A timeless gothic novella, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw follows the transformation of Miles (age 10) and Flora (age 8) from well-behaved children to deceitful liars. When a governess comes to their country estate to look after the children, she and Flora are separately visited by ghosts. However, Flora denies the experience and Miles claims to never have been visited by one, even when evidence supports an evil plot between the childr ...
First published in a 1843 edition of The Pioneer, The Tell-Tale Heart is one of Poe's best-known stories. In it, an unreliable narrator is increasingly troubled by the clouded eye of the old man he lives with. Similar to The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart focuses on the effects of mental instability, crime, and guilt. ...
Perhaps Poe's most famous work, The Raven was first published in 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror. Known for its tight rhymes, rhythm, and the repetitive response given by the eponymous raven-Nevermore-the poem focuses on that raven and a forlorn man who is distraught over his lost lover, Lenore. ...
First published in a 1844 literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1845, The Purloined Letter is the third and final story that features Poe's detective, C. Auguste Dupin. In it, Dupin is approached by the prefect of the police to help with a case that involves a stolen letter containing compromising information. ...
First published in a 1842 literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843, The Pit and the Pendulum takes place during the Spanish Inquisition and follows the plight of a prisoner in a cell that has a pit and a pendulum. Unlike many of Poe's short stories, The Pit and the Pendulum does not rely on any supernatural elements to inspire fear but instead uses the narrator's heightened sensory experiences to do so ...
First published in a 1841 edition of Graham's Magazine, The Murders in the Rue Morgue is often cited as the first modern detective story. The first of three stories to center around C. Auguste Dupin, Poe's fictional detective, The Murders in the Rue Morgue involves Dupin's investigation of two women's murders. Establishing many of the tropes that would later become common to detective fiction, the story begins with an explana ...
First published in a 1842 edition of Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, The Masque of the Red Death tells the story of Prince Prospero as he tries to avoid a plague by confining himself and his nobles to a masquerade in an abbey. Often considered a gothic allegory, the story reflects on not only life and death but also the illusion of control. ...
The grand-prize winner of a writing contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, The Gold-Bug was one of Poe's most popular stories during his lifetime. Similar to his ratiocination tales-early versions of what we now call detective fiction-The Gold-Bug is full of mystery and adventure and includes a cryptogram, invisible ink, a scarab-like bug, and pirate treasure. ...
First published in a 1839 edition of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, The Fall of the House of Usher is the story of the declining physical and psychological health of the residents of the House of Usher-and the way in which the house itself reflects that. Gothic in theme and style, the story is an exemplar of Poe's philosophy of composition, which dictates that literary works should be short, methodological, and have a unity of eff ...
