotterdam had at length driven me to the resolution of committing suicide. It was not, however, that to life itself I had any, positive disgust, but that I was harassed beyond endurance by the adventitious miseries attending my situation. In this state of mind, wishing to live, yet wearied with life, the treatise at the stall of the bookseller opened a resource to my imagination. I then finally made up my mind. I determined to depart, yet live - to leave the world, yet continue to exist - in short, to drop enigmas, I resolved, let what would ensue, to force a passage, if I could, to the moon. Now, By Edgar Allan Poe Excellencies Voyage Mind High Time

There was not a sous-cusinier in Rouen, who could not have told you that Bon-Bon was a man of genius. His very cat knew it, and forebore to whisk her tail in the presence of the man of genius. By Edgar Allan Poe Rouen Genius Man Souscusinier Told

It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. It's pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the note orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to harken to the sound and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observes that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as in confessed revery or meditation By Edgar Allan Poe Clock Apartment Wall Ebony Stood

When reason returned with the morning - when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch - I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. By Edgar Allan Poe Half Morning Debauch Horror Remorse

But it is a trait in the perversity of human nature to reject the obvious and the ready, for the far-distant and equivocal. By Edgar Allan Poe Ready Equivocal Trait Perversity Human

And who shall calculate the immense influence upon social lifeupon artsupon commerceupon literaturewhich will be the immediate result of the great principles of electro-magnetics! By Edgar Allan Poe Electromagnetics Calculate Immense Influence Social

The Bostonians are very well in their way. Their hotels are bad. Their pumpkin pies are delicious. Their poetry is not so good. Their Common is no common thing - and the duck pond might answer - if its answer could be heard for the frogs. By Edgar Allan Poe Bostonians Common Answer Bad Hotels

And, though my faith be broken, And, though my heart be broken,Here is a ring, as tokenThat I am happy now! By Edgar Allan Poe Broken Ring Faith Heart Brokenhere

All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry. By Edgar Allan Poe Fear Greed Imagination Religion Friend

I found him well educated, with unusual powers of mind, but infected with misanthropy, and subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy. By Edgar Allan Poe Educated Mind Misanthropy Melancholy Found

There are few persons, even among the calmest thinkers, who have not occasionally been startled into a vague yet thrilling half credence in the supernatural, by coincidences of so seemingly marvellous a character that, as mere coincidences, the intellect has been unable to receive them. By Edgar Allan Poe Coincidences Persons Thinkers Supernatural Calmest

There seemed a deep sense of life and joy about all; and although no airs blew from out the Heavens, yet everything had motion through the gentle sweepings to and fro of innumberable butterflies, that might have been mistaken for tullips with wings. By Edgar Allan Poe Heavens Butterflies Wings Deep Sense

The esteemed Reverend Rufus Griswold is everything I aspire to be, though I fear I shall never soar so quite as high as he-from his resignation letter to Graham's Magazine By Edgar Allan Poe Magazine Reverend Rufus Griswold Graham

And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy dark eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams In what ethereal dances, By what eternal streams! By Edgar Allan Poe Thy Trances Glances Dances Streams

The viol, the violet, and the vine. Resignedly beneath the sky By Edgar Allan Poe Viol Violet Vine Resignedly Sky

Art was, for Poe, the only method by which one could penetrate the shapeless empirical world in the search for order, and By Edgar Allan Poe Poe Art Order Method Penetrate

Ear in mind that, in general, it is the object of our newspapers rather to create a sensation-to make a point-than to further the cause of truth." Dupin in "The Mystery of Marie Roget By Edgar Allan Poe Ear General Truth Mind Object

Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest. By Edgar Allan Poe Rest Good Bad Worst Eternal

And so, all the night-tide, I lay down the side, of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, in the sepulchre there by the sea, in her tomb by the surrounding sea. By Edgar Allan Poe Darling Sea Nighttide Side Bride

Books, indeed, were his sole luxuries By Edgar Allan Poe Books Luxuries Sole

And travellers, now, within that valley, Through the red-litten windows see Vast forms, that move fantastically To a discordant melody, While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door A hideous throng rush out forever And laugh - but smile no more. By Edgar Allan Poe Vast Travellers Valley Forms Melody

