Skip to main content

The Man of the Crowd Summary

The Man of the Crowd Summary 

Poe's intro:

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is an American poet, short-story writer, and critic. He is most famous for his stories of reasoning, fantastical horror tales, and genre forming detective stories, and he is the author of The Man of the Crowd (1840). Poe considered himself fundamentally a poet.

Learn English Language and Literature with me on Preply

Now let's come to the main point, The Man of the Crowd summary. The narrator in the story perceives a crowd that is outside a London coffee shop through the window panes in an Autumn evening. He analyses the people and divides them into various sections based on their appearances. The business men, clerks, gamblers, and porters etcetera are examples of those groups. The author also observes a weird-looking old man and then follows him outside the shop continuously.

The Man of the Crowd by Edgar Allan Poe summary, The Man of the Crowd, The Man of the Crowd short story

The rain occurs as well, while the writer is busy following the old man. That old man keeps on moving on some tracks, and he, sometimes, retraces his steps. He also goes into a market where he visits shops one by one. Also, he does not ask for any prices nor does say a word to any shopkeeper in the stores. This wanderer passes through many places including a very filthy one, but the writer continues chasing him all the time until the next evening. 

On the second evening, the narrator stops his pursuit by saying that it is not possible to know anything about the old man. According to him, that weird man cannot remain alone or without a crowd, and that is what makes him a unique social person.

Conclusion:

That's all about The Man of the Crowd summary. Thanks for being here. Subscribe my blog for more such updates. 

Relevant Page:

The Man of the Crowd by Edgar Allan Poe Analysis