Due to the overhead of creating and supporting an independent search function, this site does not currently have
such a capability internally. Fortunately, searching of the site may be accomplished through the use of
GOOGLE, and probably better than we could do it anyway. Select the scope of the search and press
“submit.” The user will then be taken to the Google Advanced Search screen, with the appropriate
domain and sub-directory restriction already applied, based on the selection. The user may then provide further
search criteria as supported by the advanced search options.
Tips:
- The appropriate directory will be determined based on the selection made above. It is not
possible to specify multiple directories for a single search.
- Our web site is structured in such a way that the file names displayed for the search
results give some idea as to whether the resulting page is a tale, poem, letter, etc. Admittedly, the actual
file names are somewhat cryptic, but at least the path names are somewhat meaningful. For example:
- “www.eapoe.org/works/tales/morguec.htm” is one of several versions of
Poe’s tale “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
- “www.eapoe.org/works/letters/p2910300.htm” is one of Poe’s letters,
dated October 30, 1829.
- “www.eapoe.org/pstudies/ps1960/p1968102.htm” is a Spring 1968 article from
Poe Studies/Dark Romanticism.
- When searching within full books, such as the Mabbott and Pollin editions, it may be a good
idea to start with the indexes that were provided with the original print editions. In the online versions, the
refereneces in these indexes have been linked to the corresponding page. One advantage of an index over
searching is that a good subject index is often more comprehensive. For example, if one is searching for
references in Poe's works to William Shakespeare, searching for “Shakespeare“ will miss
instances where Poe spells the name in the older form of “Shakspeare” It will also miss notes that
refer only to specific plays, such as Hamlet or Julius Ceasar with repeating the name of
Shakespeare. There is a similar issue if one is searching for Griswold' “Poets and Poetry of
America”, where a search will turn up references to the book and to Poe's lecture of the same name.
It will also fail to find a reference in Poe' letters where he only comments, without giving the title, on
“Griswold's new book.” Of course, it must also be admitted that even a good subject index may
omit some references in error or to save space when there are a lot of such references. It is also true that not
every book has an index, and some indexes are better formed than others.