Netflix’s “Wednesday”, is full of Edgar Allan Poe citations. Here’s a list.

Once upon a time, it was a dark night and I contemplated, weak, and weary, about many a curious and charming episode. Netflix’s WednesdayThis show contains a lot of references to Edgar Allan Poe. 

American poet and writer from the 19th Century, known for his dark tales of grief, insanity. Murder, ghosts, and revenge. The Raven,The Tell-Tale HeartAnd The Fall of House of UsherTim Burton’s creepy teen series features Poe, who plays an important thematic role. Poe is the most famous student at the Nevermore Academy, where Wednesday Addams, our morbid protagonist attends.

“Edgar Allan Poe saidEpisode 2: Wednesday’s episode says, “Believe everything you hear, and half of the things you see.” This is clearly the most famous Nevermore alumni. He was clearly a drug-addled madman.

As Poe’s stories, Wednesday hinges on mysteries, monsters, and mayhem — with an Ending twistThe Gothic writer would be proud. Even though Wednesday often quotes Agatha Christie more than her nemesis Mary Shelley in the series, Burton pours a lot of amontillado into his series to Poe it up. 

Burton makes use of the Gothic associations that the author has in this Gothic setting. Wednesday-ify the element of a typical teen series, from the school dance (The Rave’N) to the annual canoe race (the Poe Cup). Here’s just a few of the references to Poe in the Netflix series — maybe you spied more?

Nevermore Academy

The main academic institution of WednesdayNevermore Academy is named after Poe’s most famous poem 1845’s The RavenA stately, ebony bird persecutes a grieving writer by perching high above his chamber door, crowing one foreboding, maddening phrase: “Quoth The Raven ‘Nevermore.” 

Just to be That Guy is a fictional Nevermore that was established in 1791. Edith Sinclair, our pastel-haired werewolf, explains in the series that it was created “to educate people such as us.” You can fill in the blanks for your favourite marginalised group: outcasts. Poe would not be born until 1809 and the namesake poem wouldn’t be written for 54 years. 

It’s a TV series, so I’ll be quiet. But speaking of the ungainly fowl…

The Raven

Poe’s most famous poem describes the midnight visitor. The RavenThe protagonist’s unmovable grief and loss for Lenore, is represented by. You could take a photo for each time a raven appears or is mentioned onscreen WednesdayYou’d be lost long before The identity of the monster has been revealed.

The Nevermore’s raven-dotted, wrought iron gates and the taxidermied raven perched on Principal Weems’ desk are just a few of the many episodes that ravens take to their annual school dance, The Rave’N. Wednesday will see ravens in Rowan’s vision. Xavier is painting a gigantic raven on the quad wall. On campus, there’s even an island called the Raven. Morticia refers to Wednesday’s psychic powers as a “rave”, a person who tends toward a darker view than her own positive “dove”. These visions show Wednesday’s ancestor Goody Addams calling her “the raven within my bloodline”.

The path of a Raven can be lonely. Goody says Wednesday that you will end up all alone, unable trust others and only seeing the darkness within yourself.”

But The Raven isn’t the only Poe tale explicitly referenced in Wednesday…

The Poe Cup

Every magical school has to have an annual, unwisely fatal sporting tournament. The Poe Cup, a Nevermore tradition that dates back to 125 years, is named after “Nevermore’s most prominent alumni”. It’s a canoe race, chase, and no rules. Each dorm must choose a Poe story to inspire their team name, canoe decoration, costumes and row back to Raven Island. Here’s a list of team names and associated Poe stories.

The Pendulum and Pit

Named for is one of the canoe teams that uses double-headed axes and rows a canoe with double head axes. The Pendulum and PitAn 1842 Poe short story featuring a group of helpful rats in a sticky circumstance. The tale tells the story of a Spanish Inquisition prisoner who is tortured and then sentenced to death in a small cell with a dark pit and swinging, slowly falling pendulum blade. The protagonist is able to enlist the help of rats in the cell to chew through his bonds and avoid a slicing, but then the walls start moving in…

The Gold Bug

The siren team, which plays the least in the Poe Cup and looks the most glamorous with glittering beetle embellishments but is the most glamorous, select the 1843 short stories The Gold BugThe story is code-breaking and treasure hunting. Poe’s story has its problems. William Legrand, a former South Carolina planter, is bitten with a golden bug. Jupiter, his servant, is an enslaved man who has been depicted in a problematic way. Modern critics call it “subbed”.As a “minstrel show sidekick.”

The Black Cat 

Enid, Wednesday’s team and Poe’s short story 1843 take their names. The Black CatThe film is a study in violence and guilt. In it, the protagonist cuts out his cat’s eye and hangs it from a tree. It’s quite grim. After his house is destroyed, he discovers another black cat. He then accidentally kills his wife by trying to kill it. When he tries to hide his crime by burying his wife’s body in the wall of his basement, he’s undone by the cat — when the police investigate, the cat had been concealed in the wall too, and its incessant cries sent this asshole right to prison. 

The Cask of Amontillado

Xavier’s and Ajax’s teams, all dressed up as horrifying jesters to take their names from Poe’s 1846 tale about revenge. The Cask of Amontillado. It is set during Carnival in Italy. The short story centers on Montresor who plans to murder Fortunato the wine expert. Fortunato was apparently insulted while Montresor wears a jester’s costume. Montresor lures Fortunato to his family vaults, promising him rare amontillado. He then traps and imprisons him.

Xavier also referred to Poe’s multiple stories about entombment or burying people alive. Wednesday, Xavier told the story of how they met at a hide and find game. Xavier went to live cremation with his grandmother in her coffin.

Poe statue

The man himself appears in Wednesday,It’s kind of. The cloisters in Nevermore have a statue of Poe, who is wearing a “sanctimonious smile” and holding a book. However, it also acts as the entrance into the Nightshades. Wednesday notes Poe’s famed penchant to solve riddlesUsing a hilarious Addams Family double snap, she finds her way to the hidden door.

The Nightshade Society

Although it could seem a stretch, the name Nevermore’s secret Nightshade Society might be a reference Poe’s 1935 short story. Morella. According to the Baltimore Poe Society“Morel” is one name for the poisonous black nightshade from which belladonna is derived. This can’t be coincidence, considering the importance nightshade poisoning plays in the story.

They are the only Poe references I could find, but you might have seen more of the Nevermore crime and mayhem. Get rid of the planks!

WednesdayNetflix is streaming it now Read Mashable’s full review here.