I have only read a tell tale heart with my humanities class. I wasn’t expecting it to be so graphic because there is a lot of talk of cutting off body parts. It was very creepy but I liked it. The theme of the story or a possible theme is can you trust the narrator? The narrator might have been so mad he imagined everything that happened. It is very dark and creepy so I recommend it for 12 and older. 3.85 stars.

What?? Me, liking a short story collection? Impossible!
What can I say that you've not already heard before? You know the guy.
This time while reading this collection I was impressed by his range. Yes, I know, there's a lot of dead young beautiful women, but then he himself also lost his young wife and according to what I've read, her death destroyed him and inspired all these stories. Yes, there's a lot of tropes but he is the creator of a lot of them.
It's very interesting to read the author that paved the way to whole genres, you should never forget that he was one of the firsts. Also even though writing itself was verbose it was quite beautiful and evocative.
Did I love his Dupin Investigates more than Sherlock? No, but he was one of the fathers of classical detective genre.
Did I like The Balloon-Hoax? Not really but it inspired Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.
Did I adore William Wilson story? Maybe not, but he inspired Dostoevsky's The Double (this one I just plucked from the air, no idea if it's true). Oh, I will say it inspired Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. My take, I discovered it, please quote me on this!

Funny but I can see some similarities in this tale and the books I read. Thinking about stylistically. Really haunts me.

Tell tale heart is always an excellent read

Ha sido interesante releer estas historias de Poe después de tantos años (salvo "La cita”, una historia que nunca había leído y que me ha sorprendido gratamente). “El corazón delator”, ya un clásico del autor, sigue siendo uno de mis cuentos preferidos. La historia que quizá me ha descuadrado un poco, teniendo en cuenta el tono general de esta mini recopilación, ha sido "El escarabajo de oro" porque creo que es una lectura más similar a los relatos de detectives que tiene el autor como “Los crímenes de la calle Morgue”, “La carta robada” o “El misterio de Marie Rogêt”. Lo que me gusta de Poe es que tiene un estilo único pero sus obras son tan variadas que siempre va a haber alguna que te llame la atención.

it's halloween. that's enough reason, i think.

SHORT STORY ONE - THE TELL-TALE HEART - 5
my guy loves using hyphens and dashes. i like it. makes his writing look and feel dashing. no, i am not sorry for that word play. i'm sure mr. poe would approve. i also feel like i learned so many new words reading this.
n  

A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.

n
SHORT STORY TWO - THE BLACK CAT - 5
i'm kind of speechless at what i read, also very disturbed. how can mister main character just switch up like that? where did the extreme hatred come from? beside the fact that he damn well deserves to be punted for all that he's done. blushing, thinking about what you've done, is definitely not going to help you make your case.
n  

I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

n
SHORT STORY THREE - THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO - 2
oh god, i forgot that we used to call people 'ignoramus' - thank you, mister poe for reminding me, i will henceforth add this word back to my measly vocabulary.
besides that, i did not really connect to the story nor found it any more interesting than the fly whirring on my wall right now.
n  

“Then you are not of the brotherhood.”

n
SHORT STORY FOUR - THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER - 3.5
we love haunted house stories! and burying your sister alive stories! and reading spooky stories in that haunted house while your sister is clawing her way out of the grave stories!
everything a gal wishes to read in a book.
n  

Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart?

n
SHORT STORY FIVE - THE MASQUERADE OF THE RED DEATH - 3.5
when will rich people learn!
n  

He had come like a thief in the night.

n
SHORT STORY SIX - THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR - 3
i need him to do that to my brain, please.
n  

“Yes!—no;—I have been sleeping—and now—now—I am dead.”

n
SHORT STORY SEVEN - LIGEIA - 3.5
i have no idea what is happening, but i see two women in a marriage with a man and both dying. to be fair, i would also want to die, if my husband wished his first and former wife back while i was still alive and bound to him.
n  

And the chin, with its dimples, as in health, might it not be hers?

