One of the problems is just how easy it is parody Poe. I wanted to post a particularly efficacious parody I had come across of "The Bells" and went looking for it on the web: I could hardly believe the number of websites specifically devoted to promoting parodies of Poe - over 150 years after his death! A lot of very bad ones but some pretty good ones too. I couldn't find the one I was looking for (and can't remember the author either, which doesn't help). I suppose it's a tribute of a sort but it does make it difficult to take him entirely seriously (as a poet, that is).
Of course, it's possible Poe was already parodying himself and so he's having the last laugh. It would fit in well with his taste for practical jokes, I guess.
Anyone got a favourite parody?
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