I don't care what you say. H.P. Lovecraft could beat up Edgar Allan Poe any day. Okay, so they are both dead. But, let's assume they're not. Let's also assume that this is a fight to the death by writing. Lovecraft wins hands down. The man was a brilliant wordsmith. If you don't know his work, go out and find it. There are several resources on the net that have his complete works. I'd recommend starting out with "The Call of Cthulhu."
His short stories are better known, but his poetry is also good. I was assigned homework (not a full-blown project, just something simple here)where I had to illustrate a poem using three images - one photograph I took, one scanned image from a magazine, and one image from the interweb. We also had to incorporate the text of the poem into the image. So, we didn't have all the freedom in the world, but what I came up with is below. I chose a poem Lovecraft wrote as an Ode to Poe:
Where Once Poe Walked
by H.P. Lovecraft
Eternal brood the shadows on this ground,
Dreaming of centuries that have gone before;
Great elms rise solemnly by slab and mound,
Arched high above a hidden world of yore.
Round all the scene a light of memory plays,
And dead leaves whisper of departed days,
Longing for sights and sounds that are no more.
Lonely and sad, a specter glides along
Aisles where of old his living footsteps fell;
No common glance discerns him, though his song
Peals down through time with a mysterious spell.
Only the few who sorcery's secret know,
Espy amidst these tombs the shade of Poe. Below is a resized version of my finished product. The original is about twice as large, so the text is actually readable. Click the link to see it larger than the board auto-resizes it to.
http://www.rfgeneration.c.../staff/scanproject_sm.jpg