In the Preface to his poems, Edgar Allan Poe claimed that 'With me, poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion' and that 'I think nothing in this volume of much value to the public, or very creditable to myself'. Generations of poetry lovers would disagree. The haunting and melancholy cadences of The Raven, Annabel Lee, To Helen and The City in the Sea have entered the canon of truly memorable poetry wherever English is spoken. Poe's short and tragic life ended before he achieved the recognition that was his due; he was dismissed by Emerson as 'the jingle man', and in spite of his influence on poets such as Bierce, Crane, Rossetti and Swinburne, his reputation had to wait until the twentieth century before he was properly described by Yeats as 'always and for all lands a great lyric poet'. Book jacket.