Edgar Allan Poe

Teacher: Yony Cárdenas CornelioStudent: Gabriela Paredes Baquerizo

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL MAYOR DE SAN MARCOSFACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN

AMERICAN LITERATURE

Timeline

January 19, 1809

Edgar Allan Poe was Born to David & Eliza in the city of Boston.

December 8, 1811

Eliza dies on a theatrical tour in Richmond.

1815

Edgar lives with the Allan’s in England & attends school in London & Stroke-Newington.

1821

Poe continues to go to school in Richmond

1825

Engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster

1826Attended the University of Virginia.

1827

Arguments with John Allan so leaves for Boston where he publishes poems such as Tamerlane and joined the army

October 7, 1849

Poe died in a hospital in Baltimore and was buried in the Westminster Presbyterian Church

January 30, 1847Virginia Clemm, Poe’s wife dies of T.B. and Poe became ill.

January 29, 1845

Becomes famous for “The Raven” which was published in New York

Febuary, 1841Poe became editor of Graham’s Magazine

February 28, 1829

Frances Allan dies of T.B.

March 27, 1834

John Allan dies

1835

Moves to Richmond with cousin Virginia Clemm and her mother

May 16, 1836

Poe marries his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Clemm in Richmond

June 1839

assistant editor for the Magazine Burton’s Gentleman

Poe’s work.

Poe’s professional life was full of failure His greatest success was “The Raven,” which

brought him fame, but earned him only $14.00 Poe wrote many short stories simply for the

money; ironically he is most famous for these stories

He saw himself as a poet, but could not make a living from writing poetry

He is credited with the invention of the detective story (these stories provided Poe with the order & logic that was lacking in his own life)

Characteristics of Poe’s work.Poe explored the dark and often irrational side of

the human mind .

His stories often are filled with a sense of anxiety & have a dreamlike quality

Poe saw women as angelic figures: “Women have been angels of mercy to me.”

Poe’s characters are often tortured by guilt

Poe’s stories are quite modern in their psychoanalytical components

Like many of his characters, Poe was caught between• Rationality & irrationality• Order & chaos

TO HELEN Helen, thty beauty is to me

Like those Nicean barks of yoreThat gently, o'er a perfumed sea,The weary, way-worn wanderer

boreTo his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,Thy Naiad airs have brought me

homeTo the glory that was Greece,

And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo, in yon brilliant window-nicheHow statue-like I see thee stand,The agate lamp within thy hand,

Ah! Psyche, from the regions whichAre Holy Land! 

-.Thy: your-Yore : long ago-Roam: to walk or travel around without a direction-Thee : you-Agate: a hard stone with bands or areas of colour, used in jewellery-Nicean: refers to boats from the city of Nicea in Asia Minor. Poe creates the phrase for its melodious sound- Wont: accustomed.-Hyacinth: wavy and perfumed-Naiad : in classical mythology, a water nymph-Psyche: goddess of the soul

“The Raven”

The narrator moves through a sequence of changing moods. When first awakened by the raven, he is gloomy. Terror quickly follows, then curiosity as he seeks a simple explanation for the tapping. The entrance of the bird makes him smile. But soon the uncanny aptness of the same, cruel answer causes bitter self-questioning, sad memory, near hysteria, and finally permanent hopelessness. The raven in the end never flits, still sitting there, with devil eyes, its shadow falling on the floor; and the man’s soul is in that shadow, forever.

The subject of the poem deals with the death of a beautiful woman, which could be Virginia or others whom the Poe speaker loves, and the sorrow of a lover whose beautiful lady has been taken from him by death.

“The Raven”

He is continually reminded of the pain he feels from her loss (the bird will leave him in the morning like Lenore; Lenore will never sit in the chair as he does in the poem).

As much as the narrator wants to forget his loss, he can’t help but remember.

“The Raven”

The poem contains internal rhyme:

“Once upon a midnight dreary while I wandered weak and weary”

Poe establishes immediately, an atmosphere/tone of darkness/melancholy/ suspense/fear/anxiety

“The Raven” “The Raven” reflects the

darkness, anger and frustration Poe felt while watching his wife Virginia die for five years

During that time, Poe struggled to keep Virginia fed and warm, and also to give her the medicine she desperately needed

The guilt & anger he felt are expressed in the darkness of “The Raven”

In the story we read about

how the main character lives with an old man in his house.

However, the old man has a red, vulture’s eye.

For some reason this bothers the main character so much that he wants to get rid of it! Then he starts spying on the old man every night in the dark, but one night the old man realizes he’s there.

The old man I killed and buried in his house.

Days later, the police went to the house and the main character confessed his crime.

The conflict of the story is that the old man’s eye bothers the main character so much that he wants to get rid of it.

In the end, he gets rid of the eye by killing the old man but the main character can still hear the old man’s heartbeat.

Murderer

Old man Police officers

The Duality of Man› Light vs. Dark, Good vs. Evil – every man has to find a way to balance these out in the hopes that the light/good will be the predominate side in his life.

In The Tell-Tale Heart some foreshadowing is used. He also uses a simile and repetition of important ideas

of the story.

The Tell-Tale Heart is a Horror short story. Edgar Allen Poe published mostly horror fiction stories.

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