n
SHORT STORY EIGHT - THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE - 5
how do you look at an orang-utan and think 'yes, this is a specimen i'd like to capture and sell' and not shit yourself at the mere thought of being an inch away from these guys?
most of these, honestly, are the result of humanity's stupidity, and that indeed scares me a lot.
n  

Terrified at the sight of so dangerous a weapon in the possession of an animal so ferocious

n
SHORT STORY NINE - THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE - 2
i think i'd riot if i talked to somebody and they kept smoking in between their words.
n  

"Why—puff, puff—you might—puff, puff—employ counsel in the matter, eh?—puff, puff, puff."

n
SHORT STORY TEN - A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM - 3.5
stop because i can't swim and this is my NIGHTMARE.
n  

"Never shall I forget the sensation of awe, horror, and admiration with which I gazed about me."

n
SHORT STORY ELEVEN - THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM - 5
i like this a lot! and also, it's very different to poe's other stories, though. i'm but a humble reader, though, i couldn't possibly analyse this well.
n  

The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies.

n
SHORT STORY TWELVE - MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE - 3
weird obsession with whirlpools.
n  

When I look around me, I feel ashamed of my former apprehension.

n
SHORT STORY THIRTEEN - THE PREMATURE BURIAL - 5
thank god for love and weird obsession with hair and grave raiding (?)
n  

In short, I became a new man, and lived a man’s life.

n
SHORT STORY FOURTEEN - WILLIAM WILSON - 3.5
i would have appreciated a rivals to lovers, tbh.
n  

In me didst thou exist—and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.

n
SHORT STORY FIFTEEN - ELEONORA - 4
what the heck - edgar allan poe is capable of writing sweet stories? i am shocked (pleasantly)
n  

I longed for the love which had before filled it to overflowing.

n
SHORT STORY SIXTEEN - SILENCE: A FABLE - 3.5
isolation and silence haunts us the most out of everything; not staying busy, not having anything to do, being bored, being alone with your thoughts - it allows all the demons to seep in. good story.
n  

But there was no voice throughout the vast illimitable desert, and the characters upon the rock were SILENCE.

n
SHORT STORY SEVENTEEN - THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET - 2.5
my guy is REALLY obsessed with the ocean
n  

We were thus relieved from immediate danger, but our situation was still sufficiently gloomy.

n


POEM ONE - STANZAS - 1.5
i feel like an imposter. am i supposed to feel something reading this?

POEM TWO - ROMANCE - 2
no idea what i just read, but i appreciate a good ol' romance.

POEM THREE - TO HELEN - 3
is this about helen of troy?

POEM FOUR - ISRAFEL - 3.5
ooo, i really liked the rhymes here. was quite melodic to read through.

POEM FIVE - THE CITY IN THE SEA - 3
The voil, the violet, and the vine - pretty words

POEM SIX - THE SLEEPER - 3
how does this guy know so many words !!!!

POEM SEVEN - THE VALLEY OF UNREST - 2.5
okay, not to criticise somebody who wrote this poem, BUT it started out with 'once', then moved on to 'now' and i would have really liked if it had continued with 'soon' or any other futuristic exclamation. would have been REALLY nice.

POEM EIGHT - LENORE - 2
somebody PLEASE take away hyphens and dashes away from this guy

POEM NINE - THE RAVEN - 3
might i say, edgar allan poe rivals eminem?

POEM TEN - A VALENTINE - 3.5
solid.

POEM ELEVEN - ULALUME - A BALLAD - 3
the only ballad to exist for me is friedrich schiller's the glove. the ONLY one.

POEM TWELVE - FOR ANNIE - 3.5
helen, now annie? my guy was a CASANOVA

POEM THIRTEEN - ANNABEL LEE - 3
now annabel even? [insert eye emoji]

POEM FOURTEEN - THE BELLS - 2
actually, quite fitting for this christmas time

POEM FIFTEEN - ALONE - 4
his best poem. i feel like that was a good one to end the entire writings on.

i can't lie. reading all that has dragged for quite a whole. and honestly? nothing REALLY stuck that much with me to warrant this any higher than a mediocre 3 stars.

