item: #1 of 122 id: poe-al-425 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Al Aaraaf date: None words: 2885 flesch: 83 summary: The Sephalica, budding with young bees, Upreared its purple stem around her knees:- And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd- Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd All other loveliness:- its honied dew (The fabled nectar that the heathen knew) Thou hast bound many eyes In a dreamy sleep- But the strains still arise Which thy vigilance keep- The sound of the rain, Which leaps down to the flower- And dances again In the rhythm of the shower- The murmur that springs From the growing of grass Are the music of things- But are modell'd, alas!- Away, then, my dearest, Oh! keywords: air; beauty; flowers; heaven; love; night; star cache: poe-al-425.txt plain text: poe-al-425.txt item: #2 of 122 id: poe-alone-426 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Alone date: None words: 157 flesch: 85 summary: Then- in my childhood, in the dawn Of a most stormy life- was drawn From every depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still: From the torrent, or the fountain, From the red cliff of the mountain, From the sun that round me rolled In its autumn tint of gold, From the lightning in the sky As it passed me flying by, From the thunder and the storm, And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) 1830 ALONE by Edgar Allan Poe ALONE From childhood's hour keywords: childhood cache: poe-alone-426.txt plain text: poe-alone-426.txt item: #3 of 122 id: poe-angel-666 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Angel Of The Odd - An Extravaganza date: None words: 3806 flesch: 72 summary: Und you ave pelief in me, te Angel of te Odd? I nodded again. Put your right hand into your left hand preeches pocket, ten, in token oy your vull zubmission unto te Angel ov te Odd. keywords: angel; head; odd; und; vor cache: poe-angel-666.txt plain text: poe-angel-666.txt item: #4 of 122 id: poe-annabel-428 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Annabel Lee date: None words: 311 flesch: 84 summary: And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. keywords: lee cache: poe-annabel-428.txt plain text: poe-annabel-428.txt item: #5 of 122 id: poe-assignation-667 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Assignation date: None words: 4495 flesch: 72 summary: Her lip --her beautiful lip trembles: tears are gathering in her eyes --those eyes which, like Pliny's acanthus, are soft and almost liquid. --not --oh not as thou art --in the cold valley and shadow --but as thou shouldst be --squandering away a life of magnificent meditation in that city of dim visions, thine own Venice --which is a star-beloved Elysium of the sea, and the wide windows of whose Palladian palaces look down with a deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets of her silent waters. keywords: --but; canal; child; eyes; marble; marchesa; night; palace; water cache: poe-assignation-667.txt plain text: poe-assignation-667.txt item: #6 of 122 id: poe-balloon-668 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Balloon-Hoax date: None words: 5253 flesch: 64 summary: The project, at the desire of Mr. Osborne, was kept a profound secret from the public- the only persons entrusted with the design being those actually engaged in the construction of the machine, which was built (under the superintendence of Mr. Mason, Mr. Holland, Sir Everard Bringhurst, and Mr. Osborne) at the seat of the latter gentleman near Penstruthal, in Wales. of Mr. Monck Mason and Mr. Ainsworth. keywords: ainsworth; balloon; feet; gas; machine; mason; rope; screw cache: poe-balloon-668.txt plain text: poe-balloon-668.txt item: #7 of 122 id: poe-bells-669 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Bells date: None words: 619 flesch: 89 summary: While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. II Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells- Of the bells- Of the bells, bells, bells,bells, Bells, bells, bells- In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! IV Hear the tolling of the bells- Iron Bells! keywords: bells cache: poe-bells-669.txt plain text: poe-bells-669.txt item: #8 of 122 id: poe-berenice-429 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Berenice date: None words: 3262 flesch: 66 summary: And although, to a careless thinker, it might appear a matter beyond doubt, that the alteration produced by her unhappy malady, in the moral condition of Berenice, would afford me many objects for the exercise of that intense and abnormal meditation whose nature I have been at some trouble in explaining, yet such was not in any degree the case. And at length the period of our nuptials was approaching, when, upon an afternoon in the winter of the year, --one of those unseasonably warm, calm, and misty days which are the nurse of the beautiful Halcyon*, --I sat, (and sat, as I thought, alone,) in the inner apartment of the library. keywords: --and; --in; berenice; chamber; character; library; mind cache: poe-berenice-429.txt plain text: poe-berenice-429.txt item: #9 of 122 id: poe-black-670 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Black Cat date: None words: 3952 flesch: 74 summary: And a brute beast --whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed --a brute beast to work out for me --for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God --so much of insufferable wo! The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, had then with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, accomplished the portraiture as I saw it. keywords: cat; day; heart; house; night; wife cache: poe-black-670.txt plain text: poe-black-670.txt item: #10 of 122 id: poe-bon-430 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Bon-Bon date: None words: 5958 flesch: 72 summary: It is to Bon-Bon- but let this go no farther- my dear Bon-Bon- eyes! keywords: bon; majesty; man; metaphysician; philosopher; pierre; pierre bon; sir; soul; time; visiter cache: poe-bon-430.txt plain text: poe-bon-430.txt item: #11 of 122 id: poe-bridal-431 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Bridal Ballad date: None words: 191 flesch: 103 summary: 1837 BRIDAL BALLAD by Edgar Allan Poe The ring is on my hand, And the wreath is on my brow; Satin and jewels grand Are all at my command, Would God I could awaken! keywords: brow cache: poe-bridal-431.txt plain text: poe-bridal-431.txt item: #12 of 122 id: poe-business-671 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Business Man date: None words: 3729 flesch: 77 summary: Business is business, and should be done in a business way. I ask it of business men. keywords: business; day; genius; man; method; thing; way cache: poe-business-671.txt plain text: poe-business-671.txt item: #13 of 122 id: poe-cask-672 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Cask Of Amontillado date: None words: 2368 flesch: 88 summary: 1846 THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allan Poe THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. keywords: amontillado; fortunato; friend; ugh cache: poe-cask-672.txt plain text: poe-cask-672.txt item: #14 of 122 id: poe-city-673 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The City In The Sea date: None words: 338 flesch: 85 summary: Around, by lifting winds forgot, Resignedly beneath the sky The melancholy waters he. 1831 THE CITY IN THE SEA by Edgar Allan Poe Lo! keywords: waters cache: poe-city-673.txt plain text: poe-city-673.txt item: #15 of 122 id: poe-coliseum-674 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Coliseum date: None words: 367 flesch: 93 summary: I feel ye in your strength- O spells more sure than e'er Judaean king Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane! At length- at length- after so many days Of weary pilgrimage and burning thirst, (Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie,) I kneel, an altered and an humble man, Amid thy shadows, and so drink within My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory! Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld! Silence! and Desolation! keywords: thirst cache: poe-coliseum-674.txt plain text: poe-coliseum-674.txt item: #16 of 122 id: poe-colloquy-675 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Colloquy Of Monos And Una date: None words: 3518 flesch: 70 summary: And methinks, sweet Una, even our slumbering sense of the forced and of the farfetched might have arrested us here. And this was in truth the Death of which these bystanders spoke reverently, in low whispers- you, sweet Una, gaspingly, with loud cries. keywords: death; earth; man; monos; sentiment; soul; una cache: poe-colloquy-675.txt plain text: poe-colloquy-675.txt item: #17 of 122 id: poe-conqueror-676 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Conqueror Worm date: None words: 240 flesch: 84 summary: Mimes, in the form of God on high, Mutter and mumble low, And hither and thither fly- Mere puppets they, who come and go At bidding of vast formless things That shift the scenery to and fro, Flapping from out their Condor wings Invisible Woe! The mimes become its food, And seraphs sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued. keywords: conqueror cache: poe-conqueror-676.txt plain text: poe-conqueror-676.txt item: #18 of 122 id: poe-conversation-677 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Conversation Of Eiros And Charmion date: None words: 2023 flesch: 69 summary: I need scarce tell you, my friend, that, even when