“他是前缘的意味着什么是一个职业作家,”沃斯说。“他是一个工匠。他花了时间。”When Poe was writing, American literature was still in its infancy. Poe's contemporaries included Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, while Mark Twain was just a teenager when Poe died. As a writer and magazine editor, Poe campaigned to improve the profession, pushing for better pay and copyright laws.
外的鼓舞人心的可怕的情人,坡的作品产生了持久的影响在文学和流行的写作,跟着他。《卫报》列表版阿瑟·柯南道尔,彼得Straub写,儒勒·凡尔纳,豪尔赫•路易斯•博尔赫斯在那些被19世纪作家和影响州,他“开始的信号会成为一个伟大的英美文学对话。”的master of celluloid suspense, none other than阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克,被引述说,“因为我喜欢埃德加·爱伦·坡的故事,以至于我开始让悬疑电影。”