Although best known for his short stories, Edgar Allan Poe was by nature and choice a poet. This edition of his complete poetry illustrates the transcendent world of unity and ultimate beauty he created in his verse. From his exquisite lyric “To Helen” to his immortal masterpieces “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” and “The Raven” Poe stands beside the celebrated English Romantic poets Shelley, Byron, and Keats, and his haunting, sensuous poetic vision profoundly influenced the Victorian giants Swineburne, Tennyson, and Rossetti.

Today his dark side speaks eloquently to contemporary readers in poems such as “The Haunted Place,” and “The Conqueror Worm,” with their powerful images of madness and the macabre. But even at the end of his life, Poe reached out to his art for comfort and courage, giving us in “Eldorado,” a talisman to hold during our darkest moments -- a timeless gift from an American writer.

Paperback, 139 pages