/lit/ - Literature

Having never read Poe before, I decided to randomly sample a couple of his works.
I am aware that this is 19th century lit, so different standards should apply, but all of these stories so far were...style over substance? Not even that, it's more like they lack an actual narrative foundation, meaningfulness.

> The man of the crowd - Dude follows sketchy man through foggy London. Then decides to stop doing that. End.
> M.S. found in bottle - Demonic winds kill crew on ship then catapult a guy on another ship. It heads towards Antarctica. He then dies. End.
> Devil in the Belfry - Dutch people like exact time and cabbage. Mysterious figure ruins their time perception. End.

I'm not even oversimplifying these. They're all devoid of twists, deus ex machina etc but in a way that makes them fall entirely flat.

How did Poe become so popular and embedded in pop culture if his works are so dry?
There are countless authors before him that did a way better job at telling enticing tales in both poems and prose.

are there any authors who use elements of internal rhyme and alliteration in their prose? After reading Poe's poetry I started reading his short stories and I was surprised by how similar it was in technique to his poems. Any other author that does this?

>>20788832
"A little"
He wasn't ugly but he wasn't some beautiful chad and proof that only chads can write either