Edgar Allen Poe?

I have read a few poems to my sons of Poe’s, but I selected them carefully.  We will do a couple of short stories when we study the short story form the last two years of  high school.  You are right, Poe is dark.  Use with caution, or skip altogether if you don’t feel comfortable selecting out poems.  He had an amazing ability to conjure mood with language, though.  Just that it usually wasn’t a light, airy mood.  🙂  Or actually, if there was anything light and airy at all, I’ve missed it. LOL  To be perfectly honest, a large percentage of nineteenth-century poetry is pretty dark.  Death, death, death.  (What a past professor of mine used to claim all poetry was really, at root, about, lol) On the other hand, if you read Poe next to Allan Ginsburg, he seems positively cheerful!  Not that I recommend the exercise.  🙂 OK, I’m officially rambling now and will get off the forums, lol.

How old are your kids?  We’re starting our poetry unit with Poe this year; I love his work!  We are native Marylanders, live near Baltimore, so he is a must.  Especially with this year being the 200th anniversary of his birth!