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    Works of Edgar Allan Poe


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      Works of Edgar Allan Poe

      Эдгар Аллан По

      Works of Edgar Allan Poe from MobileReference

      List of Works by Genre and Title

      List of Works in Alphabetical Order

      Edgar Allen Poe Biography

      About and Navigation

      List of Works by Genre and Title

      Fiction :: Collected stories :: Short Stories :: Poetry :: Essays

      Fiction - Longer Works

      The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838)

      The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall (1835)

      Collected stories

      Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840)

      The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe (1839-1841)

      Short Stories

      The Angel of The Odd

      The Assignation

      The Balloon-Hax

      Berenice

      Bon-Bon

      The Black Cat

      Business Man

      The Cask of Amontillado

      Colloquy of Monos and Una

      Conversation of Eiros and Charmion

      A Descent Into The Maelström

      Devil in The Belfry

      Diddling

      The Domain of Arnheim

      Duc De L'Omelette

      Eleonora

      The Facts in The Case of M. Valdemar

      The Fall of The House of The Usher

      Four Beasts in One

      The Gold-Bug

      Hop Frog

      How to Write A Blackwood Article

      The Imp of the Perverse

      The Island of the Fay

      King Pest

      Landor's Cottage

      Landscape Garden

      Ligeia

      Loss of Breath

      Maelzel's Chess-Player

      Man of The Crowd

      Man That Was Used Up

      The Masque of The Red Death

      Mellonta Tauta

      Mesmeric Revelation

      Metzengerstein

      Morella

      Ms. Found in a Bottle

      The Murders in the Rue Morgue

      The Mystery of Marie Roget

      Mystification

      Never Bet the Devil Your Head

      Oblong Box

      The Oval Portrait

      Pit And The Pendulum

      The Power of Words

      Predicament

      The Premature Burial

      The Purloined Letter

      Shadow -- A Parable

      Silence -- A Fable

      Some Words with a Mummy

      Spectacles

      Sphinx

      System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether

      A Tale of Jerusalem

      Tale of The Ragged Mountains

      The Tell Tale Heart

      Thou Art The Man

      The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade

      Three Sundays in a Week

      Von Kempelen And His Discovery

      Why The Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling

      William Wilson

      X-ing a Paragrab

      Poetry

      Al Aaraaf

      Alone

      Annabel Lee

      The Bells

      Bridal Ballad

      City In The Sea

      Coliseum

      Conqueror Worm

      A Dream

      Dream Within a Dream

      Dreamland

      Dreams

      Eldorado

      An Enigma

      Eulalie

      Evening Star

      Fairyland

      For Annie

      The Forest Reverie

      The Happiest Day

      Haunted Palace

      Hymn

      Imitation

      In Youth I Have Known One

      Israfel

      The Lake

      Lenore

      The Raven

      Romance

      Silence

      Sleeper

      Song

      Sonnet -- To Science

      Spirits of The Dead

      Tamerlane

      To F--

      To Frances S. Osgood

      To Helen

      To Isadore

      To Marie Louise

      To My Mother

      To One In Paradise

      To The River

      To Zante

      Ulalume

      A Valentine

      The Valley of Unrest

      The Village Street

      Essays

      Death of Edgar A. Poe by N. P. Willis

      Edgar Allan Poe: An Appreciation

      Life of Edgar Allan Poe by James Russell Lowell

      Old English Poetry

      Philosophy of Furniture

      The Philosophy of Composition

      The Poetic Principle

      ________

      A-Z Index

      -A- | -B- | -C- | -D- | -E- | -F- | -G- | -H- | -I- | -K- | -L- | -M- | -N- | -O- | -P- | -R- | -S- | -T- | -U- | -V- | -W- | -X-

      Al Aaraaf

      Alone

      Angel of the Odd

      Annabel Lee

      Balloon-Hoax

      Bells

      Berenice

      Black Cat

      Bon-Bon

      Bridal Ballad

      Business Man

      Cask of Amontillado

      City In The Sea

      Coliseum

      Colloquy of Monos and Una

      Conqueror Worm

      Conversation of Eiros and Charmion

      Death of Edgar A. Poe

      Descent Into The Maelström

      Devil in the Belfry

      Diddling

      Domain of Arnheim

      Dream

      Dream Within A Dream

      Dreamland

      Dreams

      Duc de L'Omelette

      Edgar Allan Poe: An Appreciation

      Eldorado

      Eleonora

      Enigma

      Epigram on title page

      Epimanes

      Eulalie

      Evening Star

      Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar

      Fairyland

      Fall of the House of Usher

      For Annie

      Forest Reverie

      Gold-Bug

      Hans Phaal

      Happiest Day

      Haunted Palace

      Hop Frog

      Hymn

      Imitation

      Imp of The Perverse

      In Youth I Have Known One

      Island of The Fay

      Israfel

      King Pest - A Tale Containing an Allegory

      Lake

      Landor's Cottage

      Landscape Garden

      Lenore

      Life of Edgar Allan Poe

      Ligeia

      Lionizing

      Loss of Breath

      Maelzel's Chess-Player

      Man of The Crowd

      Man That Was Used Up - A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign

      Masque of The Red Death

      Mellonta Tauta

      Mesmeric Revelation

      Metzengerstein

      Morella

      Ms. Found in a Bottle

      Murders In The Rue Morgue

      Mystery of Marie Roget

      Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

      Never Bet the Devil Your Head

      Oblong Box

      Old English Poetry

      Oval Portrait

      Philosophy of Composition

      Philosophy of Furniture

      Pit and the Pendulum

      Poetic Principle

      Power of Words

      Preface

      Premature Burial

      Purloined Letter

      Raven

      Romance

      Scythe of Time

      Shadow - A Parable

      Signora Zenobia


      Silence

      Siope

      Sleeper

      Some Words with a Mummy

      Song

      Sonnet -- To Science

      Spectacles

      Sphinx

      Spirits of The Dead

      System of Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether

      Tale of Jerusalem

      Tale of The Ragged Mountains

      Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque

      Tamerlane

      Tell-Tale Heart

      Testimonials

      Thou Art The Man

      Thousand-and-Second Tale Of Scheherazade

      Three Sundays in a Week

      To F--

      To Frances S. Osgood

      To Helen

      To Isadore

      To Marie Louise

      To My Mother

      To One In Paradise

      To The River

      To Zante

      Ulalume

      Valentine

      Valley of Unrest

      Village Street

      Visionary

      Von Jung

      Von Kempelen And His Discovery

      Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling

      William Wilson

      X-ing a Paragrab

      ________

      Go to top | Go to TOC

      The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe

      (1843)

      Electronically Developed by MobileReference

      The Murders in the Rue Morgue

      The Man That Was Used Up

      Edgar Allen Poe Biography

      ________

      The Angel of the Odd

      AN EXTRAVAGANZA.

      IT was a chilly November afternoon. I had just consummated an unusually hearty dinner, of which the dyspeptic truffe formed not the least important item, and was sitting alone in the dining-room, with my feet upon the fender, and at my elbow a small table which I had rolled up to the fire, and upon which were some apologies for dessert, with some miscellaneous bottles of wine, spirit and liqueur. In the morning I had been reading Glover's "Leonidas," Wilkie's "Epigoniad," Lamartine's "Pilgrimage," Barlow's "Columbiad," Tuckermann's "Sicily," and Griswold's "Curiosities"; I am willing to confess, therefore, that I now felt a little stupid. I made effort to arouse myself by aid of frequent Lafitte, and, all failing, I betook myself to a stray newspaper in despair. Having carefully perused the column of "houses to let," and the column of "dogs lost," and then the two columns of "wives and apprentices runaway," I attacked with great resolution the editorial matter, and, reading it from beginning to end without understanding a syllable, conceived the possibility of its being Chinese, and so re-read it from the end to the beginning, but with no more satisfactory result. I was about throwing away, in disgust,

      "This folio of four pages, happy work

      Which not even critics criticise,"

      when I felt my attention somewhat aroused by the paragraph which follows:

      "The avenues to death are numerous and strange. A London paper mentions the decease of a person from a singular cause. He was playing at 'puff the dart,' which is played with a long needle inserted in some worsted, and blown at a target through a tin tube. He placed the needle at the wrong end of the tube, and drawing his breath strongly to puff the dart forward with force, drew the needle into his throat. It entered the lungs, and in a few days killed him."

