DEAD BRIDES contains the cycle of five vampiric stories, written between 1835 and 1842, which in many ways forms the sepulchral nucleus of Poe's prose work: Berenice, Morella, Ligeia, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, and The Oval Portrait. In these classic tales, Poe investigates the essentially vampiric nature of human relationships, including love and lust both normal and incestuous, and develops his theme to observe the lesion of vitality inherent in the creative or artistic process.Vampirism, with its terrible energy exchanges and exactions, is ultimately Poe's analogy for a love that persists beyond the grave -- an all-consuming, necrophiliac passion that cannot be sated until an undead reconciliation is effected.DEADâe^BRIDESâe^is illustrated by Harry Clarke, and includes a foreword on Poe by the author H P Lovecraft as well as an afterword on Poe, opium, and the pathology of the house of Usher.