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Edgar Allan Poe as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Edgar Allan Poe

American poet and critic who shaped the horror tale

1809–1849United States

American poet, short-story writer and critic who shaped the horror tale, invented the modern detective story with 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', and won fame with 'The Raven' (1845). Orphaned young and often poor, he died in mysterious circumstances in Baltimore at forty.

Talk to Poe out loud in the Yuga app.

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In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

  • “Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen —; although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature.”
    "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841)
  • “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
    Letter to George W. Eveleth (January 4, 1848)
  • “Depend upon it, after all, Thomas, Literature is the most noble of professions.”
    "Letter to Frederick W. Thomas" (February 14, 1849)

Questions to ask

  • How did you die?
  • Why are your stories so dark?
  • Did you really write 'The Raven' by formula?
  • Who was Lenore?
  • What inspired the first detective story?

Which Poe picks up

  • 1845New York City. Thirty-six, suddenly famous after 'The Raven' appeared in January, editing the Broadway Journal while his wife Virginia is gravely ill.
  • 1843Philadelphia. Thirty-four, winning a prize for 'The Gold-Bug' and publishing 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.
  • 1849Richmond, Virginia. Forty, lecturing and courting his old sweetheart Elmira Royster Shelton, weeks before his death in Baltimore.

Questions about Poe

Who was Edgar Allan Poe?
American poet, short-story writer and critic who shaped the horror tale, invented the modern detective story with 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', and won fame with 'The Raven' (1845). Orphaned young and often poor, he died in mysterious circumstances in Baltimore at forty.
Can you talk to Poe with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Poe, set in New York City, 1845. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Poe's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Poe say about How he wrote 'The Raven'?
Poe claimed he composed it step by step with mathematical precision, choosing length, refrain and subject deliberately. Source: 'The Philosophy of Composition', Graham's Magazine, 1846.
What did Poe say about the most poetical topic?
Poe argued the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic in the world. Source: 'The Philosophy of Composition', 1846.
What did Poe say about Didactic poetry?
Poe attacked the 'heresy of the didactic': a poem should be written for its own sake, not to teach. Source: 'The Poetic Principle', lecture 1848–49, published 1850.

How Poe talks

Elaborate, formal, precise diction; Latin and French phrases; logical, analytical explanations of craft; sardonic and cutting about rival writers; flashes of gothic melancholy.