you left us, men had agreed to understand those passages in the most holy writings which speak of the final destruction of all things by fire, as having reference to the orb of the earth alone. Meantime the ordinary affairs of men were discarded, and all interests absorbed in a growing discussion, instituted by the philosophic, in respect to the cometary nature. keywords: charmion; days; eiros; men cache: poe-conversation-677.txt plain text: poe-conversation-677.txt item: #19 of 122 id: poe-criticism-432 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Criticism date: None words: 79792 flesch: 65 summary: The verse Go forth under the open sky and list- is sadly out of place amid the forcible and even Miltonic rhythm of such lines as- Take the wings Of morning, and the Barcan desert pierce, Or lose thyself in the continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon But these are trivial faults indeed and the poem embodies a great degree of the most elevated beauty. Mr. W. has often, for example, such lines as That binds him to a woman's delicate love- In the gay sunshine, reverent in the storm With its invisible fingers my loose hair. keywords: air; american; art; author; beauty; book; case; character; course; criticism; day; death; drama; effect; end; english; equality; example; eyes; fact; feet; foot; general; good; heart; idea; know; length; light; lines; long; love; man; manner; means; mind; moral; music; nature; object; opinion; place; play; poem; poet; poetical; poetry; point; present; purpose; reason; rhythm; second; sense; sentiment; short; soul; spirit; stanza; subject; syllables; taste; thee; things; thou; thought; thy; time; truth; verse; view; way; words; work; world cache: poe-criticism-432.txt plain text: poe-criticism-432.txt item: #20 of 122 id: poe-descent-418 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Descent Into The Maelstrom date: None words: 7105 flesch: 71 summary: It was just seven, by my watch, when we weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the Strom at slack water, which we knew would be at eight. I have forgotten the explanation --how what I observed was, in fact, the natural consequence of the forms of the floating fragments --and showed me how it happened that a cylinder, swimming in a vortex, offered more resistance to its suction, and was drawn in with greater difficulty than an equally bulky body, of any form whatever. keywords: --and; --but; lofoden; moskoe; sea; strom; time; water; whirl cache: poe-descent-418.txt plain text: poe-descent-418.txt item: #21 of 122 id: poe-devil-678 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Devil In The Belfry date: None words: 3295 flesch: 75 summary: The Town Council are all very little, round, oily, intelligent men, with big saucer eyes and fat double chins, and have their coats much longer and their shoe-buckles much bigger than the ordinary inhabitants of Vondervotteimittiss. The woodwork, throughout, is of a dark hue and there is much carving about it, with but a trifling variety of pattern for, time out of mind, the carvers of Vondervotteimittiss have never been able to carve more than two objects- a time-piece and a cabbage. keywords: borough; eyes; man; steeple; time; vondervotteimittiss; watch cache: poe-devil-678.txt plain text: poe-devil-678.txt item: #22 of 122 id: poe-diddling-433 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Diddling date: None words: 4097 flesch: 80 summary: A friend holds one of the diddler's promises to pay, filled up and signed in due form, upon the ordinary blanks printed in red ink. He scorns to diddle for the mere sake of the diddle. keywords: book; business; diddler; diddling; lady; man; pocket; sir cache: poe-diddling-433.txt plain text: poe-diddling-433.txt item: #23 of 122 id: poe-domain-679 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Domain Of Arnheim date: None words: 6088 flesch: 59 summary: It is indeed evident that with less of the instinctive philosophy which, now and then, stands so well in the stead of experience, Mr. Ellison would have found himself precipitated, by the very extraordinary success of his life, into the common vortex of unhappiness which yawns for those of pre-eminent endowments. It appears that about a hundred years before Mr. Ellison's coming of age, there had died, in a remote province, one Mr. Seabright Ellison. keywords: art; beauty; earth; ellison; extent; landscape; man; nature; sense; wall; water cache: poe-domain-679.txt plain text: poe-domain-679.txt item: #24 of 122 id: poe-dream-419 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Dream date: None words: 107 flesch: 99 summary: What though that light, thro' storm and night, So trembled from afar- What could there be more purely bright In Truth's day-star? -THE END- . That holy dream- that holy dream, While all the world were chiding, Hath cheered me as a lovely beam A lonely spirit guiding. keywords: dream cache: poe-dream-419.txt plain text: poe-dream-419.txt item: #25 of 122 id: poe-dream-420 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Dream Within A Dream date: None words: 154 flesch: 100 summary: 1827 A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM by Edgar Allan Poe Take this kiss upon the brow! Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. keywords: dream cache: poe-dream-420.txt plain text: poe-dream-420.txt item: #26 of 122 id: poe-dreamland-434 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Dreamland date: None words: 336 flesch: 74 summary: Bottomless vales and boundless floods, And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods, With forms that no man can discover For the tears that drip all over; Mountains toppling evermore Into seas without a shore; Seas that restlessly aspire, Surging, unto skies of fire; Lakes that endlessly outspread Their lone waters- lone and dead,- 1844 DREAMLAND by Edgar Allan Poe DREAMLAND keywords: forms cache: poe-dreamland-434.txt plain text: poe-dreamland-434.txt item: #27 of 122 id: poe-dreams-435 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Dreams date: None words: 283 flesch: 91 summary: But should it be- that dream eternally Continuing- as dreams have been to me For I have revell'd, when the sun was bright I' the summer sky, in dreams of living light And loveliness,- have left my very heart In climes of my imagining, apart From mine own home, with beings that have been Of mine own thought- what more could I have seen? 'Twas once- keywords: dream cache: poe-dreams-435.txt plain text: poe-dreams-435.txt item: #28 of 122 id: poe-duc-680 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Duc De L Omlette date: None words: 1332 flesch: 87 summary: * Ignoble souls!- De L'Omelette perished of an ortolan. Who are you, pray, that I, Duc De L'Omelette, Prince de Foie-Gras, just come of age, author of the 'Mazurkiad,' and Member of the Academy, should divest myself at your bidding of the sweetest pantaloons ever made by Bourdon, the daintiest robe-de-chambre ever put together by Rombert- to say nothing of the taking my hair out of paper- not to mention the trouble I should have in drawing off my gloves? keywords: duc; grace; l'omelette; majesty cache: poe-duc-680.txt plain text: poe-duc-680.txt item: #29 of 122 id: poe-eldorado-436 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Eldorado date: None words: 102 flesch: 85 summary: 1849 ELDORADO by Edgar Allan Poe ELDORADO Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride, The shade replied- If you seek for Eldorado! -THE END- . keywords: eldorado cache: poe-eldorado-436.txt plain text: poe-eldorado-436.txt item: #30 of 122 id: poe-eleonora-437 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Eleonora date: None words: 2447 flesch: 66 summary: No path was trodden in its vicinity; and, to reach our happy home, there was need of putting back, with force, the foliage of many thousands of forest trees, and of crushing to death the glories of many millions of fragrant flowers. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. keywords: eleonora; grass; love; river; valley cache: poe-eleonora-437.txt plain text: poe-eleonora-437.txt item: #31 of 122 id: poe-elizabeth-438 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Elizabeth date: None words: 126 flesch: 30 summary: 1850 ELIZABETH by Edgar Allan Poe ELIZABETH Elizabeth, it surely is most fit [Logic and common usage so commanding] In thy own book that first thy name be writ, Zeno and other sages notwithstanding; And I have other reasons for so doing Besides my innate love of contradiction; Each poet - if a poet - in pursuing The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction, Has studied very little of his part, Read nothing, written less - in short's a fool Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art, Being ignorant of one important rule, Employed in even the theses of the school- Called - I forget the heathenish Greek name [Called anything, its meaning is the same] Always write first things uppermost in the heart. THE END . keywords: elizabeth cache: poe-elizabeth-438.txt plain text: poe-elizabeth-438.txt item: #32 of 122 id: poe-enigma-427 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: An Enigma date: None words: 112 flesch: 83 summary: 1848 AN ENIGMA by Edgar Allan Poe Seldom we find, says Solomon Don Dunce, Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet. Through all the flimsy things we see at once As easily as through a Naples bonnet- Trash of all trash!