Transcript Document

The gentleman to the
right is none other than
Edgar Allan Poe, one of
history’s greatest poets
and authors.
Everyone knew Poe was
great. However, when I
saw not only one but
two references to the
man on The Simpsons,
I knew that he had
arrived and was here to
stay.
Generation X, Y, and Z
Perhaps I was being a bit facetious with that last statement, but I sure
that there is some truth to it.
I think that out modern culture can sometimes ignore history,
especially aspects of it like literature. What I mean is that, in general,
my generation and younger do not have a strong appreciation for
authors that don’t include R.L. Stine. Thinking of popular authors for
teenagers is tough. Think of your friends’ favorite authors. How many
of them actually read for fun?
What I’m saying is that for Poe to appear on The Simpsons says
something about his work. People know it. If they didn’t it would have
been pointless to show it on a TV show where the majority of the
audience is children and non-English majors.
He Married His Cousin?
One of the first things that I ever learned about Poe was that he had married
his cousin. This had, for me, attached a certain stigma right from the get-go.
However, there was much more to Poe than his incestuous relationship with
his cousin.
Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts.
In 1811, his parents died, leaving him with John Allan, a
Virginian merchant.
On October 7, 1849 Poe died. His cause of death is a
mystery. A death truly befitting for one of history’s most
mysterious writers.
Virginia Clemm 1823-1847
Poe married Virginia when she was
13 years old on May 16, 1836.
But that’s not all there was to Poe. Some stuff happened
the forty years he was here.
• 1809  Edgar Poe is born in Boston.
• 1811  Edgar's mother and Father die.
• 1811  The orphaned Edgar is taken into the home of John and Frances
Allan of Richmond. Allan never legally adopts
• 1812  Poe is baptized and christened as "Edgar Allan Poe“.
• 1815  John and Frances Allan leave for England with Edgar.
• 1820  Edgar and his family return to America from England.
• 1824  Poe writes a two-line poem: "-- Poetry - Edgar A. Poe -- Last
night, with many cares & toils oppres'd, Weary, I laid me on a
couch to rest --." (This is Poe's earliest surviving poem. It was
never published during his lifetime, nor used as part of a longer
poem.)
• 1826  Edgar Allan Poe enters the University of Virginia.
• 1827  Poe enlists in the United States Army under the name Edgar A.
Perry.
• 1827  Poe's first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems is published. The
thin pamphlet sells perhaps 50 copies, many likely distributed
free for reviews. (Today, only twelve copies are known to exist.
As much as $172,000 has been paid at auction. Most copies are
imperfect.)
• 1829  Poe is released from the Army.
• 1836  Edgar (27) and Virginia (13) marry in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1847  Virginia Poe dies of tuberculosis in Fordham, New York.
• 1848  Poe begins to court New England widow and poetess Sarah
Helen Whitman. After considerable effort, he manages to secure
a promise of marriage. Mrs. Whitman is concerned about his
reputation for drinking. Poe pledges to be temperate.
• 1848  Poe fails to meet the condition of total abstinence from drinking
and Mrs. Whitman calls off the engagement.
• 1849  Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore.
• 1910  Poe is inducted into the Hall of Fame in New York, 61 years after
his death.