We loved with a love that was more than love. By Edgar Allan Poe Love Loved

I fell in love with melancholy By Edgar Allan Poe Melancholy Fell Love

And all I loved, I loved alone. By Edgar Allan Poe Loved

We had always dwelled together, beneath a tropical sun, in the Valley of the Many Colored Grass. By Edgar Allan Poe Grass Valley Colored Beneath Sun

Yes," I said, "for the love of God! By Edgar Allan Poe God Love

Alas! for that accursed time They bore thee o'er the billow, From love to titled age and crime, And an unholy pillow! From me, and from our misty clime, Where weeps the silver willow! By Edgar Allan Poe Alas Billow Crime Pillow Clime

Let me glimpse inside your velvet bones. By Edgar Allan Poe Bones Glimpse Inside Velvet

I love me a good sheep. By Edgar Allan Poe Sheep Love Good

I have no words - alas! - to tellThe loveliness of loving well! By Edgar Allan Poe Alas Words Tellthe Loveliness Loving

I am actuated by an ambition which I believe to be an honourable one - the ambition of serving the great cause of truth, while endeavouring to forward the literature of the country. By Edgar Allan Poe Ambition Truth Country Actuated Honourable

No thinking being lives who, at some luminous point of his life of thought, has not felt himself lost amid the surges of futile efforts at understanding, or believing, that anything exists greater than his own soul. By Edgar Allan Poe Thought Understanding Believing Soul Thinking

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. By Edgar Allan Poe Floor Separate Dying Ember Wrought

Happiness is not to be found in knowledge, but in the acquisition of knowledge By Edgar Allan Poe Knowledge Happiness Found Acquisition

How much more intense is the excitement wrought in the feelings of a crowd by the contemplation of human agony, than that brought about by the most appalling spectacles of inanimate matter. By Edgar Allan Poe Agony Matter Intense Excitement Wrought

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. By Edgar Allan Poe Animal Black Degree Remarkably Large

The true genius shudders at incompleteness - imperfection - and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said. By Edgar Allan Poe Imperfection Incompleteness True Genius Shudders

There are few persons who have not, at some period of their lives, amused themselves in retracing the steps by which particular conclusions of their own minds have been attained. By Edgar Allan Poe Lives Amused Attained Persons Period

The depth lies in the valleys where we seek her, and not upon the mountain-tops where she is found. By Edgar Allan Poe Found Depth Lies Valleys Seek

Lo! 'tis a gala nightWithin the lonesome latter years! An angel throng, bewinged, bedightIn veils, and drowned in tears,Sit in a theatre, to seeA play of hopes and fears [ ... ] By Edgar Allan Poe Bewinged Tis Years Throng Bedightin

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you - here I opened wide the door; Darkness there, and nothing more. By Edgar Allan Poe Door Darkness Tapping Faintly Chamber

The rudiment of verse may, possibly, be found in the spondee. By Edgar Allan Poe Possibly Spondee Rudiment Verse Found

It was well said of a certain German book that 'er lasst sich nicht lesen" - it does not permit itself to be read. By Edgar Allan Poe German Lesen Read Book Lasst

by the five corners of my beard! By Edgar Allan Poe Beard Corners

But she died; and with my own hands I bore her to the tomb; and I laughed with a long and bitter laugh as I found no traces of the first in the channel where I laid the second. By Edgar Allan Poe Died Tomb Hands Bore Laughed

The winters in the latitude of Sullivan's Island are seldom very severe, and in the fall of the year it is a rare event indeed By Edgar Allan Poe Sullivan Island Severe Winters Latitude

It would be mockery to call such dreariness heaven at all. By Edgar Allan Poe Mockery Call Dreariness Heaven

Art is to look at not to criticize. By Edgar Allan Poe Art Criticize

Invisible things are the only realities. By Edgar Allan Poe Invisible Realities Things

For her whom in life thou dids't abhor, in death thou shalt adore By Edgar Allan Poe Abhor Adore Thou Life Death

[The daguerreotype] itself must undoubtedly be regarded as the most important, and perhaps the most extraordinary triumph of modern science. By Edgar Allan Poe Daguerreotype Important Science Undoubtedly Regarded

Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. By Edgar Allan Poe Bells Time Runic Keeping Rhyme

In the sepulchre there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea. By Edgar Allan Poe Sea Sepulchre Seain Tomb Sounding

