Creative, sensitive, mercurial - if these words describe the elements of true genius, then Edgar Allan Poe was its tortured personification. <p>Unsurpassed in the artful fusion of the weird and macabre with the poetic and romantic and in the creation of the incisive, colorful image... Poe's singular talents remain unchallenged.</p> <p>Which was Poe primarily - story writer or poet? The duality of his art is well exemplified by such memorable tales as the foreboding <i>Fall of the House of Usher</i>, the coolly logical <i>Purloined Letter</i>. And who has not been moved by the somber beauty of his poem <i>The Raven</i>, the simplicity and purity of his paean <i>To Helen</i>?</p> <p>The stories and poems selected for this volume give a true picture of Poe's artistry and genius.</p>