Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most important writers of 19th Century literature, used to see himself as primarily a poet. However, his reputation as a writer is in great part due to his tales and short stories. These involved from the gothic, the grotesque and the dark side of life, to the detective stories and to those which originated modern science fiction. Poe's unique style has been the subject of criticism and of studies …showed first 75 words of 892 total…

…showed last 75 words of 892 total…things, and there is always mixed up with such indistinct shadows of recollection, an unaccountable memory of old foreign chronicles and ages long ago". Finally, the narrator shows excitement and feel curious about death "a curiosity to penetrate the mysteries of these awful regions, predominates even over my despair, and will reconcile me to the most hideous aspect of death." Even the name of the second ship is Discovery, a reference to a new world.