- how can a lady don it? keywords: don cache: poe-enigma-427.txt plain text: poe-enigma-427.txt item: #33 of 122 id: poe-eulalie-439 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Eulalie date: None words: 143 flesch: 85 summary: That the vapor can make With the moon-tints of purple and pearl, Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl- Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless curl. Now Doubt- now Pain Come never again, For her soul gives me sigh for sigh, And all day long Shines, bright and strong, Astarte within the sky, While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye- While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye. keywords: eulalie cache: poe-eulalie-439.txt plain text: poe-eulalie-439.txt item: #34 of 122 id: poe-evening-440 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Evening Star date: None words: 113 flesch: 88 summary: 1827 EVENING STAR by Edgar Allan Poe 'Twas noontide of summer, And mid-time of night; And stars, in their orbits, Shone pale, thro' the light Of the brighter, cold moon, 'Mid planets her slaves, Herself in the Heavens, Her beam on the waves. Thou bearest in Heaven at night, And more I admire Thy distant fire, Than that colder, lowly light. keywords: light cache: poe-evening-440.txt plain text: poe-evening-440.txt item: #35 of 122 id: poe-facts-681 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar date: None words: 3577 flesch: 65 summary: It seemed clear to us all that to awaken M. Valdemar would be merely to insure his instant, or at least his speedy dissolution. 1845 THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR by Edgar Allan Poe OF course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. keywords: condition; patient; sleep; valdemar cache: poe-facts-681.txt plain text: poe-facts-681.txt item: #36 of 122 id: poe-fairy-441 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Fairy-Land date: None words: 236 flesch: 86 summary: 1829 FAIRY-LAND by Edgar Allan Poe Dim vales- and shadowy floods- Huge moons there wax and wane- keywords: end cache: poe-fairy-441.txt plain text: poe-fairy-441.txt item: #37 of 122 id: poe-fall-682 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Fall Of The House Of Usher date: None words: 7225 flesch: 62 summary: A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device. But, in his disordered fancy, the idea had assumed a more daring character, and trespassed, under certain conditions, upon the kingdom of inorganization. keywords: --but; character; door; family; house; length; portion; tarn; thought; usher; walls; words cache: poe-fall-682.txt plain text: poe-fall-682.txt item: #38 of 122 id: poe-for-442 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: For Annie date: None words: 454 flesch: 83 summary: 1849 FOR ANNIE by Edgar Allan Poe Thank Heaven! The sickness- the nausea- The pitiless pain- Have ceased, with the fever That maddened my brain- With the fever called Living That burned in my brain. keywords: bed cache: poe-for-442.txt plain text: poe-for-442.txt item: #39 of 122 id: poe-four-443 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Four Beasts In One- The Homo-Cameleopard date: None words: 2818 flesch: 75 summary: It is also certain that he is at present ensconced in the hide of a beast, and is doing his best to play the part of a cameleopard; but this is done for the better sustaining his dignity as king. Let us follow him to the hippodrome, whither he is proceeding, and listen to the song of triumph which he is commencing: Who is king but Epiphanes? keywords: antiochus; east; epiphanes; king; mille; time cache: poe-four-443.txt plain text: poe-four-443.txt item: #40 of 122 id: poe-gold-683 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Gold-Bug date: None words: 13899 flesch: 77 summary: What de matter, massa? Did you bring any message from Mr. Legrand? No, massa, I bring dis here pissel; and here Jupiter handed me a note which ran thus: My DEAR -- Why have I not seen you for so long a time? It is not improbable that the relatives of Legrand, conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in intellect, had contrived to instil this obstinacy into Jupiter, with a view to the supervision and guardianship of the wanderer. keywords: beetle; bug; dat; eye; gold; head; jupiter; left; legrand; massa; parchment; scarabaeus; skull; time; tree; way cache: poe-gold-683.txt plain text: poe-gold-683.txt item: #41 of 122 id: poe-hans-444 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Hans Phaall date: None words: 19015 flesch: 58 summary: Throwing out, therefore, a quantity of sand from a canvas bag, which, he lifted with great difficulty, he became stationary in an instant. This buckle had three teeth, which, being somewhat rusty, turned with great difficulty on their axis. keywords: air; april; atmosphere; balloon; car; course; day; earth; feet; head; length; manner; means; mind; moon; o'clock; rim; rotterdam; surface; time cache: poe-hans-444.txt plain text: poe-hans-444.txt item: #42 of 122 id: poe-happiest-684 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Happiest Day, The Happiest Hour date: None words: 158 flesch: 93 summary: 1827 THE HAPPIEST DAY, THE HAPPIEST HOUR by Edgar Allan Poe The happiest day- the happiest hour My sear'd and blighted heart hath known, The highest hope of pride and power, I feel hath flown. The happiest day- the happiest hour Mine eyes shall see- have ever seen, The brightest glance of pride and power, I feel- have been: But were that hope of pride and power keywords: power cache: poe-happiest-684.txt plain text: poe-happiest-684.txt item: #43 of 122 id: poe-haunted-685 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Haunted Palace date: None words: 266 flesch: 82 summary: 1839 THE HAUNTED PALACE by Edgar Allan Poe In the greenest of our valleys By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace- Radiant palace- reared its head. And travellers, now, within that valley, Through the red-litten windows see Vast forms, that move fantastically To a discordant melody, While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door keywords: palace cache: poe-haunted-685.txt plain text: poe-haunted-685.txt item: #44 of 122 id: poe-hop-445 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Hop-Frog Or The Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs date: None words: 3692 flesch: 72 summary: Dwarfs were as common at court, in those days, as fools; and many monarchs would have found it difficult to get through their days (days are rather longer at court than elsewhere) without both a jester to laugh with, and a dwarf to laugh at. Ah! ha! ha! roared the latter, as the dwarf reluctantly drained the beaker.- See what a glass of good wine can do! keywords: dwarf; frog; hop; king; ourang; outangs cache: poe-hop-445.txt plain text: poe-hop-445.txt item: #45 of 122 id: poe-how-446 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: How To Write A Blackwood Article date: None words: 3986 flesch: 79 summary: I have been assured that Suky is but a vulgar corruption of Psyche, which is good Greek, and means the soul (that's me, I'm all soul) and sometimes a butterfly, which latter meaning undoubtedly alludes to my appearance in my new crimson satin dress, with the sky-blue Arabian mantelet, and the trimmings of green agraffas, and the seven flounces of orange-colored auriculas. I have been assured that Snobbs is a mere corruption of Zenobia, and that Zenobia was a queen- (So am I. Dr. Moneypenny always calls me the Queen of the Hearts)- and that Zenobia, as well as Psyche, is good Greek, and that my father was a Greek, and that consequently I have a right to our patronymic, which is Zenobia and not by any means Snobbs. keywords: article; blackwood; good; psyche; thing; tone; zenobia cache: poe-how-446.txt plain text: poe-how-446.txt item: #46 of 122 id: poe-hymn-447 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Hymn date: None words: 89 flesch: 90 summary: thou hast heard my hymn! When the hours flew brightly by, And not a cloud obscured the sky, My soul, lest it should truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee; Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my Future radiant shine With sweet hopes of thee and thine! - -THE END- . keywords: hymn cache: poe-hymn-447.txt plain text: poe-hymn-447.txt item: #47 of 122 id: poe-imp-686 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Imp Of The Perverse date: None words: 2461 flesch: 70 summary: And in these arrangements of the Principia of human action, the Spurzheimites, whether right or wrong, in part, or upon the whole, have but followed, in principle, the footsteps of their predecessors: deducing and establishing every thing from the preconceived destiny of man, and upon the ground of the objects of his Creator. If we cannot understand him in his objective creatures, how then in his substantive moods and phases of creation? Induction, a posteriori, would have brought phrenology to admit, as an innate and primitive principle of human action, a paradoxical something, which we may call perverseness, for want of a more characteristic term. keywords: action; desire; man; principle; thought cache: poe-imp-686.txt plain text: poe-imp-686.txt item: #48 of 122 id: poe-island-687 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Island Of The Fay date: None words: 2038 flesch: 63 summary: To me, at least, the presence- not of human life only, but of life in any other form than that of the green things which grow upon the soil and are voiceless- is a stain upon the landscape- is at war with the genius of