Click Here For A Complete Collection
of Poe's Work
An Acrostic
A Dream
A Dream Within A Dream
Al Aaraaf
Alone
Annabel Lee
Bells
Beloved Physician
Bridal Ballad
A Campaign Song
The City in the Sea
The Coliseum
The Conqueror Worm
The Divine Right Of Kings
Dream-Land
Dreams
Eldorado
Elizabeth
Epigram for Wall Street
Enigma
An Enigma
Evening Star
Eulalie
Fairy-Land
Fanny
For Annie
The Happiest Day
The Haunted Palace
Hymn
Impromtu. To Kate Carol
Irene(The Sleeper)
Israel
The Lake
Lenore
The Raven
Romance
To— (Song)
The Spirits of the
Dead
Tamerlane
The Valley of Unrest
To F's S. O—d
To Helen
To Helen
To The River—
To M—
To One In Paradise
Ulalume
A Valentine
The Valley of Unrest
The Angel of The Odd
The Assignation
The Balloon-Hoax
Berenice
The Black Cat
Bon-Bon
The Business Man
The Cask of Amontillado
The Colloquy of Monos and Una
The Conversation of Eiros and
Charmion
A Decided Loss
A Descent Into The Maelstrom
The Devil in the Belfry
Diddling Considered as One of the
Exact Sciences
Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
The Duc De L'Omlette
The Domain of Arnheim
Eleonora
Epimanies
Eureka - A Prose Poem
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Fall of the House of Usher
Four Beasts In One - The HomoCameleopard
The Gold Bug
Hans Phaall
Hop-Frog
How to Write a Blackwood Article
The Imp of the Perverse
The Island of the Fay
The Journal of Julius Rodman
King Pest
Landor's Cottage
The Landscape Garden
Ligeia
Lionizing
Loss of Breath
Literary Life of Thingum Bob, ESQ.
The Man of the Crowd
The Man That Was Used Up
Masque of Red Death
Mellonta Tauta
Mesmeric Revelation
Metzengerstein
Morella
Morning On The Wissahiccon
Ms. Found in a Bottle
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Mystery of Marie Roget
Mystification
Narrative of Arthur Gordon
Pym
Never Bet The Devil Your Head
Oblong Box
Oval Portrait
Pit and the Pendulum
The Power of Words
A Predicament
Premature Burial
Purloined Letter
Shadow - A Parable
Silence - A Fable
Some Words With a Mummy
(The) Spectacles
The Sphinx
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
A Tale of Jerusalem
The Tell-Tale Heart
Thou Art The Man
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
Three Sundays in a Week
The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
Von Kempelen and His Discovery
Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a
Sling
William Wilson
So obviously Poe wrote a lot.
But so did Shakespeare. And
so did countless other writers.
Heck, Danielle Steele pumps
out a four hundred page novel
every month (but that is due
to her ability to recycle plot
lines over and over).
However, I don’t think
that it is the writer’s
volume of work that
makes them great.
Quality vs. quantity,
after all.
I think that one of the things that impresses me most,
as well as others I’m sure, is Poe’s cleverness and
mysteriousness. I don’t think that anyone really knew
who he was. He was a big question mark.
I would assume that he was a rather dark individual,
based on the macabre-ish literature that I’ve read of
his. But you know what happens when you assume.
As for his cleverness, I’ll show you what I mean.
Maybe cleverness isn’t even the word, but I’ll let you
be the judge of that.
For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
Search narrowly the lines!— they hold a treasure
Divine— a talisman— an amulet
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure—
The words— the syllables! Do not forget
The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor
And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
Which one might not undo without a sabre,
If one could merely comprehend the plot.
Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
Of poets, by poets— as the name is a poet's, too,
Its letters, although naturally lying
Like the knight Pinto— Mendez Ferdinando—
Still form a synonym for Truth— Cease trying!
You will not read the riddle,
though you do the best you can do.
-The End-
Despite Poe’s seemingly dark
side, he did write this
Valentine for someone.
Encoded within the poem is
the recipient’s name.
Are you clever enough to
solve one of Poe’s most
famous riddles?
For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
Search narrowly the lines!— they hold a treasure
Divine— a talisman— an amulet
Frances Sargent Osgood
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure—
The words— the syllables! Do not forget
The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor
And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
Which one might not undo without a sabre,
If one could merely comprehend the plot.
Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus
Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
Of poets, by poets— as the name is a poet's, too,
Its letters, although naturally lying
Like the knight Pinto— Mendez Ferdinando—
Still form a synonym for Truth— Cease trying!
You will not read the riddle,
though you do the best you can do.
-The End-
This valentine was written for
Frances Sargent Osgood. Mrs.
Osgood's full name is spelled
with one letter on each line, the
first letter of the first line ("F"),
the second letter of the second
line ("r"), the third letter of the
third line ("a"), etc.
So, were you clever enough to
decipher Poe’s riddle? If you’re
anything like me, probably not.
