Pagine1809–1849 · Boston, Massachusetts · also known as Poe, Edgar Poe
Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective story, perfected the horror tale and wrote one of the most famous poems in English. Orphaned young and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he lived and wrote in poverty. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) introduced the detective C. Auguste Dupin, the model for Sherlock Holmes; “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death” defined Gothic horror; and “The Raven” (1845) made him famous. He died in Baltimore at 40 in circumstances that are still a mystery.
Begin with The Tell-Tale Heart.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne · Herman Melville · Frederick Douglass · Emily Dickinson · Mark Twain · Edith Wharton · Jack London · F. Scott Fitzgerald · Ernest Hemingway · Zora Neale Hurston · John Steinbeck · Toni Morrison
Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective story, perfected the horror tale and wrote one of the most famous poems in English. Orphaned young and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he lived and wrote in poverty.
The Raven is usually considered Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known work, followed by The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Most readers start with The Tell-Tale Heart.
Both refer to the same writer. Other spellings and names include Poe, Edgar Poe.
Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s works are in the public domain; we link to free editions below.