Here is Poe weaving a web of psychological terror as a murderer recounts the bizarre details of his crimes against "the old man with the evil eye. The intensity and emotion build as the murderer becomes unhinged, a victim of his own crime. Again, the strength of Pomerleau's performance enables the audience to feel the power of Poe's macabre imagination.

If "The Raven" is not the best-known American poem, then "Annabel Lee" is. Both have endured because they successfully illustrate Poe's esthetic theories of poetics; they use natural, comprehensible language whose music weaves a spell that underscores and heightens the language. These two poems and "The Dream within a Dream" are performed (not merely read!) as Poe himself might have recited them to his peers-with deep passion and intensity, but always...