You’ve got to hand it to the guy, he’s
pretty sneaky. Mrs. Osgood probably
never knew it was for her…
Poe vs. The Riddler… Definitely a
resemblance!
So, I guess I should get on with the
whole idea of a reflective Power
Point. The previous have been a
build-up, introducing you to Poe and
his work. Good to go?
Everyone’s got a critic. From what I found, Poe had a lot of them.
Aww…they were just jealous.
•
"Your Periodical [the Southern Literary Messenger] is
decidedly superior to any Periodical in the United States, and
Mr. Poe is decidedly the best of all our young writers. I don't
know but that I might add all our old ones, with one or two
exceptions, among which, I assure you, I don't include
myself." (James Kirke Paulding)
•
"Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath
of life into it?" (Arthur Conan Doyle)
•
"In him [Poe] American literature is anchored, in him alone, on
solid ground." (William Carlos William)
•
"It's because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so much that I
began to make suspense films." (Alfred Hitchcock)
•
"Poe is too fond of the wild — unnatural and horrible! Why will he not
permit his fine genius to soar into purer, brighter, and happier regions?
Why will he not disenthrall himself from the spells of German enchantment
and supernatural imagery? There is room enough for exercise of the
highest powers, upon the multiform relations of human life, without
descending into the dark, mysterious and unutterable creations of
licentious fancy." (From the Richmond Compiler)
•
"You might call him [Poe] 'The Leader of the Cult of the Unusual'." (Jules
Verne)
•
"Poe wrote like a drunkard and a man who is not accustomed to pay his
debts." (Arthur Twining Hadley, President of Yale University)
•
"To me his [Poe's] prose is unreadable — like Jane Austen's. No, there is a
difference. I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely
impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural
death." (Mark Twain [Samuel L. Clemens])
“He [Poe] was like a wolf chained
by the leg among a lot of
domestic dogs."
(Arthur Ransome)
So there you have it – just a taste of what others think
about Poe in general, so to be more specific I have chosen to
focus on one poem in particular. Sorry to be predictable, but I
chose…
Probably Poe’s most famous piece.
Everyone knows the phrase,
“Quoth the raven, ’Nevermore’”.
Oooh, shivers.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore -While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'T is some visitor, " I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-Only this and nothing more.“
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow -- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow -- sorrow for the lost Lenore-For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me -- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before:
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating.
" 'T is some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-That it is and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger: hesitating then no longer,
"Sir, " said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore:
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"-- here I opened wide the door-Darkness there and nothing more.
Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering fearing.
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before:
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word "Lenore!"-Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore-'T is the wind an nothing more!"
Open here i flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-Perched upon a bust of Pallas just a bove my chamber door-Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore–
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning -- little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
But the Raven sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpoor.
Nothing further then he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered-Till I scarcely more then muttered, "Other friends have flown before -On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utteres is it only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -Till the dirges of his Hope the melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never - nevermore.'"
But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door,
Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore-What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking, "Nevermore."
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er
But whose velvet-violet lining with lamp-light gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God has lent thee -- by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite -- respite the nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh, quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!“
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! -- prophet still, if bird of devil!
Whether Tempter sent, or whatever tempest tossed thee ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -On this home by Horror haunted -- tell me truly, I implore -Is there -- is there balm in Gilead? -- tell me -- tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! -- prophet still, if bird of devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us -- by that God we both adore-Tell his soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting-"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor,
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted -- nevermore!
For anyone who happens to be as poetically inept I (or
me, agh, stupid grammar) here is a wonderful summary
by Christoffer Nilsson.
A lonely man tries to ease his "sorrow for the lost Lenore," by
distracting his mind with old books of "forgotten lore." He is interrupted
while he is "nearly napping," by a "tapping on [his] chamber door."
As he opens up the door, he finds "darkness there and nothing
more." Into the darkness he whispers, "Lenore," hoping his lost love
had come back, but all that could be heard was "an echo [that]
murmured back the word 'Lenore!'"
