The Maze of Mystery [Poe part I]

                                              "I wrote down the lore of an
                                               aged opera. The poem long
                                               ago reaped its reward, a lavish
                                               ego parade. The most favorite
                                               page, adored by many, was the
                                               very last page where I wrote..."
      - Annette Graham on her operatic poem, "L'homme" (The Man) circa 1945.

   The maze inescapably surrounds Poe. His command of English, as well as other languages, was above us all. I owe much of my vocabulary to him.Shall we list every Poe reference here? Not enough room, I'm afraid.

    Edgar Allan Poe invented the first true mystery, followed by two more tales using the same detective Dupin. 'Murders in the Rue Morge', The Mystery of Marie Roget', and 'The Purloined Letter'. Poe's labyrinth path was followed by Juan Borges, Chris Nolan, and Christopher Manson (on release of his third maze.) Borges wrote 'The Garden ofForking Paths', 'Death and the Compass' (a title from Poe), and 'I.H.B. Dead in his Labyrinth'. Nolan's three mysteries are: 'Following', 'Memento', and 'Inception'(also the trilogy of the mystery man Batman). Poe wrote about cryptology in 'The Gold Bug' as well as 'A Few Words on Secret Writing'. Nolan showed his version in 'The Prestige' (remember the key word Tesla?). As for Christopher Manson, his trilogy includes Maze as well as, 'The Tales I Wrote / The Rails I Tote', and Labyrinth, his future masterpiece. (I'm a time traveler, so I know what I'm saying.)

   Poe's bird, the most famous of all, is The Raven. Borges wrote of the Phoenix. Nolan had his yellow canaries in The Prestige. Manson has his birds as well. (A white Raven claims one, but for me the Black Raven is on page 24.)

   Suffice to list:
The Black Cat - page 4
The Sphinx - page 3
The Cask of Amontilado - trowel and brick doorway - page 39
Fortunato wears the garment of carnival, the court jester, the joker, motley - page 8, 39, and 29.
Fortunato assumes Montressor to be a Mason. See page Mason link(unfinished)
Barrels of wine - page 39
William Wilson - William - page 45
Gold Bug cypher - page 1
Hop Frog - frog page 41
Appearance of apes (the men looked like monkeys in Hop Frog) page 38(it was a costume party for the king)
Murder in the Rue Morge -smell of apes - page 38
The Bargain Lost - quote: "turned the stomach of Cerberus." text page prologue.
Quotes from Lenore: "Let the bell toll" page 26
                               : "The broken golden bowl" 8
                               :A saintly soul floats on the Stygian River" text page 24
The Bells - page26

More on Poe follows: