Edgar Allan Poe is well-known as an epic writer of gothic and macabre short form literature and poetry. While Poe’s short stories, such as “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” are some of his best-known works today, a number of his poetic writings have grown extremely popular over time, and become staples of the American gothic literary canon.
One of Poe’s earliest works, “Tamerlane,” was originally written in 1827 and published in his first volume of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems. This evocative epic poem tells the romanticized story of the central Asian warlord’s deathbed regret of sacrificing love for the sake of power. Originally the poem was a...