It was quite good.

The Tell-Tale Heart will always be my favourite. Poe was a trippy dude.

The narrator of The Tell Tale Heart practically admits that he’s a madman, but he says that he’s wiser than a madman, trying to use this reasoning to prove that he isn’t. He brags so often that he’s not mad that we can’t help but wonder if maybe he’s actually aware of the fact that he’s mad. He denies that he’s mad before the thought even crosses our minds! In fact, his constant denial of being mad only makes us suspect his madness even more. His reasoning behind his belief that he is not mad is that he is “too wise” to be mad. He says, “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work!” He goes on to describe all the careful precautions he took while murdering the old man, all the while saying, “Would a madman do this?” He reiterates this so much that I think he’s trying to convince himself that he’s not mad more than he’s trying to convince us.
tThe narrator says, and I quote, “I foamed — I raved — I swore!” Foamed? Raved? Swore? He’s so obviously mad it’s almost funny! Why else would he foam but that he’s mad? He also says, “I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad?” Hold on just a second, but am I correct in assuming that he listens to the things he hears in hell? He hears things in hell? He believes his sense of hearing is acute enough to hear things in hell, and follows that up with asking us, “How then am I mad?” Oh, I don’t know, maybe EVERY WAY POSSIBLE STARTING WITH YOU BEING OBSESSED WITH KILLING SOME OLD MAN JUST SO HIS EYE WILL STOP HAUNTING YOU?!?
Yup.
I'm done ranting now.

Intense.. Suspenseful... This book makes your heart throb, your pulse quicken, your sweat drip past your eyes. Poe is truly a classic <3

I firmly believe that everyone should read poetry at least once a year. Not the kind that floods social media feeds, but real poetry—the kind that comes from books, whether with the scent of old paper, fresh print, or even digitally stored pages. Edgar Allan Poe’s work is a perfect candidate for this ritual. His stories and poems delve into the macabre, the mysterious, and the profoundly emotional.

This collection features some of Poe’s most iconic works, such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Raven. Each piece showcases his genius for capturing the human psyche's fragility, whether through the descent into madness, an eerie supernatural presence, or a melancholic reflection on loss.

Poe's poetic mastery is also evident in his iconic lines. For example, from The Raven:
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary..."
This haunting poem’s repetitive refrain, “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore,’” becomes a chilling symbol of unrelenting despair.

Or from Annabel Lee, a poignant elegy for lost love:
"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee..."

What sets Poe apart is his ability to blend gothic horror with deeply personal emotion. His themes of death, guilt, and the passage of time resonate far beyond the era he wrote in. At times, the language may feel dated, but the raw emotion and vivid imagery more than make up for it.

This collection reminds us why Poe remains an enduring figure in literature. While not every piece may connect equally with every reader, the brilliance of his best works shines undeniably bright. It's a journey worth taking for anyone who appreciates the dark and the poetic.

Recommendation: Read this collection in a quiet, dimly lit room for the full Poe experience!

The human psyche and the weight of guilt.

"The Cask Of Amontillado.” A man takes cold, calculated revenge on a noble whom he perceives has insults him, walling the poor guy up in a catacomb. Very creepy, especially the part where he echoes the noble’s screams. [read three times]

"The Tell-Tale Heart.” A elderly man with a cloudy eye is murdered by (presumably) his caretaker. This reading really brought home how bat-shit insane the murderer is: he takes a full hour to put his head in the door. The themes of guilt and paranoia run deep here. Deservedly a classic. [read twice]

"The Fall of the House Of Usher.” A new Poe story to me. A man comes to visit a childhood friend, Roderick Usher, and finds him suffering from a possibly mental illness that makes him react in horror to most light and sounds. His twin sister is also suffering from catalepsy. She dies, and they entomb her in the house, but that’s when the really morbid stuff starts happening. This story is just pure Gothic horror. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of allegory or meaning here, just a portrait of supernatural fear (the house seems to be almost sentient). It’s written in an extremely lofty style, making it rather inaccessible to the casual reader, so it lacks the emotional punch of the previous two stories. Still, it’s a spooky tale.

"The Black Cat.” A man, once known for his kind disposition, is corrupted by drink and kills one of his pets, a cat. Disaster and murder follow, capped by an ending very similar to “The Tell-Tale Heart,” except with a more gruesome twist. Though this story isn’t narratively tight as the former, I found it just as compelling. It talks of the overpowering spirit of perverseness, doing “wrong for the wrong's sake only,” in all people. It mixture of the fantastic (the cat’s shadow on their burned house) and the mundane (drunken dissolution) is also appealing. Terrific and creepy as hell.

"Berenice.” Possibly the most pointlessly gory of Poe’s tales. A man suffering from spells of obsession on minor details becomes fixated on the teeth of his cousin, Berenice, who, though once athletic and merry, has succumbed to a degenerative disease. So he removes them while she’s still alive. Apparently, Poe himself said this story crossed the line of good taste.

“The Man Who Was All Used Up.” A rather humorous piece; the narrator meets a general famed for his bravery and is foiled at every turn when he tries to find out details. Finally, he goes to the general himself, only to find that scalping and the removing of limbs was only the start of what those savages did to him. Not brutally told, this is a light story, and it was amusing, thought he constant repetitions of the interlocutors grated after a bit.

Really weird, but really good. The Tell-Tale Heart is interesting and oodly enough I even laughed a bit, it's pretty short and doesn't take long to read. But I have to say The Black Cat is just as odd, maybe even weirder, and kept my attention to the end.

"No, no, don't fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. You should have seen me."

I read this one story after hearing a lot of appreciation for it. Lately I have been reading Edgar Allan Poe's one work at a time and my gosh!, the genius keeps on getting better.

Here he tells a story of a young person(gender is not mentioned) who kills an old man in a cold and calculated manner. The way in which the story is told is simply magical. I could not peel my eyes away even for a moment. There is a new emotion and aspect unfolding in every line.

The killer took utmost precautions while performing the murder and getting rid of the body but the heart (ah! you heartless bitch!) still tells the tale.

“A wrong is unredressed when the 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.” With this cruel vengeance Montresor, with malicious patience and deceptive friendliness, lured Fortunato into the vault and buried him alive in a niche. The reader knows the target to be doomed and watched the drunken man step deeper into the snare.
As usual, Poe was able to portray the criminal mind, with its unrepentant hatred and cruel delight, as if he were a comrade.

Such a great story. The craziness is well-portrayed.

"And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave. The thought came gently and stealthily, and it seemed long before it attained full appreciation"