This collection brings together more than fifty of Edgar Allan Poe's most important stories, poems, and critical writings, which established him as one of the most distinctive voices in American Literature, in a single accessible volume.

Alongside annotated texts of each work, it also includes a complete Reader's Guide to Poe's work to help readers explore the contexts, style, and reception of his writing from his own time to today.

An essential resource for students and teachers of Poe, this book includes stories such as 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', and 'The Purloined Letter' as well as his Gothic narrative poem 'The Raven' and some of his most significant critical writings.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Part I Introduction

Part II Tales 25
Ms. Found in a Bottle 36
Berenice 43
Morella 48
Ligeia 51
How to Write a Blackwood Article 61
A Predicament 68
The Man That Was Used Up 74
The Fall of the House of Usher 80
William Wilson 93
The Man of the Crowd 106
The Murders in the Rue Morgue 111
A Descent into the Maelström 133
Never Bet the Devil Your Head 144
The Masque of the Red Death 150
The Pit and the Pendulum 154
The Tell-Tale Heart 163
The Gold-Bug 167
The Black Cat 190
The Premature Burial 196
The Purloined Letter 205
The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether 217
The Balloon-Hoax 229
The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq. 237
Some Words with a Mummy 250
The Imp of the Perverse 261
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar 264
The Cask of Amontillado 271
Hop-Frog 275

Part III Poems 299
Sonnet-To Science 304
Alone 304
To Helen 304
Israfel 305
The Sleeper 306
The City in the Sea 308
The Haunted Palace 309
The Conqueror Worm 310
Dream-Land 311
The Raven 312
To --- --- --- Ulalume: A Ballad 315
The Bells 318
Annabel Lee 320

Part IV Eureka: A Prose Poem 327
From Eureka: A Prose Poem 329

Part V L etters, Prefaces, and Critical Writings 353
From "Letter to B---" 357
From "Night and Morning" (Review of Bulwer) 358
Guy Fawkes (Review of Ainsworth) 363
From Ballads and Other Poems (Review of Longfellow) 367
Twice-Told Tales (Review of Hawthorne) 372
Twice-Told Tales (Review of Hawthorne continued) 373
Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison-House 378
From "Anastatic Printing" 380
Preface to The Raven and Other Poems 382
The Philosophy of Composition 383
From "The Poetic Principle" 391
From Poe to John Allan, December 22, 1828 392
From Poe to Thomas W. White, April 30, 1835 393
From Poe to Mrs. Maria Clemm, August 29, 1835 394
From Poe to John P. Kennedy, February 11, 1836 395
From Poe to Philip P. Cooke, September 21, 1839 396
From Poe to Frederick W. Thomas, May 4, 1845 396
From Poe to Philip P. Cooke, August 9, 1846 397
From Poe to George W. Eveleth, December 15, 1846 397
From Poe to George W. Eveleth, January 4, 1848