The convex surface of any segment of a sphere is, to the entire surface of the sphere itself, as the versed sine of the segment to the diameter of the sphere. By Edgar Allan Poe Sphere Surface Segment Convex Entire

You call it hope - that fire of fire!It is but agony of desire. By Edgar Allan Poe Hope Desire Fire Call Agony

I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind By Edgar Allan Poe Mind Remained Inside Head Ended

The idea of God, infinity, or spirit stands for the possible attempt at an impossible conception. By Edgar Allan Poe God Conception Idea Spirit Stands

Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. By Edgar Allan Poe Lost Made Utterly Life Death

All around were horror, and thick gloom, and a black sweltering desert of ebony. By Edgar Allan Poe Horror Gloom Ebony Thick Black

I have graven it within the hills, and my vengeance upon the dust within the rock. By Edgar Allan Poe Hills Rock Graven Vengeance Dust

To conceive the horror of my sensations is, I presume, utterly impossible; yet a curiosity to penetrate the mysteries of these awful regions predominates even over my despair, and will reconcile me to the most hideous aspect of death. By Edgar Allan Poe Presume Utterly Impossible Despair Death

Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adore- Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Lenore Prophet Thing Evil Clasp

No murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze, far down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old station, shining on gloriously forever. By Edgar Allan Poe Bed Gaze Bosom Stirred Content

The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world. By Edgar Allan Poe Unquestionably World Death Beautiful Woman

There might be a class of beings, human once, but now to humanity invisible, for whose scrutiny, and for whose refined appreciation of the beautiful, more especially than for our own, had been set in order by God the great landscape-garden of the whole earth. By Edgar Allan Poe God Human Invisible Scrutiny Beautiful

There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. By Edgar Allan Poe Beautiful Wanton Bizarre Terrible Disgust

That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful. By Edgar Allan Poe Pure Intense Derived Maintain Beautiful

That fitful strain of melancholy which will ever be found inseperable from the perfection of the beautiful. By Edgar Allan Poe Beautiful Fitful Strain Melancholy Found

Yet, the ear it fully knows, By the twangingAnd the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows;Yet, the ear distinctly tells,In the janglingAnd the wrangling,How the danger sinks and swells,By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells. By Edgar Allan Poe Ear Danger Clanging Flows Bells

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"Quoth the raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Nevermore Quoth Thy Heart Door

Other friends have flown before - On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." Quoth the raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Flown Nevermore Friends Morrow Leave

Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Ghastly Shore Thou Nightly Night

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore. By Edgar Allan Poe Nevermore Raven Quoth

The history of all Magazines shows plainly that those which have attained celebrity were indebted for it to articles similar in natureto Berenicealthough, I grant you, far superior in style and execution. I say similar in nature. You ask me in what does this nature consist? In the ludicrous heightened into the grotesque: the fearful coloured into the horrible: the witty exaggerated into the burlesque: the singular wrought out into the strange and mystical. By Edgar Allan Poe Berenicealthough Magazines Similar Execution History

Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see. By Edgar Allan Poe Hear Half

A fearful instance of the ill consequences attending upon irascibility - alive, with the qualifications of the dead - dead, with the propensities of the living - an anomaly on the face of the earth - being very calm, yet breathless. By Edgar Allan Poe Dead Alive Irascibility Living Earth

I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,And I hold within my handGrains of golden sand-How few! yet how they creepThrough my fingers to the deep,While I weep- while I weep! By Edgar Allan Poe Weep Stand Amid Roarof Surftormented

By late accounts from Rotterdam, that city seems to be in a high state of philosophical excitement. Indeed, phenomena have there occurred of a nature so completely unexpectedso entirely novelso utterly at variance with preconceived opinionsas to leave no doubt on my mind that long ere this all Europe is in an uproar, all physics in a ferment, all reason and astronomy together by the ears. By Edgar Allan Poe Rotterdam Excitement Late Accounts City

True! - nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? By Edgar Allan Poe True Nervous Mad

A million candles have burned themselves out. Still I read on. (Montresor) By Edgar Allan Poe Montresor Million Candles Burned Read

Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us an uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy-since there could be absolutely no point, in all that background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could comprehend the voids which our telescopes find in innumerable directions, would be by supposing the distance of the invisible background so immense that no ray from it has yet been able to reach us at all. By Edgar Allan Poe Galaxysince Background Endless Luminosity Point

