Edgar Allan Poe

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Edgar Allan Poe

• 1809(?)-1849

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His Family and Tragic Life

• Born in Boston or Baltimore
• Some question as to when
• The son of traveling actors
• His mother was adored by all
• Tragic and unhappy life

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Tragic and Unhappy Life

• Supposedly watched his Mother die of
  illness--Tuberculosis
• Father deserted him at the age of twofather died
  shortly after mother
• adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan
• constant disagreements with his
  step-fatherusually about money/gambling
• Step-mother adored him, but she died!

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Education

• Product of a formal education
• Studied briefly at the University of Virginia
• Tendency to sabotage himself
• Drinking and gambling difficulties kept him from
  continuing at UVA

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L I F E

• Received an appointment to West Point, but
  provoked his own dismissal, which means he was
  kick out! (you cant quit West Point)
• Caused a final separation between himself and
  step-fatherwas written out of his step-fathers
  will

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. . .continued

• 1826 he discovered his childhood sweetheart got
  married, he became depressed
• First book is published in 1827 and sold for
  0.50 a copyhe barely sold any.

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. . .continued

• In 1836 married his 14 year old cousin, Virginia
• Moved many timesNY, Philly, Baltimore, Richmond
• Last 12 years of life worked as journalist,
  editor, and creative writer

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. . . continued

• Lived in poverty stricken conditions despite
  going from job to job
• In 1846 wife died after a long illnessit is
  unclear exactly what it was, but most believe it
  was Tuberculosis

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. . . continued

• Died in Baltimore after having been found in the
  streets, presumably drunk
• His death is a mystery todayrabies? Illness? No
  one knows
• Died a poor man despite all his work, but was
  widely read!

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Addiction

• Sometimes strange special effects linked to his
  addiction to laudanum
• Laudanum is a highly addictive, opium based
  medicine, commonly used in treatment of headaches
  and stomach pains in 1800s
• May be false informationPoe not an addict?

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Poes Work

• Known for
• Tales of mystery and terror stories
• Introducing the modern detective story

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Literary Term Gothic Elements

• Poes intentions were to blur the distinction
  between nightmare and reality.
• Supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown
  terror pervades the action
• High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced
  anger, surprise, and especially terror

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Literary Term Gothic Elements

• Use of words indicating fear, mystery, etc.
  apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror,
  fright, fainting
• Word choice is key in his writingits all about
  developing the mood and atmosphere

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Literary Term Allusions

• Reference to a famous historical or literary
  figure or event
• Best sources are literature, history, Greek myth,
  and the Bible
• Serves to explain or clarify or enhance whatever
  subject

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Literary Term Irony

• VERBAL
• SITUATIONAL
• DRAMATIC

• words spoken by one character mean something
  different than what that character means
• situation is not what it appears to be
• what do we know that the characters do not know
  about something

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Literary Term Symbol

• Something that is itself and yet also represents
  something else
• Universal symbols embodying universally
  recognizable meanings
• Invested symbols given symbolic meaning by the
  way an author uses them in a literary work

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Poe and Gothic Tenets

• Poe emphasized grotesque, desolate, mysterious,
  horrible and an ultimate abject fear that can be
  aroused in the reader.
• Remoteness/indefiniteness
• Single effect is eerie (an emphasis on physical
  aspects.)

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Poe and Gothic Tenets (cont.)

• Poe creates a super sensitive hero who would
  not/could not function in normal society
• Predisposition with emotional needs
• Sort of psychic communication present (usually
  between a member of living world and a living
  corpse)

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Poe and Gothic Tenets (cont.)

• There exists the possibility of returning to
  living world/to life after death (allows for
  inhabitation of own corpse)
• There is life of the mind after death of the body
  superhuman strength to live one does not yield
  oneself to death except through the weakness of
  the will

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General belief

• Poe man feels and senses BEFORE he thinks and
  reasons.
• You must have something to express before you can
  commit it to expression.
• Is this true in your life?

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Poes Characters

• Poe shows men on the borderline of sanity. They
  try to keep a foothold on common sense and the
  material world.
• Poes narrators are important for understanding
  the bizarre logic of some mensometimes the main
  character
• Poes women are doomed to premature death, one
  way or another
• Constructs his tales to show characters
  limitations

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CONFLICTS

• Poes characters are pushed over the border by
  events and some urgency within themselves
• Internal conflicts are the driving forceexternal
  conflicts usually serve to emphasize the internal
  conflicts
• IE--Fear of death is dealt with through actual
  confrontation with the character of Death

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Poes settings

• Usually an unknown or obscure setting at some
  distant time.
• Purpose readers will not be diverted from story,
  etc. by contemporary references or ideas
• New worlds are created so there may be a
  concentration wholly on theme and atmosphere
• Characters can live by/through emotion because of
  NO time/setting constraints

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Characterization

• Often characters are not named or are given a
  name that is deeply rooted w/ contextual meaning.
• Why would he leave some characters unnamed?

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THEMES in POE

• Poes central theme involves some approach to
  life.
• All his narrators, however demented, cling to the
  world of logic and common sense.
• Themes involve that which we think, but never
  dream to do.
• The darkest parts of men and women.
• The saddest parts of life.

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MAJOR THEMES AND CONCEPTS

• Premature Burial
• Love gone awry
• Mans arrogance about everything
• Guilt and Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Mans inhumanity to manVengeance
• Death is unavoidable and horrible

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Subject Matter

• Poe says no to common and ordinary or mundane,
  there is an emphasis on bizarre, unexpected,
  unusual
• Wanted to affect people in a manner different
  than that which they might encounter in ordinary
  life.

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Short Stories

• Short Stories
• The Tell-Tale Heart
• Masque of the Red Death
• The Cask of Amontillado
• The Black Cat
• The Pit and The Pendulum

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Poetry

• Common Theme
• Women and Premature Death or Lost Love

• Poems
• The Raven
• Annabel Lee
• To Helen
• Lenore

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Remember

• Poe is the author, and not the character
• Many people assumed Poe to be mad due to his
  characters and themes
• Only natural considering what he suffered in his
  lifetime

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• IN POES STORIES
• Identify how Poe uses allusion, gothic elements,
  and symbols in his stories
• Identify themes and the horror elements
• Sane or Insane?

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• THE END!!