      Upon seeing this I fell into a great rage, without exactly knowing why. "This thing," I exclaimed, "is a contemptible falsehood - a poor hoax - the lees of the invention of some pitiable penny-a-liner - of some wretched concoctor of accidents in Cocaigne. These fellows, knowing the extravagant gullibility of the age, set their wits to work in the imagination of improbable possibilities - of odd accidents, as they term them; but to a reflecting intellect (like mine," I added, in parenthesis, putting my forefinger unconsciously to the side of my nose,) "to a contemplative understanding such as I myself possess, it seems evident at once that the marvelous increase of late in these 'odd accidents' is by far the oddest accident of all. For my own part, I intend to believe nothing henceforward that has anything of the 'singular' about it."

      "Mein Gott, den, vat a vool you bees for dat!" replied one of the most remarkable voices I ever heard. At first I took it for a rumbling in my ears - such as a man sometimes experiences when getting very drunk - but, upon second thought, I considered the sound as more nearly resembling that which proceeds from an empty barrel beaten with a big stick; and, in fact, this I should have concluded it to be, but for the articulation of the syllables and words. I am by no means naturally nervous, and the very few glasses of Lafitte which I had sipped served to embolden me no little, so that I felt nothing of trepidation, but merely uplifted my eyes with a leisurely movement, and looked carefully around the room for the intruder. I could not, however, perceive any one at all.

      "Humph!" resumed the voice, as I continued my survey, "you mus pe so dronk as de pig, den, for not zee me as I zit here at your zide."

      Hereupon I bethought me of looking immediately before my nose, and there, sure enough, confronting me at the table sat a personage nondescript, although not altogether indescribable. His body was a wine-pipe, or a rum-puncheon, or something of that character, and had a truly Falstaffian air. In its nether extremity were inserted two kegs, which seemed to answer all the purposes of legs. For arms there dangled from the upper portion of the carcass two tolerably long bottles, with the necks outward for hands. All the head that I saw the monster possessed of was one of those Hessian canteens which resemble a large snuff-box with a hole in the middle of the lid. This canteen (with a funnel on its top, like a cavalier cap slouched over the eyes) was set on edge upon the puncheon, with the hole toward myself; and through this hole, which seemed puckered up like the mouth of a very precise old maid, the creature was emitting certain rumbling and grumbling noises which he evidently intended for intelligible talk.

      "I zay," said he, "you mos pe dronk as de pig, vor zit dare and not zee me zit ere; and I zay, doo, you mos pe pigger vool as de goose, vor to dispelief vat iz print in de print. 'Tiz de troof - dat it iz - eberry vord ob it."

      "Who are you, pray?" said I, with much dignity, although somewhat puzzled; "how did you get here? and what is it you are talking about?"

      "Az vor ow I com'd ere," replied the figure, "dat iz none of your pizzness; and as vor vat I be talking apout, I be talk apout vat I tink proper; and as vor who I be, vy dat is de very ting I com'd here for to let you zee for yourzelf."

      "You are a drunken vagabond," said I, "and I shall ring the bell and order my footman to kick you into the street."

      "He! he! he!" said the fellow, "hu! hu! hu! dat you can't do."

      "Can't do!" said I, "what do you mean? - I can't do what?"

      "Ring de pell;" he replied, attempting a grin with his little villanous mouth.

      Upon this I made an effort to get up, in order to put my threat into execution; but the ruffian just reached across the table very deliberately, and hitting me a tap on the forehead with the neck of one of the long bottles, knocked me back into the arm-chair from which I had half arisen. I was utterly astounded; and, for a moment, was quite at a loss what to do. In the meantime, he continued his talk.

     


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