That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling every thing "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities. By Edgar Allan Poe Oddities Prefect Odd Notions Thing

The Romans worshipped their standard; and the Roman standard happened to be an eagle. Our standard is only one tenth of an eagle,a dollar, but we make all even by adoring it with tenfold devotion. By Edgar Allan Poe Romans Roman Eagle Standard Worshipped

I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down.[Letter to J. Beauchamp Jones, August 8, 1839] By Edgar Allan Poe August Letter Jones Beauchamp Down

Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so. By Edgar Allan Poe Man Happy Chiefly Real Life

There are some qualities, some incorporate things, that have a double life, which thus is made. A type os twin entity which springs from matter and light, envinced in solid and shade. By Edgar Allan Poe Qualities Things Life Made Incorporate

To-day I wear these chains, and am HERE. To-morrow I shall be fetterless!BUT WHERE? By Edgar Allan Poe Today Chains Wear Tomorrow Fetterless

all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea - In her tomb by the side of the sea. By Edgar Allan Poe Darling Sea Side Nighttide Bride

A mystery, and a dream, should my early life seem. By Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Dream Early Life

I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life - except in hope, which is by no means bankable. By Edgar Allan Poe Money Made Life Hope Bankable

The fever called "living" Is conquer'd at last. By Edgar Allan Poe Living Called Fever Conquer

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. By Edgar Allan Poe Word Raven Sitting Bust Spoke

Reality is the #1 cause of insanity among those who are in contact with it By Edgar Allan Poe Reality Insanity Contact

The question is of will, and not, as the insanity of logic has assumed, of power. It is not that the Deity cannot modify his laws, but that we insult him in imagining a possible necessity for modification. By Edgar Allan Poe Assumed Power Question Insanity Logic

Now this is the point. You fancy me a mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded ... By Edgar Allan Poe Point Mad Madmen Fancy Proceeded

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. By Edgar Allan Poe Insane Sanity Long Intervals Horrible

In no affairs of mere prejudice, pro or con, do we deduce inferences with entire certainty, even from the most simple data. By Edgar Allan Poe Prejudice Pro Con Certainty Data

In the deepest slumber-no! In delirium-no! In a swoon-no! In death-no! even in the grave all is not lost. By Edgar Allan Poe Slumberno Deepest Deliriumno Swoonno Deathno

When the Hours flew brightly by And not a cloud obscured the sky, My soul, lest it should truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and By Edgar Allan Poe Thy Hours Sky Soul Flew

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered. By Edgar Allan Poe Spot Make Remembered Forget Note

I was deeply interested in the little family history which he detailed to me with all that candor which a Frenchman indulges whenever mere self is the theme. By Edgar Allan Poe Frenchman Theme Deeply Interested Family

Villains!' I shrieked. 'Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart! By Edgar Allan Poe Villains Dissemble Shrieked Deed Tear

For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique. By Edgar Allan Poe Antique Eyes Models Remotely

He begged me not to be impatient - to moderate my transports - to read soothing books - to drink nothing stronger than Hock - and to bring the consolations of philosophy to my aid. The fool! if he could not come himself, why, in the name of every thing rational, could he not have enclosed me a letter of presentation? By Edgar Allan Poe Hock Impatient Transports Books Aid

Then silence, and stillness, and night werethe universe. By Edgar Allan Poe Silence Stillness Universe Night Werethe

Ah, Death, the spectre which sate at all feasts! How often, Monos, did we lose ourselves in speculations upon its nature! How mysteriously did it act as a check to human bliss - saying unto it thus far, and no farther! By Edgar Allan Poe Death Monos Feasts Spectre Sate

A fool, for example, thinks Shakespeare a great poet ... yet the fool has never read Shakespeare. By Edgar Allan Poe Shakespeare Poet Fool Great Read

No man who ever lived knows any more about the hereafter than you and I. By Edgar Allan Poe Man Lived

From a proud tower in the town, Death looks gigantically down. By Edgar Allan Poe Death Town Proud Tower Gigantically

Let us dismiss, as irrelevant to the poem per se, the circumstance ... which, in the first place, gave rise to the intention of composing a poem that should suit at once the popular and the critical taste. By Edgar Allan Poe Dismiss Circumstance Poem Irrelevant Place

Residing in Paris during the spring and part of the summer of 18 - , I there became acquainted with a Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. This By Edgar Allan Poe <