the scene. I fancied that each shadow, as the sun descended lower and lower, separated itself sullenly from the trunk that gave it birth, and thus became absorbed by the stream; while other shadows issued momently from the trees, taking the place of their predecessors thus entombed. keywords: island; life; shadow; trees cache: poe-island-687.txt plain text: poe-island-687.txt item: #49 of 122 id: poe-israfel-448 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Israfel date: None words: 265 flesch: 80 summary: Yes, Heaven is thine; but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merely- flowers, And the shadow of thy perfect bliss Is the sunshine of ours. 1831 ISRAFEL by Edgar Allan Poe ISRAFEL keywords: israfel cache: poe-israfel-448.txt plain text: poe-israfel-448.txt item: #50 of 122 id: poe-king-449 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: King Pest date: None words: 4798 flesch: 57 summary: At the precise period, then, when this history properly commences, Legs, and his fellow Hugh Tarpaulin, sat, each with both elbows resting upon the large oaken table in the middle of the floor, and with a hand upon either cheek. It was by one of the terrific barriers already mentioned, and which indicated the region beyond to be under the Pest-ban, that, in scrambling down an alley, Legs and the worthy Hugh Tarpaulin found their progress suddenly impeded. keywords: --and; head; king; lady; legs; pest; president; table; tarpaulin; ugh cache: poe-king-449.txt plain text: poe-king-449.txt item: #51 of 122 id: poe-lake-688 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Lake. To -- date: None words: 155 flesch: 88 summary: TO -- by Edgar Allan Poe In spring of youth it was my lot To haunt of the wide world a spot The which I could not love the less- So lovely was the loneliness Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, And the tall pines that towered around. 1827 THE LAKE. keywords: lake cache: poe-lake-688.txt plain text: poe-lake-688.txt item: #52 of 122 id: poe-landors-450 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Landors Cottage date: None words: 4929 flesch: 67 summary: It was clear that I had wandered from the road to the village, and I had thus good traveller's excuse to open the gate before me, and inquire my way, at all events; so, without more ado, I proceeded. Not more than six steps from the main door of the cottage stood the dead trunk of a fantastic pear-tree, so clothed from head to foot in the gorgeous bignonia blossoms that one required no little scrutiny to determine what manner of sweet thing it could be. keywords: door; feet; point; road; tree; vale; valley; west; yards cache: poe-landors-450.txt plain text: poe-landors-450.txt item: #53 of 122 id: poe-landscape-689 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Landscape Garden date: None words: 3583 flesch: 56 summary: It is, indeed evident, that with less of the instinctive philosophy which, now and then, stands so well in the stead of experience, Mr. Ellison would have found himself precipitated, by the very extraordinary successes of his life, into the common vortex of Unhappiness which yawns for those of preeminent endowments. There were some who even conceived that Mr. Ellison would divest himself forthwith of at least two-thirds of his fortune as of utterly superfluous opulence; enriching whole troops of his relatives by division of his superabundance. keywords: art; beauty; ellison; landscape; nature; sentiment cache: poe-landscape-689.txt plain text: poe-landscape-689.txt item: #54 of 122 id: poe-lenore-451 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Lenore date: None words: 318 flesch: 89 summary: on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore! Come! Let the bell toll!- a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; And, Guy de Vere, hast thou keywords: lenore cache: poe-lenore-451.txt plain text: poe-lenore-451.txt item: #55 of 122 id: poe-ligeia-452 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Ligeia date: None words: 6208 flesch: 72 summary: half shrieked Ligeia, leaping to her feet and extending her arms aloft with a spasmodic movement, as I made an end of these lines --O God! I CANNOT, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia. keywords: --and; --but; beauty; bed; chamber; death; eyes; lady; ligeia; night; rowena cache: poe-ligeia-452.txt plain text: poe-ligeia-452.txt item: #56 of 122 id: poe-lionizing-453 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Lionizing date: None words: 1678 flesch: 87 summary: I gave it a pull or two upon the spot, and wrote a pamphlet on Nosology forthwith. My mother saw this and called me a genius:- my father wept for joy and presented me with a treatise on Nosology. keywords: father; nose; nosology; pounds cache: poe-lionizing-453.txt plain text: poe-lionizing-453.txt item: #57 of 122 id: poe-literary-454 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Literary Life Of Thingum Bob, Esq. date: None words: 7757 flesch: 69 summary: What do you say, I suggested modestly, to my kicking him in the first instance, caning him afterward, and winding up by tweaking his nose? Mr. Crab looked at me musingly for some moments, and then answered: I think, Mr. Bob, that what you propose would answer sufficiently well- indeed remarkably well- that is to say, as far as it went- but barbers are exceedingly hard to cut, and I think, upon the whole, that, having performed upon Thomas Bob the operations you suggest, it would be advisable to blacken, with your fists, both his eyes, very carefully and thoroughly, to prevent his ever seeing you again in fashionable promenades. Should I at any time wish to express my opinion of Mr. Fly, the pages of the Lollipop, Mr. Crab assured me, were at my unlimited disposal. keywords: bob; crab; dow; editor; fly; goosetherumfoodle; hum; lollipop; oil; oppodeldoc; thingum cache: poe-literary-454.txt plain text: poe-literary-454.txt item: #58 of 122 id: poe-loss-455 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Loss Of Breath date: None words: 4706 flesch: 65 summary: 1850 LOSS OF BREATH A Tale Neither In nor Out of Blackwood by Edgar Allan Poe O Breathe not, etc. Moore's Melodies THE MOST notorious ill-fortune must in the end yield to the untiring courage of philosophy- as the most stubborn city to the ceaseless vigilance of an enemy. The phrases I am out of breath, I have lost my breath, etc., are often enough repeated in common conversation; but it had never occurred to me that the terrible accident of which I speak could bona fide and actually happen! keywords: breath; case; conversation; left; length; man; moment; surgeon; time; wife cache: poe-loss-455.txt plain text: poe-loss-455.txt item: #59 of 122 id: poe-man-690 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Man Of The Crowd date: None words: 3575 flesch: 67 summary: They were undoubtedly noblemen, merchants, attorneys, tradesmen, stock-jobbers- the Eupatrids and the common-places of society- men of leisure and men actively engaged in affairs of their own- conducting business upon their own responsibility. Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors, and looking them piteously in the eyes- die with despair of heart and convulsion of throat, on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer themselves to be revealed. keywords: crowd; hour; length; man; men; stranger; street; way cache: poe-man-690.txt plain text: poe-man-690.txt item: #60 of 122 id: poe-man-691 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Man That Was Used Up date: None words: 3816 flesch: 75 summary: I wish to God my young and talented friend Chiponchipino, the sculptor, had but seen the legs of Brevet Brigadier General John A. B. C. Smith. There was no chance of hearing any thing farther that evening in regard to Brevet Brigadier General John A. B. C. Smith. keywords: brigadier; general; john; man; smith cache: poe-man-691.txt plain text: poe-man-691.txt item: #61 of 122 id: poe-marginalia-417 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Marginalia date: None words: 6254 flesch: 63 summary: A deep-rooted and strictly continuous habit of reading will, with certain classes of intellect, result in an instinctive and seemingly magnetic appreciation of a thing written; and now the student reads by pages just as other men by words. And should these matters come to pass- as they will- there will be in them no more legitimate cause for wonder than there is, to-day, in the marvel that, syllable by syllable, men comprehend what, letter by letter, I now trace upon this page. keywords: american; book; man; men; opinion; point; taylor; thing; thought; time; world cache: poe-marginalia-417.txt plain text: poe-marginalia-417.txt item: #62 of 122 id: poe-masque-692 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Masque Of The Red Death date: None words: 2452 flesch: 74 summary: When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. keywords: blood; chamber; clock; death; prince cache: poe-masque-692.txt plain text: poe-masque-692.txt item: #63 of 122 id: poe-mellonta-456 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Mellonta Tauta date: None words: 5641 flesch: 66 summary: April 2.