A Beastly Comedy Canto 1.7
The word “comedy” in the title does not mean that the book is meant to be funny. Rather, like Dante’s comedy, it’s referring to classical categories of plays. Bad things may happen in the book, yet the reader should be aware that it’s not a tragedy, i.e. not everybody dies by the end of the book. However, there are glimpses of comedy here and there, and while the passages here aren’t exactly joyful, I’m somewhat amused by the idea of Poe’s macabre rambling continuing in afterlife. Hence the parody of his style. The poems alluded to are The Raven, Annabel Lee, and The Sleeper.