Who Was Edgar Allan Poe?

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a dark and eerie tale of a man’s unhealthy obsession that leads him to commit murder. However, it is his paranoia that gets him caught. It's a suspenseful story and one of Poe's well known pieces, perfect for chilly days in the Fall.

In the kingdom of Prince Prospero, a disease, the Red Death, viciously and gruesomely kills all who contract it. As it runs its course throughout his kingdom, Prospero decides to escape its grasp by inviting all the nobles to his castle and welding the doors shut, so they can wait out the plague in his lavishly decorated castle. Learn more with our premade lesson plans and activities!

The short story “The Purloined Letter” is one of the first modern detective stories. It pits the cunning detective, Dupin, against a bafflingly elegant puzzle. Poe’s early “tales of ratiocination” laid the groundwork for later fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Nancy Drew.

Continuing his tradition of the creepy, weird, and Gothic style, Edgar Allan Poe does not disappoint in this short story about a strange family who finds its end in the most macabre of ways. Use storyboards and premade activities with your students today!

“The Pit and the Pendulum” is a short story of horror that uses detailed sensory imagery in order to instill fear and horror in the reader. These elements combined with the characters’ realization of his impending doom by either a razor-sharp pendulum or a cavernous abyss create yet another Poe-ian world of despair, fear, and a yearn for redemption.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” delivers all of the spooky elements that make a terrifying and haunting tale. This particular dark short story combines fear and guilt with brutality and violence, ultimately leading to the murder of the narrator’s wife.

“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe is one of his more well-known poems. It is most often interpreted as an allegory for the seasons of life, from the beautiful silver bells of youth to the frightening iron church bells that toll old age and death.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American Gothic writer who specialized in short horror stories and introduced the first example of modern detective fiction. Learn more about him and other influential people, authors, scientists, and more from around the world!

"The Raven" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous works. The poem takes place just after midnight on a December evening. A depressed man is sitting in his library, drifting in and out of sleep as he reminisces about Lenore, his dead lover. He goes to the window to let in fresh air, and a raven swoops in, perching itself above the door.

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short story inspired by true events that took place on Castle Island, a former military fort off of Boston Harbor, in Massachusetts. When Poe was stationed there as young cadet in the Army, he found a peculiar gravestone. After some inquiry, he learned a story of a man who had been walled up alive. Forbidden by his commander to ever repeat the particulars, Poe took the plot line and changed the setting and characters.