The Land of Cerpts and Honey

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S BICENTENNIAL! Yes, it was indeed 200 years ago today in Boston, Massachusetts when the granddaddy of all horror writers was born. Poe's influence has been felt by every single writer of the macabre ever since; not to mention the fact that Edgar A. Poe created the detective story as well. So we here at the Land of Cerpts and Honey could not let such an important anniversary go unnoticed. There will be more to come shortly -- including an audio tribute over at our sister blog BATHED IN THE LIGHT FROM ANDROMEDA. For now, let's have a word from the man himself with his poem "Alone":

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then - in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain
From the red cliff of the mountain
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by
From the thunder and the storm
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

All the many written works of Edgar A. Poe (as he signed himself in life) are well-known to all and just as well-loved. But visually, it has always been artist Harry Clarke who has best conveyed to macabre beauty of Poe with his spectacularly evocative line drawings illustrated the tales of mystery and imagination. Here then are just a few of Clarke's superb illustrations from myriad Poe tales: