History Creator / EdgarAllanPoe

* NightmareRetardant: Done intentionally in ''The Premature Burial''. The whole point of the short story was to serve as NightmareRetardant for the Poe himself.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Griswold's attempt at ruining Poe's reputation after his death did absolutely nothing to Poe's popularity despite the wide acceptance of his outlandish claims. People were thrilled at the idea of reading the work of an 'evil' man.

** Also, his unfinished play ''Politian'' was a fictionalisation of a famous duel case of the time.

->-- '''[[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'''

* IncestIsRelative: Finally found love with his teenage cousin.

* {{Asexuality}}: He had a wife, but he loved her only platonically.
** It may have helped that she was his first cousin.

** Although considering the story is set during the [[{{Sharpe}} Peninsular Wars]], it was never meant to be historically accurate. A better example would be [[MeaningfulName "The Balloon-Hoax"]], a fictional short story written by Poe that was originally released as being an account of an actual event.

* ConvictionByCounterfactualClue: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" contains gibberish that every listener identifies as a language they don't know. It turns out to be [[spoiler:the "speech" of [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys an orangutan]]]]--which wouldn't sound much like any of the mentioned languages [[DidNotDoTheResearch if Poe had ever heard it]]. Some of the information about corpse bloating in "The Mystery of Marie Roget" is also wrong, but Poe was working with the knowledge of his day, so ScienceMarchesOn.

Along with his detective fiction and poetry, Poe is celebrated for his wonderfully {{goth}}ic and macabre horror fiction which did away with traditional themes of simple ghosts and witches. These stories would go on to influence dozens of authors who would expand and refine the genre, and they were loved most greatly by a certain [[HPLovecraft Mr Howard Phillips Lovecraft]], an introverted fellow who'd go on to set the tone of horror fiction for the rest of the 20th century. Poe also wrote quite a lot of humor (often ''[[BlackComedy dark]]'' humor, admittedly), which may come as a surprise to those who know his works only from assigned readings in high school.

** It may have helped that she was his first cousin.

* FunetikAksent: [[EthnicScrappy Jupiter]]'s "Negro dialect" is written this way in "The Gold Bug", with a little bit of {{Engrish}} and BuffySpeak as well.

** This inspired a ''lot'' of the later uses of this trope, particularly by Creator/JulesVerne and HPLovecraft.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Griswold's attempt at ruining Poe's reputation after his death did absolutely nothing to Poe's popularity despite the wide acceptance of his outlandish claims. People were thrilled at the idea of reading the work of an 'evil' man.

Poe was a Baltimoron, and "Literature/TheRaven" is the namesake of the Baltimore Ravens.

** Hell, the narrator in "The Cask of Amontillado" tells the reader that they of course should trust him, [[LampshadeHanging because he is the narrator of the story, and therefor must be reliable.]]

The [[TropeMakers inventor]] of the modern [[HorrorLiterature horror story]] and the modern [[DetectiveLiterature detective story]], as well as an early influence on the [[SpeculativeFiction science fiction]] genre. [[http://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/philcomp.htm Poe believed that all stories should be short enough to be read in one sitting.]] He also believed that the perfect subject for poetry is the death of a beautiful young woman[[hottip:*:To be precise, he thought it perfect because it married the "most poetical subject"-- Beauty-- with the "most poetical emotion"-- Melancholy.]] (which should tell you volumes about [[CreatorBreakdown his own love life]], not to mention the death of his mother and his adoptive mother at a young age). Poe's life was plagued by rifts with his adoptive father, deaths of numerous loved ones, and alcoholism. [[CreatorBreakdown Typical]]. He was also a noted CausticCritic, which undoubtedly earned him a few enemies and tarnished his reputation, despite the critical acclaim that he received.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade" is written as an epilogue to the Arabian Nights, in which Scheherazade makes the mistake of putting modern (for Poe's time) inventions in one of her stories, causing the disbelieving sultan to have her executed.

* TheLostLenore: The Trope Namer, courtesy of "The Raven". A love interest of a main character in a story is dead before the story begins, or dies during its course, and their death has significant ongoing impact, consequences, and relevance for the remainder of the story.

* MoodDissonance: [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] and [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in "Thou Art the Man": the narrator [[spoiler:is the one who set up the apparent "miracle," and knows what really happened.]]

** This inspired a ''lot'' of the later uses of this trope, particularly by JulesVerne and HPLovecraft.

* RavensAndCrows: In "Literature/TheRaven", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin oddly enough]]. Also qualifies as a {{Feathered Fiend}}.

* The WindowsOfTheSoul: "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether".

* DetectiveLiterature: Inspired [[SherlockHolmes Arthur Conan Doyle]] and AgathaChristie. In fact, Poe is generally credited with inventing the entire genre.

* TheLostLenore: the Trope Namer, courtesy of "The Raven". A love interest of a main character in a story is dead before the story begins, or dies during its course, and their death has significant ongoing impact, consequences, and relevance for the remainder of the story.

** Theatre/HamletShakespeare [[TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples would beg to disagree]].

** [[Theatre/Hamlet Shakespeare]] [[TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples would beg to disagree]].

->-- '''[[ArthurConanDoyle Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'''

* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: [[spoiler:"Annabel Lee"]], though [[InTheMouthOfMadness it takes a while to realize it]].

* ILoveTheDead: The plot twist at the end of the poem Annabelle Lee.