Edgar Allen Poe

1. Edgar Allen Poe

2. Biography Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His father deserted the family, and his mother, an actress, died of tuberculosis when Edgar was three. Edgar went to live with his uncle, John Allan, and aunt Frances in Richmond, Virginia. In 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia and was an exceptional student, unfortunately, he was forced to drop out due to immense gambling debts. In March 1827, Poe enlisted in the army under the name "Edgar A. Perry", because his uncle wanted him to become a lawyer instead of following a literary career. When he was discharged from the army in 1829, he had attained the rank of sergeant major. In 1830, Poe moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter Virginia, and enlisted in the U.S. Military Academy in an effort to attain his uncle's respect. When Frances' Allan died and Poe's uncle remarried, Poe decided to he would never reconcile with his uncle or receive an inheritance. Poe deliberately broke regulations to force his dismissal from West Point .Poe's literary career first began with poetry. He published two volumes of poetry before he became disappointed with the lack of recognition, and began to write short stories. The first five of which were published in 1832 .On May 16, 1836, Poe married his cousin Virginia, who at the time was just thirteen. He worked as an editor for several magazines following his marriage and throughout his lifetime.The last years of Poe's life were very tragic. Virginia died of tuberculosis in 1847, after five years of suffering from the illness. In 1849, Poe became engaged to Sarah Royster Shelton. On the way to the wedding (on Sept. 28) he stopped in Baltimore and was later found lying outsided a voting place on October 3. He died in a hospital four days later, cause of death unknown.

3. literary style and theme: • Genres: • Poe's best known fiction works are Gothic, a genre he followed to appease the public taste. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning.

4. Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For comic effect, he used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an attempt to liberate the reader from cultural conformity.

5. Some of his well-known work: • Poetry: “Annabel Lee” “The Bells” “The Raven” “Lenore” “The Haunted Palace” “A Dream Within a Dream”

6. And Tales… • “The Black Cat” • “The Masque of the Red Death” • “The Tell-Tale Heart” • “The Pit and the Pendulum”

8. Why study Poe: • Poe was not only a literacy genius, but revolutionary and influential to many future artists… • For example:

10. During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic. James Russell Lowell called him "the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America” • Poe was also known as a writer of fiction and became one of the first American authors of the 19th century to become more popular in Europe than in the United States. • Poe's early detective fiction tales starring the fictitious C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?”

11. So…let’s read, • “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe

12. Quick Write: • After reading “The Raven” write short response including: • 1: What do you feel the story is about? • 2: Who are the main characters of the poem? • 3: What point of view is the poem written in, and how does this affect the overall theme? • 4: What do you feel is the overall theme of the poem…hint: try to find the feeling of the poem! • 5: What did you like & dislike? • 6: Will you read more Poe?

13. "The Raven" is a narrative poem, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. • Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references. • Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay "The Philosophy of Composition". • The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens. Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout. • "The Raven" was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, though it did not bring him much financial success. Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical opinion is divided as to the poem's status, though it remains one of the most famous poems ever written.

15. Standards: • Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text • 3.2 Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present action (s) or foreshadows future action(s). • 3.3 Analyze characterization as delineated through a character’s thoughts, words, speech patterns, and actions; the narrator’s description; and the thoughts, words, and actions of other characters. • 3.4 Identify and analyze recurring themes across works (e.g., the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of loneliness). • 3.5 Contrast points of view (e.g., first and third person, limited and omniscient, subjective and objective) in narrative text and explain how they affect the overall theme of the work.

16. Listen to “The Raven” • http://www.celebratingchristopherwalken.com/theraven.htm • Recited by: Christopher Walkin

17. Quick Write: • How did hearing Christopher Walkin’s reading of “The Raven” add to your previous feelings?

18. Watch: • The Simpons episode of, • “The Raven”