- Spoke to-day the magnetic cutter in charge of the middle section of floating telegraph wires. The ancient idea confined investigations to crawling; and for hundreds of years so great was the infatuation about Hog especially, that a virtual end was put to all thinking, properly so called. keywords: april; balloon; day; means; men; pundit; thing; time; truth; years cache: poe-mellonta-456.txt plain text: poe-mellonta-456.txt item: #64 of 122 id: poe-mesmeric-556 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Mesmeric Revelation date: None words: 3760 flesch: 68 summary: The multitudinous conglomeration of rare matter into nebulae, planets, suns, and other bodies which are neither nebulae, suns, nor planets, is for the sole purpose of supplying pabulum for the idiosyncrasy of the organs of an infinity of rudimental beings. But in all this- in this identification of mere matter with God- is there nothing of irreverence? keywords: ether; god; life; matter cache: poe-mesmeric-556.txt plain text: poe-mesmeric-556.txt item: #65 of 122 id: poe-metzengerstein-557 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Metzengerstein date: None words: 3385 flesch: 55 summary: Frederick, Baron Metzengerstein, was, on the other hand, not yet Mary, followed him quickly after. From some peculiar circumstances attending the administration of his father, the young Baron, at the decease of the former, entered immediately upon his vast possessions. keywords: baron; berlifitzing; frederick; horse; metzengerstein; stables; steed; young cache: poe-metzengerstein-557.txt plain text: poe-metzengerstein-557.txt item: #66 of 122 id: poe-morella-558 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Morella date: None words: 2144 flesch: 72 summary: The winds of the firmament breathed but one sound within my ears, and the ripples upon the sea murmured evermore- Morella. And I kept no reckoning of time or place, and the stars of my fate faded from heaven, and therefore the earth grew dark, and its figures passed by me like flitting shadows, and among them all I beheld only- Morella. keywords: child; day; days; morella cache: poe-morella-558.txt plain text: poe-morella-558.txt item: #67 of 122 id: poe-morning-559 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Morning On The Wissahiccon date: None words: 1906 flesch: 60 summary: Yet it is only within a very few years that any one has more than heard of the Wissahiccon, while the broader and more navigable water into which it flows, has been long celebrated as one of the finest specimens of American river scenery. Of all extensive areas of natural loveliness, this is perhaps the most lovely. keywords: loveliness; scenery; stream; wissahiccon cache: poe-morning-559.txt plain text: poe-morning-559.txt item: #68 of 122 id: poe-ms-560 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Ms. Found In A Bottle date: None words: 4239 flesch: 70 summary: But little time will be left me to ponder upon my destiny --the circles rapidly grow small --we are plunging madly within the grasp of the whirlpool --and amid a roaring, and bellowing, and thundering of ocean and of tempest, the ship is quivering, oh God! I had ventured upon deck and thrown myself down, without attracting any notice, among a pile of ratlin-stuff and old sails in the bottom of the yawl. keywords: appearance; deck; mind; sea; ship; times; water; wind cache: poe-ms-560.txt plain text: poe-ms-560.txt item: #69 of 122 id: poe-murders-693 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Murders In The Rue Morgue date: None words: 13908 flesch: 74 summary: Keeping now steadily in mind the points to which I have drawn your attention --that peculiar voice, that unusual agility, and that startling absence of motive in a murder so singularly atrocious as this --let us glance at the butchery itself. Many other persons, neighbors, gave evidence to the same effect. keywords: body; daughter; door; dupin; frenchman; head; house; l'espanaye; madame; murder; party; room; rue; shrill; voice; window; words cache: poe-murders-693.txt plain text: poe-murders-693.txt item: #70 of 122 id: poe-mystery-694 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Mystery Of Marie Roget date: None words: 20241 flesch: 67 summary: Having prescribed thus a limit to suit its own preconceived notions; having assumed that, if this were the body of Marie, it could have been in the water but a very brief time, the journal goes on to say: All experience has shown that drowned bodies, or bodies thrown into the water immediately after death by violence, require from six to ten days for sufficient decomposition to take place to bring them to the top of the water. All experience has shown that drowned bodies, or bodies thrown into the water immediately after death by violence, require from six to ten days for sufficient decomposition to take place to bring them to the top of the water. keywords: beauvais; body; corpse; days; evidence; gang; girl; l'etoile; madame; marie; murder; period; point; question; river; roget; thicket; water cache: poe-mystery-694.txt plain text: poe-mystery-694.txt item: #71 of 122 id: poe-mystification-561 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Mystification date: None words: 3134 flesch: 59 summary: Your opinions, allow me to say, Baron von Jung, although in the main correct, are, in many nice points, discreditable to yourself and to the university of which you are a member. In later days this insight grew more clear, as the intimacy which had at first permitted it became more close; and when, after three years of the character of the Baron Ritzner von Jung. keywords: baron; hermann; jung; person; ritzner; von cache: poe-mystification-561.txt plain text: poe-mystification-561.txt item: #72 of 122 id: poe-narrative-695 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym Of Nantucket date: None words: 71834 flesch: 66 summary: I hardly know why she was chosen in preference to other good vessels belonging to the same owners- We were now clear off, and making great way out to sea. keywords: attempt; augustus; board; body; brig; cabin; captain; course; day; deck; degrees; difficulty; feet; good; half; head; hold; hope; islands; latitude; left; length; light; lying; manner; mate; means; men; mind; moment; period; peters; place; portion; purpose; sail; savages; sea; small; south; thought; time; vessel; water; way; weather; wind cache: poe-narrative-695.txt plain text: poe-narrative-695.txt item: #73 of 122 id: poe-never-562 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Never Bet The Devil Your Head date: None words: 4057 flesch: 79 summary: The best pigeon-winger over all kinds of style was my friend Mr. Carlyle, and as I knew he could not do it, I would not believe that it could be done by Toby Dammit. The truth is, there was something in the air with which Mr. Dammit was wont to give utterance to his offensive expression- something in his manner of enunciation- which at first interested, and afterwards made me very uneasy- something which, for want of a more definite term at present, I must be permitted to call queer; but which Mr. Coleridge would have called mystical, Mr. Kant pantheistical, Mr. Carlyle twistical, and Mr. Emerson hyperquizzitistical. keywords: dammit; devil; friend; gentleman; head; left cache: poe-never-562.txt plain text: poe-never-562.txt item: #74 of 122 id: poe-oblong-696 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Oblong Box date: None words: 4629 flesch: 75 summary: To be sure, the lady seemed especially fond of him- particularly so in his absence- when she made herself ridiculous by frequent quotations of what had been said by her beloved husband, Mr. Wyatt. But my berth was in such a position, that when my own state-room door was open, as well as the sliding door in question (and my own door was always open on account of the heat,) I could see into the after-cabin quite distinctly, and just at that portion of it, too, where were situated the state-rooms of Mr. Wyatt. keywords: board; box; captain; room; state; wyatt cache: poe-oblong-696.txt plain text: poe-oblong-696.txt item: #75 of 122 id: poe-oval-697 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Oval Portrait date: None words: 1303 flesch: 71 summary: The arms, the bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair melted imperceptibly into the vague yet deep shadow which formed the back-ground of the whole. In these paintings, which depended from the walls not only in their main surfaces, but in very many nooks which the bizarre architecture of the chateau rendered necessary- in these paintings my incipient delirium, perhaps, had caused me to take deep interest; so that I bade Pedro to close the heavy shutters of the room- since it was already night- to light the tongues of a tall candelabrum which stood by the head of my bed- and to throw open far and wide the fringed curtains of black velvet which enveloped the bed itself. keywords: painter; portrait cache: poe-oval-697.txt plain text: poe-oval-697.txt item: #76 of 122 id: poe-pit-110 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Pit And The Pendulum date: None words: 6279 flesch: 80 summary: For the first time during many hours, or perhaps days, I THOUGHT. For many hours the immediate vicinity of the low framework upon which I lay had been literally swarming with rats. keywords: death; eyes; length; pendulum; pit; prison; saw; thought; walls cache: poe-pit-110.txt plain text: poe-pit-110.txt item: #77 of 122 id: poe-pit-698 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Pit And The Pendulum date: None words: 6175 flesch: 79 summary: Agitation of spirit kept me awake for many long hours; but at length I again slumbered. For the first time during many hours --or perhaps days --I thought. keywords: death; descent; dungeon; eyes; length; prison; saw; thought; walls cache: poe-pit-698.txt plain text: