“Edgar Poe loves to set his figures in action against greenish or purplish backgrounds, in which we can glimpse the phosphorescence of decay and sniff the coming storm. . . . Space is extended by opium, which also adds a magical accent to every tint, a more meaningful resonance to every sound. Sometimes magnificent vistas, flooded with colour and light, open out suddenly in the midst of his landscapes, in whose depths loom Oriental cities and fantastic edifices, vaporized by the distance over which the sun pours its showers of golden rain.”