___Edgar Allan Poe is America's most brilliant and misunderstood author. He is also one of America's most famous poets. In this scholarly compilation are background information for Edgar Allan Poe's poems, annotations, foreign word translations, illustrations, and photographs of individuals Poe wrote poetry about. Unlike most all Poe books of poetry, this also includes poems written to Poe by his many romantic interests and presents them in chronological order as they unfolded in the first half of the nineteenth century. Below is a list of some of the classic poems included.

Women in Edgar Allan Poe's Life
  • Fanny Allan
  • Fanny
  • Jane Stanard
  • To Helen
  • The Lake - To -
  • A Dream
  • Irene
  • The Valley Nis
  • To Ianthe in Heaven
  • To One Departed
  • A Pæan
  • Lenore
  • The Raven
  • Margaret
  • To Margaret
  • Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton  
  • Tamerlane
  • To - -
  • The Happiest Day
  • Imitation
  • Visit of the Dead
  • To -
  • To M --
  • Sonnet to Zante
  • Octavia Walton Le Vert
  • To Octavia
  • Letitia Elizabeth Landon      
  • [Elizabeth Landon]
  • Elizabeth Rebecca Herring 
  • Elizabeth
  • Maria "Muddy" Clemm 
  • To My Mother
  • Virginia "Sissy" Clemm (Poems to and from)
  • Eulalie - A Song
  • [An Acrostic]
  • Virginia
  • Annabel Lee
  • Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  • Enigma
  • Mary Starr
  • Serenade
  • To - -
  • Eliza White 
  • Lines Written in an Album
  • Mary Winfree
  • To Mary
  • Harriet Virginia Scott 
  • [May Queen Ode]
  • Virgin Mary 
  • [Hymn]
  • Frances "Fanny" Osgood (Poems to and from Poe)
  • The Rivulet's Dream
  • So Let It Be. To -
  • Love's Reply
  • Spring
  • To F -
  • Impromptu. To Kate Carol
  • To ---
  • Ida Grey
  • Slander
  • Echo-Song
  • To F -
  • To ---
  • The Divine Right of Kings
  • To F--s S. O--d
  • To ---
  • To ---
  • A shipwreck
  • A Song
  • To ---
  • To 'the Lady Geraldine'
  • Stanzas
  • A Song
  • A Valentine
  • To - -  
  • A Reply to One Who Said, "Write From Your Heart."
  • A Song
  • To -. Ulalume: A Ballad
  • Our Love Was Like
  • Fanny's First Smile
  • I Wandered in the Woodland
  • I Have Something Sweet to Tell You
  • He Bade Me be Happy
  • Since Thou Art Lost to Me on Earth
  • The Hand that Swept
  • Elizabeth Ellet (Poems to Poe and to Osgood)
  • Lines
  • Coquette's Song
  • To - - - -
  • Mary Neal
  • To - -
  • Louise Olivia Hunter
  • To Miss Louise Olivia Hunter
  • Sarah Helen Whitman (Poems to and from Poe)
  • To Edgar A. Poe
  • To Helen
  • Last Stanza of A Night in August
  • The Raven
  • Arcturus
  • Our Island of Dreams
  • Lines
  • The Phantom Voice
  • The Last Flowers
  • Resurgemus
  • Withered Flowers
  • Prosperpien to Pluto in Hades
  • To--
  • The Morning-Glory
  • To Edgar Allan Poe
  • Sonnets to Poe
  • The Portrait
  • Sarah Anna Lewis
  • Sonnet
  • Nancy "Annie" Locke Richmond
  • For Annie
  • Marie Louise Shew 
  • To Mrs. M. L. S ---
  • Beloved Physician
  • To Marie Louise
  • The Bells

Men in Edgar Allan Poe's Life
  • John Allan
  • To -
  • Isaac Lea
  • [to Isaac Lea]
  • Joseph Rodman Drake & Fitz-Greene Halleck
  • Drake-Halleck
  • Gabriel Harrison
  • [Part of "Campaign Song"]
  • Joseph Locke 
  • Lines on Joe Locke
  • Mr. Pitts
  • O'Tempora! O, Mores!
  • (Autobiographical)
  • Dreams            
  • Alone  
  • Israfel

    Miscellaneous Poetry After Age 25
  • The Haunted Palace
  • The Conqueror Worm
  • A Dream within a Dream
  • Ballad
  • Latin Hymn
  • ["The Fall of the House of Usher" Couplet]
  • Sonnet -- Silence
  • [Motto for "The Gold-Bug"]
  • [Motto for the The Stylus]
  • Dream-Land
  • Epigram for Wall Street 
  • [Lines on Ale]
  • Eldorado
  • A Dream within a Dream

Miscellaneous Poetry Before Age 25
  • Evening Star
  • [Stanzas]
  • To the River [Po]
  • Sonnet - To Science
  • The Doomed City
  • Mysterious Star
  • Romance
  • The Coliseum
  • [Song of Triumph]
  • Spiritual Song
  • Al Aaraaf
  • Fairyland

Interview with Andrew Barger

___
Q1: Why did you decide to edit a new compilation of Edgar Allan Poe's complete poems? 
A1: I was sitting on a pile of Poe research from my historical novel about his life called Coffee with Poe where I bring the key women that influenced Poe to life. He wrote most of his poems to them. I wanted to let readers delve into them like never before.

Q2: What sets this apart from these cookie-cutter Poe books?
A2: As you probably guessed, the book contains background information in the form of introductory paragraphs for each of the poems. They set the stage for what was happening in the world when Poe sat down to write.  Also provided as part of the background are pictures of the actual people involved in the poem. It is also very interesting to see pictures of the many women in Poe's life to whom he wrote his poems.  Poe has at least three fiancées, perhaps as many as five, and was married once. Poems sent to Poe from these women are also included for the first time that I know of in a Poe compilation. It greatly helps in understanding Poe's relationship with these women and the direction for his own poems. The dates of publication of his poems are critical to understanding their context, so these are also included. Footnotes are provided throughout. They define everything from people, to foreign words, to antiquated sayings that have fallen out of favor over the past hundred and fifty years.

Q4: Top five poems?
A4: This is a little easier than the stories.  I like "Ulalume," "The Raven," "The Coliseum," "Annabel Lee," and "The Conqueror Worm" in that order. Poems that tell a story always seem to work the best and Poe takes it to a whole new level.

Q5: You also edited The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology. How many of those horror stories did you pick from Poe?
A5: Amazingly, Poe wrote four of the dozen stories picked for the collection. There could have been others. To think that one author could write a third or more of the best stories for any genre over a 50 year period is hard to fathom.

Copyright Andrew Barger - All rights reserved.