poe-pit-698.txt item: #78 of 122 id: poe-power-699 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Power Of Words date: None words: 1403 flesch: 72 summary: They made the special effects, indeed, wrought in the fluid by special impulses, the subject of exact calculation- Retrograding, they found no difficulty, from a given effect, under given conditions, in determining the value of the original impulse. keywords: agathos; impulse; oinos cache: poe-power-699.txt plain text: poe-power-699.txt item: #79 of 122 id: poe-predicament-421 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Predicament date: None words: 3629 flesch: 81 summary: I merely paused a moment to bid Diana behave herself, and assure Pompey that I would be considerate and bear as lightly as possible upon his shoulders. Leaning upon the arm of the gallant Pompey, and attended at a respectable distance by Diana, I proceeded down one of the populous and very pleasant streets of the now deserted Edina. keywords: city; diana; eyes; head; neck; pompey cache: poe-predicament-421.txt plain text: poe-predicament-421.txt item: #80 of 122 id: poe-premature-700 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Premature Burial date: None words: 5495 flesch: 69 summary: But where, meantime, was the soul? Apart, however, from the inevitable conclusion, a priori that such causes must produce such effects- that the well-known occurrence of such cases of suspended animation must naturally give rise, now and then, to premature interments- apart from this consideration, we have the direct testimony of medical and ordinary experience to prove that a vast number of such interments have actually taken place. I feel that I am not awaking from ordinary sleep. keywords: coffin; condition; death; grave; heart; man; memory; night; thought; voice cache: poe-premature-700.txt plain text: poe-premature-700.txt item: #81 of 122 id: poe-purloined-701 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Purloined Letter date: None words: 7101 flesch: 69 summary: For its practical value it depends upon this, replied Dupin; and the Prefect and his cohort fall so frequently, first, by default of this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather through non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are engaged. I mean to say, continued Dupin, while I merely laughed at his last observations, that if the Minister had been no more than a mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of giving me this check. keywords: course; d--; document; dupin; letter; man; matter; minister; prefect; search cache: poe-purloined-701.txt plain text: poe-purloined-701.txt item: #82 of 122 id: poe-raven-702 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Raven date: None words: 1101 flesch: 73 summary: Quoth the Raven, Nevermore. Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend, I shrieked, upstarting- Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door- Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as Nevermore. keywords: door; raven cache: poe-raven-702.txt plain text: poe-raven-702.txt item: #83 of 122 id: poe-romance-563 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Romance date: None words: 143 flesch: 77 summary: 1829 ROMANCE by Edgar Allan Poe ROMANCE Romance, who loves to nod and sing, With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, To me a painted paroquet Hath been- a most familiar bird- Taught me my alphabet to say- To lisp my very earliest word While in the wild wood I did lie, A child- with a most knowing eye. And when an hour with calmer wings Its down upon my spirit flings- That little time with lyre and rhyme To while away- forbidden things! keywords: romance cache: poe-romance-563.txt plain text: poe-romance-563.txt item: #84 of 122 id: poe-scenes-653 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Scenes From "Politian" date: None words: 4516 flesch: 93 summary: For thou hast served me long and ever been Trustworthy and respectful. CASTIGLIONE My lord, some strange, Some singular mistake- misunderstanding- Hath without doubt arisen: thou hast been urged Thereby, in heat of anger, to address Some words most unaccountable, in writing, To me, Castiglione; the bearer being Baldazzar, Duke of Surrey. keywords: alessandra; baldazzar; castiglione; jacinta; lalage; politian; thee; thou cache: poe-scenes-653.txt plain text: poe-scenes-653.txt item: #85 of 122 id: poe-serenade-654 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Serenade date: None words: 170 flesch: 83 summary: 1850 SERENADE by Edgar Allan Poe SERENADE So sweet the hour, so calm the time, I feel it more than half a crime, When Nature sleeps and stars are mute, To mar the silence ev'n with lute. Within the valleys dim and brown, And on the spectral mountain's crown, The wearied light is dying down, And earth, and stars, and sea, and sky Are redolent of sleep, as I Am redolent of thee and thine Enthralling love, my Adeline. keywords: love cache: poe-serenade-654.txt plain text: poe-serenade-654.txt item: #86 of 122 id: poe-shadow-655 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Shadow - A Parable date: None words: 1020 flesch: 68 summary: For indeed strange things shall happen, and secret things be known, and many centuries shall pass away, ere these memorials be seen of men. 1850 SHADOW- A PARABLE by Edgar Allan Poe Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow: Psalm of David. YE who read are still among the living; but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. keywords: door; shadow cache: poe-shadow-655.txt plain text: poe-shadow-655.txt item: #87 of 122 id: poe-silence-656 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Silence - A Fable date: None words: 1387 flesch: 83 summary: And the moon ceased to totter up its pathway to heaven --and the thunder died away --and the lightning did not flash --and the clouds hung motionless --and the waters sunk to their level and remained --and the trees ceased to rock --and the water-lilies sighed no more --and the murmur was heard no longer from among them, nor any shadow of sound throughout the vast illimitable desert. For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. keywords: man; rock cache: poe-silence-656.txt plain text: poe-silence-656.txt item: #88 of 122 id: poe-sleeper-703 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Sleeper date: None words: 383 flesch: 93 summary: 1831 THE SLEEPER by Edgar Allan Poe This chamber changed for one more holy, This bed for one more melancholy, I pray to God that she may lie For ever with unopened eye, While the pale sheeted ghosts go by! keywords: drop cache: poe-sleeper-703.txt plain text: poe-sleeper-703.txt item: #89 of 122 id: poe-some-657 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Some Words With A Mummy date: None words: 6352 flesch: 65 summary: Mr. Buckingham, hereupon, gave a slight start, took his right thumb out of the left corner of his mouth, and, by way of indemnification inserted his left thumb in the right corner of the aperture above-mentioned. Not being able to get an answer from Mr. B., the figure turned peevishly to Mr. Gliddon, and, in a peremptory tone, demanded in general terms what we all meant. While I was thinking how I should answer this question, little Doctor Ponnonner committed himself in a very extraordinary way. keywords: buckingham; count; doctor; egyptian; gliddon; mummy; ponnonner; time; way; years cache: poe-some-657.txt plain text: poe-some-657.txt item: #90 of 122 id: poe-song-658 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Song date: None words: 108 flesch: 95 summary: Though happiness around thee lay, The world all love before thee: And in thine eye a kindling light (Whatever it might be) Though happiness around thee lay; The world all love before thee. keywords: thee cache: poe-song-658.txt plain text: poe-song-658.txt item: #91 of 122 id: poe-sonnet-659 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Sonnet - Silence date: None words: 127 flesch: 85 summary: 1840 SONNET- SILENCE by Edgar Allan Poe There are some qualities- There is a two-fold Silence- sea and shore- Body and soul. keywords: shade cache: poe-sonnet-659.txt plain text: poe-sonnet-659.txt item: #92 of 122 id: poe-sonnet-660 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Sonnet - To Science date: None words: 122 flesch: 86 summary: true daughter of Old Time thou art! Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car? And driven the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star? keywords: thou cache: poe-sonnet-660.txt plain text: poe-sonnet-660.txt item: #93 of 122 id: poe-spectacles-704 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Spectacles date: None words: 9531 flesch: 71 summary: Madame Eugenie Lalande, quasi Simpson- formerly Moissart- was, in sober fact, my great, great, grandmother. In the meantime I kept my eyes riveted on Madame Lalande, and at length had the good fortune to obtain a full front view of her face. keywords: dat; eugenie; eyes; froissart; glass; heart; lady; lalande; length; love; madame; moissart; talbot; years cache: poe-spectacles-704.txt plain text: poe-spectacles-704.txt item: #94 of 122 id: poe-sphinx-705 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Sphinx date: None words: 1866 flesch: 61 summary: mouth forming a rolled proboscis, produced by an elongation of the jaws, upon the sides of which are found the rudiments of mandibles and downy palpi; the inferior wings retained to the superior by a stiff hair; antennae in the form of an elongated club, prismatic; abdomen pointed, The Death's- headed Sphinx has occasioned much terror among the vulgar, at times, by the melancholy kind of cry which it utters, and the insignia of death which it wears upon its corslet.' I remember his insisting very especially (among other things) upon the idea that the principle source of error in all human investigations lay in the liability of the understanding to under-rate or to over-value the importance of an object, through mere mis-admeasurement of its propinquity. keywords: creature; face; length; monster cache: poe-sphinx-705.txt plain text: poe-sphinx-705.txt item: #95 of 122 id: poe-spirits-662 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Spirits Of The Dead date: None words: 186 flesch: 78 summary: 1827 SPIRITS OF THE DEAD by Edgar Allan Poe Thy soul shall find itself alone 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; Not one, of all the crowd, to pry Into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness- for then The spirits of the dead, who stood In life before thee, are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee; be still. keywords: thee cache: poe-spirits-662.txt plain text: poe-spirits-662.txt item: #96 of 122 id: poe-stanzas-663 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Stanzas date: None words: 320 flesch: 79 summary: but then only, bid With a strange sound, as of a harp-string broken, To awake us- 'Tis a symbol and a token IV Of what in other worlds shall be- and given In beauty by our God, to those alone Who otherwise would fall from life and Heaven Drawn by their heart's passion, and that tone, That high tone of the spirit which hath striven, Tho' not with Faith- with godliness- whose throne With desperate energy 't hath beaten down; Wearing its own deep feeling as a crown. [BYRON, The Island.] I In youth have I known one with whom the Earth In secret communing held- as he with it, In daylight, and in beauty from his birth: Whose fervid, flickering torch of life was lit From the sun and stars, whence he had drawn forth A passionate light- such for his spirit was fit- keywords: o'er cache: poe-stanzas-663.txt plain text: poe-stanzas-663.txt item: #97 of 122 id: poe-system-706 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The System Of Dr. Tarr And Prof. Fether date: None words: 6925 flesch: 75 summary: He replied that, in fact, unless I had personal knowledge of the superintendent, Monsieur Maillard, or some credential in the way of a letter, a difficulty might be found to exist, as the regulations of these private mad-houses were more rigid than the public hospital laws. It was Monsieur Maillard himself. keywords: gentleman; lady; little; maillard; monsieur; patients; system; table; thought; time cache: poe-system-706.txt plain text: poe-system-706.txt item: #98 of 122 id: poe-tale-422 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Tale Of The Ragged Mountains date: None words: 4077 flesch: 72 summary: Upon a dim, warm, misty day, toward the close of November, and during the strange interregnum of the seasons which in America is termed the Indian Summer, Mr. Bedloe departed as usual for the hills. When I first saw you, Mr. Bedloe, at Saratoga, it was the miraculous similarity which existed between yourself and the painting which induced me to accost you, to seek your friendship, and to bring about those arrangements which resulted in my becoming your constant companion. keywords: bedloe; city; dream; interest; river; templeton cache: poe-tale-422.txt plain text: poe-tale-422.txt item: #99 of 122 id: poe-tale-664 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Tale Of Jerusalem date: None words: 1468 flesch: 65 summary: Thou forgettest, however, Ben-Levi, replied Abel-Phittim, that the Roman Pompey, who is now impiously besieging the city of the Most High, has no assurity that we apply not the lambs thus purchased for the altar, to the sustenance of the body, rather than of the spirit. And yet, added Ben-Levi, thou canst not point me out a Philistine- no, not one- from Aleph to Tau- from the wilderness to the battlements- who seemeth any bigger than the letter Jod! Lower away the basket with the shekels of silver! keywords: abel; ben; levi; pharisee cache: poe-tale-664.txt plain text: poe-tale-664.txt item: #100 of 122 id: poe-tamerlane-665 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Tamerlane date: None words: 1576 flesch: 88 summary: O yearning heart! Thus I remember having dwelt Some page of early lore upon, With loitering eye, till I have felt The letters- with their meaning- melt To fantasies- with none. keywords: hath; heart; spirit cache: poe-tamerlane-665.txt plain text: poe-tamerlane-665.txt item: #101 of 122 id: poe-tell-707 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Tell-Tale Heart date: None words: 2166 flesch: 94 summary: And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight He was still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall. keywords: eye; man; night cache: poe-tell-707.txt plain text: poe-tell-707.txt item: #102 of 122 id: poe-thou-416 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Thou Art The Man date: None words: 5875 flesch: 56 summary: He then went on to state that, on the afternoon of the day previous to Mr. Shuttleworthy's departure for the city, that worthy old gentleman had mentioned to his nephew, in his hearing (Mr. Goodfellow's), that his object in going to town on the morrow was to make a deposit of an unusually large sum of money in the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, and that, then and there, the said Mr. Shuttleworthy had distinctly avowed to the said nephew his irrevocable determination of rescinding the will originally made, and of cutting him off with a shilling. In the meantime, I instituted a rigorous private search for the corpse of Mr. Shuttleworthy, and, for good reasons, searched in quarters as divergent as possible from those to which Mr. Goodfellow conducted his party. keywords: box; charley; goodfellow; man; pennifeather; present; rattleborough; shuttleworthy cache: poe-thou-416.txt plain text: poe-thou-416.txt item: #103 of 122 id: poe-thousand-708 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Thousand-And-Second Tale Of Scheherazade date: None words: 7673 flesch: 63 summary: Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him as a man of devout feeling and excellent sense, he was interrupted one afternoon (no doubt at his prayers) by a visit from his grand vizier, to whose daughter, it appears, there had occurred an idea. My dear sister, said she, on the thousand-and-second night, (I quote the language of the Isitsoornot at this point, verbatim) my dear sister, said she, now that all this little difficulty about the bowstring has blown over, and that this odious tax is so happily repealed, I feel that I have been guilty of great indiscretion in withholding from you and the king (who I am sorry to say, snores- a thing no gentleman would do) the full conclusion of Sinbad the sailor. keywords: beast; day; distance; doubt; king; length; man; miles; red; scheherazade; sinbad; thing; trees cache: poe-thousand-708.txt plain text: poe-thousand-708.txt item: #104 of 122 id: poe-three-710 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Three Sundays In A Week date: None words: 2530 flesch: 88 summary: In company with these gentlemen, my cousin and I, preconcertedly paid uncle Rumgudgeon a visit on the afternoon of Sunday, October the tenth,- just three weeks after the memorable decision which had so cruelly defeated our hopes. Just what Doctor Dubble L. Dee would denominate an extraordinary concurrence of events. keywords: day; kate; pratt; sunday; uncle cache: poe-three-710.txt plain text: poe-three-710.txt item: #105 of 122 id: poe-to-711 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To -- date: None words: 78 flesch: 93 summary: 1830 TO -- by Edgar Allan Poe The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see The wantonest singing birds, Are lips- and all thy melody Of lip-begotten words- Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined, Then desolately fall, I wake and sigh, And sleep to dream till day Of the truth that gold can never buy- Of the baubles that it may. keywords: god cache: poe-to-711.txt plain text: poe-to-711.txt item: #106 of 122 id: poe-to-712 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To -- -- date: None words: 216 flesch: 77 summary: And now, as if in mockery of that boast, Two words- two foreign soft dissyllables- Italian tones, made only to be murmured By angels dreaming in the moonlit dew That hangs like chains of pearl on Hermon hill, Have stirred from out the abysses of his heart, Unthought-like thoughts that are the souls of thought, Richer, far wilder, far diviner visions Than even seraph harper, Israfel, (Who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures,) Could hope to utter. 1829 TO -- -- by Edgar Allan Poe Not long ago, the writer of these lines, In the mad pride of intellectuality, Maintained the power of words- denied that ever A thought arose within the human brain Beyond the utterance of the human tongue: keywords: thought cache: poe-to-712.txt plain text: poe-to-712.txt item: #107 of 122 id: poe-to-713 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To F-- date: None words: 87 flesch: 91 summary: amid the earnest woes That crowd around my earthly path- (Drear path, alas! where grows Not even one lonely rose)- My soul at least a solace hath In dreams of thee, and therein knows An Eden of bland repose. 