Life and death are one string.

Poe was a skillful writer who probed into the dark recesses of the human mind. I enjoyed his work, as well. I also enjoyed how skillfully Hermann Hesse probed the human psyche. Someone else who does it well, in a different context is John La Carre.

"The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins?"

Of course the answer is that it is death that will have the final say.

Some of my favorite Poe quotes:

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Complete Tales and Poems

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

"Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins?" That to me means that every breath we take, every choice we make, hinges between life and death, so make the most of it, since we don't know how long we have.

He was a good writer I'll give you that but as far as the sentence goes, I prefer, you are about to experience the awe and mystery that reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits. Always sounds better with an oscilloscope in the background to look at though.

My thoughts on that quote is that he came up with it to justify a lot of his work. To me, there is nothing either visionary or complicated in Poe. He was a successful author who promoted himself and his work well. As to the quote, I call bullshit on it. More promotional in nature than truthful. Death is a part of life in which you cease to exist. Nothing vague about that, you live and then you die. Period. The only mindblowing thing about death is if you yourself used a gun to end it. Otherwise, it is just a natural part of any life. As simple as that.

"Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins"

Life has both a beginning and an end but does death really have either? Death is entirely accounted for as life's end. It isn't sufficiently anything in its own right to allow us to speak of its beginning, and unless you hold certain theological commitments few of us would allow that it has anything like an end. Life has a beginning, middle and end. What does death have? Nothing. It is just what we call life's final act.

Personally I prefer e.e. cummings and he certainly has plenty to say about death but mostly about life. This one is called "life is more true than reason will deceive":

life is more true than reason will deceive
(more secret or than madness did reveal)
deeper is life than lose:higher than have
–but beauty is more each than living’s all

multiplied with infinity sans if
the mightiest meditations of mankind
canceled are by one merely opening leaf
(beyond whose nearness there is no beyond)

or does some littler bird than eyes can learn
look up to silence and completely sing?
futures are obsolete: pasts are unborn
(here less than nothing’s more than everything)

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

Awesome! Sadly I must admit that I did not read any of Poe. Bucket list!!

In my preteen years I became a Pearl Buck fan. I remember nothing of what I read then. It sounds like it is time for me to revisit her.

"A Dream Within A Dream" is my favorite by Poe

Death is traditionally said to occur when the heart stops. But it can be said that it is really when the brain stops. People have been brought back to life either way. Maybe Poe was on to something.

Some very great writers delve into "expanded reality." Most, here, shun this idea. I was talking to a scientist who agrees with me that science is more open than they think. A real scientist knows there is a vast "unknown" and that which we think we know is always changing.

My mother taught me to ready with Dr Suess and Edgar Allen Poe.