Poe...Even Non-Readers Pretend They Like/Appreciate/Understand Poe.

I think about Poe a good bit. What? I'm a high school English teacher, the plant on my desk is named Edgar, and the students decorate him with origami ravens...

I read a lot about Poe last summer to get myself ready for my current writing project. Here's the weird thing, you almost never hear anyone saying that they HATE Poe. Or that they never heard of him. So, the thesis for this blog entry is... even people who don't read Poe like to pretend they read Poe. Which makes one wonder, why> Do people pretend to read Dickens? Shakespeare? Steinbeck? Well, yes, that's called High School English class. (I read all my books, thank you. It was the thing I was best at in school...still upset that I didn't see what everybody else loves about The Great Gatsby, but I do love me some To Kill A Mockingbird).

But Poe is different because it's COOL to read and like Poe. And by cool I mean emo-goth-fantabulous.
I have compiled, for your reading pleasure...some reasons why people who don't read Poe like to act like they read Poe. :)

• Cool dark ambiance
• The Collected Tales and Poems can be a really great fashion accessory, it goes great with black plastic glasses, black trench coats, and all sorts of hats.
• Perfect for pretending to read while pretending to listen to The Cure.
• It's preferable to read a story by someone who married their cousin, than to actually marry your cousin.
• Ravens are creeeeepy
• Nevermore rhymes with Lenore and Annabel Lee rhymes with Sea, and rhyming is fun!
• Gaily bedight, a gallant knight, who says awesome stuff like that?
• In theory pre-mature burial is pretty sick.
• If sick is synonymous with cool, or even if it isn't, Poe is the sickest author around.