1835 TO F-- by Edgar Allan Poe Beloved! keywords: path cache: poe-to-713.txt plain text: poe-to-713.txt item: #108 of 122 id: poe-to-714 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To F--S S. O--D date: None words: 64 flesch: 98 summary: So with the world thy gentle ways, Thy grace, thy more than beauty, Shall be an endless theme of praise, And love- a simple duty. 1835 TO F--S S. O--D by Edgar Allan Poe Thou wouldst be loved?- then let thy heart From its present pathway part not! keywords: thou cache: poe-to-714.txt plain text: poe-to-714.txt item: #109 of 122 id: poe-to-715 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To Helen date: None words: 98 flesch: 91 summary: On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Ah, Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy Land! -THE END- . keywords: thy cache: poe-to-715.txt plain text: poe-to-715.txt item: #110 of 122 id: poe-to-716 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To Helen date: None words: 535 flesch: 88 summary: It was a July midnight; and from out A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber, Upon the upturned faces of a thousand Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe- Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light, Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death- Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted All- all expired save thee- save less than thou: Save only the divine light in thine eyes- Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. keywords: roses cache: poe-to-716.txt plain text: poe-to-716.txt item: #111 of 122 id: poe-to-717 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To M-- date: None words: 141 flesch: 97 summary: with tears- Or that the thrill of a single kiss Hath palsied many years- 'Tis not that the flowers of twenty springs Which have wither'd as they rose Lie dead on my heart-strings With the weight of an age of snows. 1830 TO M-- by Edgar Allan Poe O! keywords: years cache: poe-to-717.txt plain text: poe-to-717.txt item: #112 of 122 id: poe-to-718 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To M.L.S. date: None words: 150 flesch: 67 summary: 1847 TO M.L.S. by Edgar Allan Poe Of all who hail thy presence as the morning- Of all to whom thine absence is the night- The blotting utterly from out high heaven The sacred sun- of all who, weeping, bless thee Hourly for hope- for life- ah! At the soft-murmured words that were fulfilled In the seraphic glancing of thine eyes- Of all who owe thee most- whose gratitude Nearest resembles worship- keywords: words cache: poe-to-718.txt plain text: poe-to-718.txt item: #113 of 122 id: poe-to-719 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To My Mother date: None words: 124 flesch: 68 summary: 1849 TO MY MOTHER by Edgar Allan Poe Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of Mother, Therefore by that dear name I long have called you- You who are more than mother unto me, And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you In setting my Virginia's spirit free. My mother- my own mother, who died early, Was but the mother of myself; but you Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, And thus are dearer than the mother I knew keywords: mother cache: poe-to-719.txt plain text: poe-to-719.txt item: #114 of 122 id: poe-to-720 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To One In Paradise date: None words: 156 flesch: 100 summary: 1834 TO ONE IN PARADISE by Edgar Allan Poe Thou wast all that to me, love, For which my soul did pine- A green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine, All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers, And all the flowers were mine. me The light of Life is o'er! keywords: flowers cache: poe-to-720.txt plain text: poe-to-720.txt item: #115 of 122 id: poe-to-721 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: To The River -- date: None words: 88 flesch: 55 summary: in thy bright, clear flow Of crystal, wandering water, Thou art an emblem of the glow Of beauty- the unhidden heart- The playful maziness of art In old Alberto's daughter; But when within thy wave she looks- Which glistens then, and trembles- Why, then, the prettiest of brooks Her worshipper resembles; For in his heart, as in thy stream, Her image deeply lies- His heart which trembles at the beam Of her soul-searching eyes. -THE END- . 1829 TO THE RIVER -- by Edgar Allan Poe Fair river! keywords: heart cache: poe-to-721.txt plain text: poe-to-721.txt item: #116 of 122 id: poe-ulalame-722 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Ulalame date: None words: 676 flesch: 89 summary: The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crisped and sere- The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year; It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, In the misty mid region of Weir- It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, 1847 ULALAME by Edgar Allan Poe ULALUME keywords: night cache: poe-ulalame-722.txt plain text: poe-ulalame-722.txt item: #117 of 122 id: poe-valentine-424 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: A Valentine date: None words: 171 flesch: 81 summary: Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing Of poets, by poets- as the name is a poet's, too, Its letters, although naturally lying Like the knight Pinto- Mendez Ferdinando- Still form a synonym for Truth- Cease trying! 1846 A VALENTINE by Edgar Allan Poe For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes, Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda, Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader. keywords: eyes cache: poe-valentine-424.txt plain text: poe-valentine-424.txt item: #118 of 122 id: poe-valley-709 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: The Valley Of Unrest date: None words: 169 flesch: 83 summary: 1831 THE VALLEY OF UNREST by Edgar Allan Poe Once it smiled a silent dell Where the people did not dwell; They had gone unto the wars, Trusting to the mild-eyed stars, Nightly, from their azure towers, To keep watch above the flowers, They weep:- from off their delicate stems Perennial tears descend in gems. keywords: valley cache: poe-valley-709.txt plain text: poe-valley-709.txt item: #119 of 122 id: poe-von-723 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Von Kempelen And His Discovery date: None words: 2819 flesch: 58 summary: My object is simply, in the first place, to say a few words of Von Kempelen himself (with whom, some years ago, I had the honor of a slight personal acquaintance), since every thing which concerns him must necessarily, at this moment, be of interest; and, in the second place, to look in a general way, and speculatively, at the results of the discovery. 53 and 82, that this illustrious chemist had not only conceived the idea now in question, but had actually made no inconsiderable progress, experimentally, in the very identical analysis now so triumphantly brought to an issue by Von Kempelen, who although he makes not the slightest allusion to it, is, without doubt (I say it unhesitatingly, and can prove it, if required), indebted to the 'Diary' for at least the first hint of his own undertaking. keywords: discovery; gold; kempelen; von cache: poe-von-723.txt plain text: poe-von-723.txt item: #120 of 122 id: poe-why-724 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: Why The Little Frenchman Wears His Hand In A Sling date: None words: 2565 flesch: 69 summary: Belave me, my jewel, it was Sir Pathrick that was unreasonable mad thin, and the more by token that the Frinchman kipt an wid his winking at the widdy; and the widdy she kept an wid the squazing of my flipper, as much as to say, At him again, Sir Pathrick O'Grandison, mavourneen: so I just ripped out wid a big oath, and says I; Ye little spalpeeny frog of a bog-throtting son of a bloody noun!- and jist thin what d'ye think it was that her leddyship did? WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING by Edgar Allan Poe IT'S on my visiting cards sure enough (and it's them that's all o' pink satin paper) that inny gintleman that plases may behould the intheristhin words, Sir Pathrick O'Grandison, Barronitt, 39 Southampton Row, Russell Square, Parrish o' Bloomsbury. keywords: jist; pathrick; wid cache: poe-why-724.txt plain text: poe-why-724.txt item: #121 of 122 id: poe-william-725 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: William Wilson date: None words: 8090 flesch: 63 summary: LET me call myself, for the present, William Wilson. In this narrative I have therefore designated myself as William Wilson, --a fictitious title not very dissimilar to the real. keywords: --and; academy; character; day; manner; person; play; room; school; spirit; truth; william; wilson; years cache: poe-william-725.txt plain text: poe-william-725.txt item: #122 of 122 id: poe-x-726 author: Poe, Edgar Allen title: X-Ing A Paragrab date: None words: 2656 flesch: 83 summary: We must get to press, said the foreman, who was over head and ears in work; 'just stick in some other letter for o; nobody's going to read the fellow's trash anyhow. I feel confident he never would have dreamed of taking up his residence in Alexander-the-Great-o-nopolis had he been aware that, in Alexander-the-Great-o-nopolis, there lived a gentleman named John Smith (if I rightly remember), who for many years had there quietly grown fat in editing and publishing the 'Alexander-the-Great-o-nopolis Gazette.' keywords: bullet; head; pot; tea cache: poe-x-726.txt plain text: poe-x-726.txt