It’s common for Poe’s narrators to monologue prior to recounting their respective stories.

This one… I MUST commit to memory. To date, it is my favorite piece of writing that he ever put down. It could be my favorite ever.

Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence — whether much that is glorious — whether all that is profound — does not spring from disease of thought — from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.

Oh, there’s more. But that’s enough for now.