Edgar Allan Poe

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had tried to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,
Nameless here for evermore.”

These are the first two verses of ‘The Raven’, a poem full of dark and disturbing images, rife with tension, fear, paranoia, terror and a yearning for a lost love that has returned to this earth as a ghost. As a poem ‘The Raven’ is without doubt more famous and widely known than the troubled author who penned it. His name was Edgar Allan Poe, and his work was directly responsible for shaping the modern horror industry as we know it. He was the Godfather of Gore, the Father of Fear, the Master of the Macabre, and the Guardian of the Gruesome. Poe was also one of the best mystery writers of all time, however the most fascinating puzzle he left us was that of his own life, and in this journal, we will follow in the great man’s footsteps to turn detective.

Edgar Allan Poe was born early in the 19th Century, yet still his legacy lives on. Throughout this celebration of his life and work, you’ll also get the opportunity to listen to extracts from his poetry and prose, some of which will be very familiar but just as terrifying all the same!