I have read this for the 3rd time and finished 10/08/12.

Very good! I like Poe. This collection wasn't the best, though. For example, I wish Hop Frog was in it. I like that short story. I like Marie Roget, too, but I can see the editing of that from this book since we have two detective stories already.

The last story I finished in this book was The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Aside from the racism in the story (and Poe is now dead and he wrote in the 1800's, so nothing can now be done about that) it's an interesting narrative about a man on a boat heading to the Antarctic. There's perhaps too much seafaring detail in there for my tastes. The ending to that story is definitely unsatisfying. I also got a good sense of 19th values toward "conquering the world" reading this narrative.

It seemed like the majority of the stories mention the words "opium" and "ague" at least once. I got to the point where I started looking for the first mention of opium and ague every time I started a new story.

I also get the feeling that being buried alive was one of Poe's worst nightmares. I think that was a general feeling of the population during that time in history.

*****

I have just found out Jules Verne wrote a sequel to Arthur Gordon Pym called An Antarctic Mystery. I am glad. Very glad. I have requested it from the library and hope to read it sometime soon.

You know, I'm pretty sure most people like this (and Poe) for the kind of creepy slightly Gothic effect, but I think that is a very superficial and silly way to read it. The beating of the heart has absolutely nothing to do with redemption, nothing to do with guilt or anything, it has to do with the futility of existence. Read the story again and think of the mentions of heartbeat and pulse and think of the unreliability of the narrator.

It's not the pulse of the man he kills and it isn't the beating of the mans heart - its his heart and pulse.

Considering this is Poe's most famous work (discounting Raven) I'm a little depressed that it is so often read as just macabre and nothing more. I don't love Poe, but I love what he attempted to do. He makes narrators who try to convince you of one thing while he, as the author, has to try and convince you of the truth. It's really quite amazing to try and piece together each puzzle and see how good a job Poe actually did. Furthermore, it makes sense when one considers that Poe is the father of the detective novel. Oooooooooh! Right? See, it makes sense now.

Siempre es agradable volver a leer a Poe

One of my favourite authors, one of my favourites tales.

El corazón delator: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

William wilson:
“crecí gobernándome por mi cuenta, entregado a los caprichos más extravagantes y víctima de las pasiones más incontrolables.”
“… a una edad en la que pocos niños han abandonado los andadores, quedé dueño de mi voluntad y me convertí de hecho en el amo de todas mis acciones.”
“logré hacerlo jugar conmigo varias veces y, procediendo como todos los tahúres, le permití ganar considerables sumas a fin de envolverlo más efectivamente en mis redes.”
“humillado, envilecido hasta el máximo como lo estaba en ese momento, es probable que hubiera respondido a tan amargo lenguaje con un arrebato de violencia, de no hallarse mi atención completamente concentrada en un hecho por completo extraordinario”.

El escarabajo de oro:
“una mente con tendencia a la insania esta pronta a dejarse arrastrar a semejantes sugestiones — especialmente si coinciden con ideas preconcebidas— ”
“considero muy dudoso que una inteligencia humana sea capaz de crear un enigma de este tipo, que otra inteligencia humana no llegue a resolver si se aplica adecuadamente”

La cita:
“—soñar —continuó, recobrando el tono de su inconexa conversación—, soñar ha constituido el fin de mi vida. Por eso he construido, como ve usted, este lugar para los sueños.”
Lo tuve que releer varias veces porque no lo comprendí en un principio, al mismo tiempo iba buscando las estatuas, templos, libros pinturas, lugares entre otras obras mencionadas, que yo desconocía, para poder ambientarme mejor con el relato y la atmósfera ya que hace alusión artística a varias cosas durante la narración .

the tell-tale heart & the cask of amontillado