Last Update: August 24, 1997         Navigation:   Main Menu     Poe Info. Menu     Poe Canon Menu

Accepted Tales

The canon of Poe's tales, like the poems, has been established with some certainty. A large number of Poe's tales were included in his own collections. Even in the magazines and newspapers in which they made their first appearances, they were almost always printed with his name given as author. A few were printed initially without an author in the hopes of stirring up public interest. This list includes all accepted items, given in alphabetical order by title. Variant titles are also listed.

• Title: "Angel of the Odd, The" (1844)

Status: Accepted, absolutely
Argument:

• Title: "Assignation, The" (1833)

Status: Accepted, absolutely

• Title: "Balloon-Hoax, The" (1844)

Status: Accepted, absolutely
Argument: Published in 1844 without Poe's name as author, it was first attributed to Poe absolutely by James Russell Lowell in his essay on Poe for the February 1845 issue of Graham's Magazine. It was also included by Griswold in the 1850 edition of Poe's works.

• Title: "Bargain Lost, The" (1831)

Status:
Argument: Original version of "Bon-Bon"

• Title: "Berenice" (SLM, 1835)

Status:
Argument:

• Title: "Black Cat, The" (1842)

Status:

• Title: "Bon-Bon" (1835)

Status:
Argument: Greatly revised version of "Bargain Lost, The"

• Title: "Business Man, The" (1840)

Status:

• Title: "Cask of Amontillado, The" (1846)

Status:

• Title: "Colloquy of Monos and Una, The" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Conversation of a Somnambule, The"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Mesmeric Revelations" (used in unauthorized English reprints. Poe criticized the title change.)

• Title: "Conversation of Eiron and Charmion, The" (1839)

Status:

• Title: "Decided Loss, A" (1831)

Status:

• Title: "Descent into the Maelstrom, A" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Destruction of the World"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Conversaton of Eiros and Charmion, The"

• Title: "Devil in the Belfry, The" (1839)

Status:

• Title: "Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences" (1843)

Status:

• Title: "Domain of Arnheim, The" (1846)

Status:
Argument: Expanded version of "The Landscape Garden"

• Title: "Dream, A" (Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post, August 13, 1831)

Status: Accepted, with reservations
Argument: First attributed to Poe by Killis Campbell (MLN, May 1917) and repeated in his subsequent bibliographical notes (Campbell, The Mind of Poe, p. 210). First collected in Mabbott's edition of Tales and Sketches, 1978, pp. 5-10.

• Title: "Duc De L'Omelette, The" (1831)

Status:

• Title: "Duke de L'Omelette, The"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title for "Duc De L'Omelette, The"

• Title: "Eleonora" (1841)

Status: Accepted, positively

• Title: "Epimanies" (1833)

Status: Accepted, positively
Argument: Original title of "Four Beasts in One"

• Title: "Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The" (1845)

Status: Accepted, positively

• Title: "Facts of M. Valdemar's Case"

Status: Accepted, positively
Argument: Original title of "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"

• Title: "Fall of the House of Usher, The" (1839)

Status: Positive

• Title: "Four Beasts in One"

Status: Alternate title for "Epimanes"

• Title: "Gold-Bug, The" (1843)

Status: Accepted, positively

• Title: "Homo-Cameleopard"

Status:
Argument: (alternate title of "Epimanes" intended for Poe's unpublished collection Phantasy-Pieces)

• Title: "Hop-Frog" (1849)

Status: Accepted, positively

• Title: "Horse-Shade, The"

Status: Accepted, positively
Argument: Alternate title of "Metzengerstein" (intended for Poe's unpublished collection Phantasy- Pieces)

• Title: "How to Write a Blackwood Article" (1838)

Status: Accepted, positively

• Title: "Imp of the Perverse, The" (1845)

Status:

• Title: "Island of the Fay, The" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Journal of Julius Rodman, The" (1839-1840)

Status:

• Title: "King Pest" (1835)

Status:

• Title: "King Pest the First"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "King Pest"

• Title: "Landscape Garden" (1842)

Status:

• Title: "Landor's Cottage" (1848)

Status:

• Title: "Life in Death"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Oval Portrait, The"

• Title: "Ligeia" (1838)

Status:

• Title: "Lion-izing. A Tale" (1835)

Status:
Argument: Original version of "Lionizing"

• Title: "Lionizing" (1840)

Status:
Argument: Revised version of "Lion-izing. A Tale"

• Title: "Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq., The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Loss of Breath" (1833 and 1840)

Status:
Argument: Greatly revised version of "Decided Loss, A"

• Title: "Man in the Crowd, The"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Man of the Crowd, The")

• Title: "Man of the Crowd, The" (1840)

Status:

• Title: "Man That Was Used Up, The" (1839)

Status:

• Title: "Manuscript Found in a Bottle"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "MS. Found in a Bottle"

• Title: "Mask of the Red Death, The"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Masque of the Read Death, The"

• Title: "Masque of the Red Death, The" (1842)

Status:

• Title: "Metzengerstein" (1831)

Status:

• Title: "Mellonta Tauta" (1848)

Status:

• Title: "Mesmeric Revelation" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Morella" (1835 and 1848)

Status:

• Title: "MS. Found in a Bottle" (1833)

Status:

• Title: "Murders in the Rue Morgue, The" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Murders in the Rue Trianon Bas Morgue"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (changed before publication)

• Title: "Mystery of Marie Roget, The" (1842-1843)

Status: Positive

• Title: "Mystification" (1837)

Status:

• Title: Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, The

Status: Positive

• Title: "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Never Bet Your Head"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Never Bet the Devil Your Head")

• Title: "Oblong Box, The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Oval Portrait, The" (1842 and 1845)

Status:

• Title: "Peter Pendulum, the Business Man"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Business Man, The"

• Title: "Pit and the Pendulum, The" (1842)

Status:

• Title: "Power of Words, The" (1845)

Status:

• Title: "Predicament, A"

Status:
Argument: Story within "How to Write a Blackwood Article" (sometimes published on its own)

• Title: "Premature Burial, The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Psyche Zenobia, The"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "How to Write a Blackwood Article"

• Title: "Purloined Letter, The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Raising the Wind"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"

• Title: "Shadow" (1833)

Status:

• Title: "Signora Psyche Zenobia"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "How to Write a Blackwood Article"

• Title: "Silence"

Status:
Argument: Alternate title of "Siope"

• Title: "Siope" (1833)

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Silence"

• Title: "Some Words with a Mummy" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "The Spectacles" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Sphinx, The" (1845)

Status:

• Title: "Succession of Sundays, A"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Three Sundays in a Week"

• Title: "System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Tale of Jerusalem, A" (1831)

Status:

• Title: "Tale of the Ragged Mountains, A" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Teeth, The"

Status: Accepted, positively
Argument: Alternate title for "Berenice" (intended for Poe's unpublished collection Phantasy-Pieces)

• Title: "Tell-Tale Heart, The" (1842)

Status:

• Title: "Thou Art the Man" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade, The" (1844)

Status:

• Title: "Three Sundays in a Week" (1841)

Status:

• Title: "Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaal, The" (1835)

Status:

• Title: "Visionary, The"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Assignation, The"

• Title: "Von Jung, the Mystific"

Status:
Argument: Original title of "Mystification"

• Title: "Von Kemplen and His Discovery" (1849)

Status:

• Title: "Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling" (1837-1839)

Status:

• Title: "William Wilson" (1839)

Status:

• Title: "X-ing a Paragrab" (1849)

Status: