The poet as a critic; Poe and his circle; Poe´s aesthetic theory; Poe´s humor; Poe and the Gothic tradition; Poe, ssnsationalism, and slavery; Poe invents science fiction; Poe´s Dupin and the power of detection; Poe´s feminine ideal; A confused begining; Poe´s constructiveness; Two verse masterworks; Poe and popular culture; One-man modernist.