1. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Works

2. Poe’s Reputation
“Edgar Allan Poe: father of the detective story, the pre-eminent literary critic of his time, supreme artist of the short story, world-reknowned poet, and the undisputed master of the macabre.” --John Astin
“ Poe is the prince of American literature” --Victor Hugo
“ Poe, the marvelous lord of rhythmic expression.” --Oscar Wilde

3. Poe’s Importance
Awareness of the discontinuity between the Old and the New World
Deep commitment to the past
Inability to find his рlасе in the traditional and conservative society of the Old South
Sense of lоnеlу individualism
Acute criticism of contemporary culture
Foresaw some of the nightmares of today

4. Poe’s Acceptance
Admired by the French Symbolists: Charles Baudelaire Stephane Mallarme, Paul Valery
Poe's American contemporaries: "two-fifths sheer fudge" (James Russell Lowell, А Fable for Critics)
“Jingle mаn" (Emerson)
“An enthusiasm for Рое is the mark of а decidedly primitive state of reflection" (Неnrу James)

5. Poe’s Work
Recreates а place beyond аnу particular locality оr nationality, а world of its own
Often assumed to bе the first distinctive writer to have соmе out of the Old South
The Southern qualities of his fiction:
- high formalism of style
- idealization of women
- scorn for democracy and progress
-uneasiness about the age of the machine

6. Poe’s Romanticism Deep and intense
Took the special form of explorations of а world of dream and of nightmare rather than explorations of American daylight scene
Not nourished bу the contemplation of nature
Interested in the particular examples of breakdown, frustration, and horror that his contemporary culture produced.

7. Poe’s Genres
Criticism--gained a national reputation as a virulently sarcastic critic, a literary hatchet man.
Bulk of his writing consists of his criticism,
Ambition to become a powerful critic.
Poetry--an experimental poet.
Psychological fiction--wanted to produce the greatest possible horrific effects on the reader.
Detective Story--created this form with all its major conventions complete.

8. Poe’s Early Years
Born January 19, 1809 in Boston as Edgar Poe, son of traveling actors.
Orphaned/abandoned very young
Raised by a foster family-- John and Frances Allan.
Baptized in 1812 as Edgar Allan Poe.

9. Poe’s Education Attended two private schools in England (1816-1820)
Attended several private schools in America from
Attended University of Virginia from Feb until Mar. 1827
Later attended West Point but was honorably discharged

10. Poe’s Works Inventor of short story Short Story Genres Poems
Horror
Detective
Psychological
Science fiction
Poems
Literary Criticism
Originator of American literary criticism
A genre is the most basic term used to describe a literary work.

11. Some of Poe’s Short Stories
“The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1842)
“The Black Cat” (1842)
“The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
“The Masque of the Red Death” (1842)
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)

12. Some of Poe’s Poems “The Raven” (1845) “Annabel Lee” (1849)
“Israfel” (1831)
“Lenore” (1843)
“Tamerlane” (1827)

13. Some Literary Tools Works are Southern, Gothic, Romantic
Used such tools as
Allusion
Symbols
Vocabulary

14. Vocabulary
Poe uses vocabulary to create setting, for rhetorical effect, rather than for information.
Modern horror films use music to create atmosphere; Poe used vocabulary.

15. Literary Term: Allusion
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
Left to reader to make the association
Understandable only to those with prior knowledge

16. Poe and the Gothic
Poe did not want to write gothic stories; he started his career spoofing the Gothic.
He said that he wrote, “Tales of terror, not of Germany, but of the soul.”
He transformed tales of terror into psychological stories; he delved into the mysterious recesses of the human mind.

17. Gothic Elements
Supernatural horrors and atmosphere of unknown terror pervading action
High emotion, sentimentalism, also anger, surprise, and terror
Use of words indicating fear, mystery, etc.: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright, fainting
Grim Settings

18. Grim Settings Landscapes often reflections of character’s mind.
Unusual buildings, extremes of nature, eccentric works of art
Very few of his stories clearly in America; most in Europe or “Poe Land.”

19. Gothic Plot Devices Hidden evil Obsession with Death Maniacal Laughter
Unspeakable, mysterious crimes: incest, parracide
Obsession with Death
Ghosts, blood, body parts
Maniacal Laughter
Deformity
Grotesque--people who don’t look right are capable of activity beyond the norm

20. Characteristics of Poe’s Detective Stories
Veiled clues before the reader.
Writer/narrator strives to appear objective.
Preference for solving everything by the mind.
Poe disturbed by what could not be solved by reason.
Climax = narrator’s explanation of the crime.

21. Poe as a Literary Critic
Based criticism on his own writing style
Early supporter of Hawthorne
Harshly criticized detractors
Preferred short works
Divorced morality from art
Stressed unity of tone

22. Poe in 1845
Had published several collections of short stories and many poems.
Had been married for nine years to Virginia Poe.
Hoped to get own magazine.

23. Poe after 1845 Virginia died of tuberculosis in 1847.
Prose Poem “Eureka” published (1848)
Poe died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore.
Buried in Westminster Burying Ground in Baltimore.
Portrait made in 1848

24. Poe’s Mysterious Death
Found unconscious outside a saloon
Possible death by alcohol overdose
although sober for six months before death
Possible diabetic coma
Possible heart attack
Possible rabies
Possible injuries from being beaten

25. After Poe’s Death
Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, a four volume edition, is published by Rufus Griswold, Poe’s literary executor.
Griswold disliked Poe and acted to harm Poe’s reputation.
Griswold destroyed letters, wrote misleading statements, falsified manuscripts, and faked correspondence.
Poe’s reputation is damaged for generations.

26. Poe’s Public Image
Later scholarship has disproved Griswold's slanders and proved that Роe was not а moral monster but а man fighting for а place in а conservative and prejudiced society who was а competent editor and quite а successful journalist.