With a “burning soul”, the man returns to his chamber, and this
time he can hear a tapping at the window lattice. As he "flung [open]
the shutter," "in [there] stepped a stately Raven," the bird of illomen (Poe, 1850). The raven perched on the bust of Pallas, the goddess
of wisdom in Greek mythology, above his chamber door.
The man asks the Raven for his name, and surprisingly it answers,
and croaks "Nevermore." The man knows that the bird does not speak
from wisdom, but has been taught by "some unhappy master," and
that the word "nevermore" is its only "stock and store."
The man welcomes the raven, and is afraid that the raven will be
gone in the morning, "as [his] Hopes have flown before"; however,
the raven answers, "Nevermore." The man smiled, and pulled up a
chair, interested in what the raven "meant in croaking,
‘Nevermore.’" The chair, where Lenore once sat, brought back painful
memories. The man, who knows the irrational nature in the raven’s
speech, still cannot help but ask the raven questions. Since the narrator
is aware that the raven only knows one word, he can anticipate the
bird's responses. "Is there balm in Gilead?" - "Nevermore." Can
Lenore be found in paradise? - "Nevermore." "Take thy form
from off my door!" - "Nevermore." Finally the man concedes,
realizing that to continue this dialogue would be pointless. And his "soul
from out that shadow" that the raven throws on the floor, "Shall be
lifted -- Nevermore!"
I should probably be
honest and let you know
that my first experience
with Poe was indeed on
the Simpsons. For this
reason, I think that I am
having a harder time
seeing “The Raven” for
what it really is.
Literary Criticism - Christoffer Nilsson
If you have seen the Halloween
Special that is pictured above, you
may understand my dilemma.
I think that “The Raven” is one
of those pieces that have just
a little bit of symbolism in
them. Boy do I love
symbolism.
Symbols - Christoffer Nilsson
I think that from what I’ve
learned about Poe, I could
assume that he was very
precise in his work. For this I
would reason that parts of
“The Raven” were chosen for
specific reasons.
For example, the raven. Why
would Poe choose a raven? In
my opinion, they are evil
things, yet the raven does
nothing to this effect in the
poem. It merely acts as an
antagonist to the narrator.
Perhaps The Simpsons did offer
me something to understanding
the poem. The narrator,
according to Matt Groening,
was sitting in a large room all
by himself. I think that this,
rather obviously, demonstrates
the loneliness of the man,
without his dear Lenore.
What could I possibly say about Poe that hasn’t already been
said thousands of times? The guy obviously had a dark side.
Perhaps a prominent dark side to be more exact.
Obviously Poe is famous. For me, not quite up there with
Shakespeare, but good none-the-less. He would be
something I’d read when I was in a funny mood, but not a
lazy one. I find Poe to be not very blatant sometime. He is
also very descriptive, and I tend to get lost if I’m not paying
attention.
I think one of the most important things I learned from this
was not even about Poe directly. It came from all those
critics from a hundred years ago. Those critics degraded Poe
so much back then, but look at him now. Obviously they
were wrong, or represented such a small portion of the
population that it didn’t matter what they thought. It’s all
about not listening to those who aren’t important to you.
I’ll leave y’all with some famous words of Poe’s.
“ I have great faith in fools; my friends call it self-confidence. ”
“ Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity
of the intelligence. ”
“ The true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers
silence to saying something which is not everything it
should be. ”
“ I don't suffer from insanity but enjoy every minute of it. ”
www.perso.wanadoo.fr/duffnpretzels/ simpgal.html
http://www.geocities.com/blondelibrarian/professional/literature/authors/eapoe.html
www.windshoes.hihome.com/ novel-poe.htm
http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poechron.htm
http://quotes.prolix.nu/Authors/?Edgar_Allan_Poe
http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poebtsp2.htm
http://www.topicsites.com/edgar-allan-poe/criticism-edgar-allan-poe.htm
http://quotations.about.com/cs/morepeople/a/bls_edgar_allen.htm
www.tomchalk.com/poe.gif
www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/ graphics/wolf.gif
www.northernstars.ca/actorsabc/ carreybio.html
www.kalymnos-isl.gr/ dimitri/poe-im.htm
www.felisberto.net/
http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/raven/#words