Poetry for a New World Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson Edgar Allen Poe

EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809 – 1849) The most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature

Poe was born the son of an American actor and English actress; Poe was orphaned and adopted; Poe attended West Point Military Academy but was discharged; At the age of 27 he married his cousin who was half his age; He loved her dearly but lost her to tuberculosis; He died at the age of 40. Some facts:

Best known for his poems and short fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Jan. 19, 1809, died Oct. 7, 1849 in Baltimore, deserves more credit than any other writer for the transformation of the short story from anecdote to art. He virtually created the detective story and perfected the psychological thriller. He also produced some of the most influential literary criticism of his time -- important theoretical statements on poetry and the short story -- and has had a worldwide influence on literature.

Poe embraced Romantic agony. He offered Romantic decadence. ( to image despair, decadence, decay) A master of exploring and employing psychological abnormality. a 19 th Freud psychoanalysis A precursor to modern detective story and horror story Art for art’s sake (being absolutely independent, emphasis on the poem’s own integrity) (be opposite to Bryant: expresses moral ideas by poetry)

Major Themes  Love ---- usually of a mourning man for his deceased beloved.  Beauty ---- of a young woman either dying or dead.  Death ---- a source of horror.  Disintegration, decadence, despair, isolation, boredom, anxiety, the lack of communication---- recurrent themes of 20th century literature

The Achievements of Poe Poe - a critic with insightcritic Poe - a great writer of fictionwriter Poe - a great poet with geniuspoet

Poe as a Critic  Poe ’ s Principles for Short StoryPrinciples for Short Story  Poe ’ s Poetic TheoriesPoetic Theories

Poe’s Principles for Short Story  The short story must be of such length as to be read at one sitting----brevity.  The very first sentence ought to help to bring out the “single effect” of the story.  A tale should reveal some logical truth and should end with the last sentence, leaving a sense of finality with the reader.

Poe’s Poetic Theories  The poems should be short, readable at one sitting.  Its chief aim is beauty, to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader. Beauty aims at exciting the sensitive soul to tears. Thus melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tones.  Poe stresses rhythm, defines true poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty.”

Poe as a Short Story Writer  Theme : disintegration of the self  Character: neurotic, dislocated, alienated

Poe, Horror and the Supernatural A writer of horror stories Ligeia(1838) Ligeia(1838) "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) "The Masque of the Red Death" "The Black Cat" "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839)

Poe, Father of Detective Fiction Poe is the unchallenged creator of the modern detective story. Virtually all of the conventions we recognize today originated in his writings. Arthur Conan Doyle himself acknowledged his debt to Poe. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" "The Purloined Letter"

Poe as a Poet To Helen The Raven Annabel Lee

To Helen

Helen, Thy beauty is to me like those Nicean barks of yore, That gentle, o’er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, Thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand! Ah, Psyche, from the region which Are Holy-land!

To Helen

A near-perfect statement of the Romantics’ ideal love of pure beauty.

Helen of Troy

Golden Apple

Golden Apple “for the fairest”

Golden Apple “ for the fairest ” Hera - Queen of Olympus Athena - Goddess of war Aphrodite - Goddess of love Paris - Prince of Troy Helen - Queen of Sparta

The Title of the Poem The First AllusionAllusion The Unifying Force

Allusion Allusion---- references to the ancient beliefs or stories What does the title of the poem mean to you? What ancient story could it refer to? What words or phrases are direct or indirect references to ancient beliefs and stories? Look up "Naiad"(line 8) and "Psyche"( line 14) in your dictionary. What do these allusions contribute to Helen's meaning in the poem?

To Helen Helen, Thy beauty is to me like those Nicean barks of yore,Nicean barks That gentle, o’er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer boreway-worn wanderer To his own native shore.

Nicean Bark

Odysseus (Ulysses) the way-worn wanderer Odysseus and Fairy

On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, Thy classic face, hyacinth Thy Naiad airs have brought me home Naiad To the glory that was Greece,Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome.Rome.

Hyacinth

Naiad - Water Nymph

Greece

Rome

Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand,statue The agate lamp within thy hand!agate lamp Ah, Psyche, from the region whichPsyche Are Holy-land!

Statue

Agate lamp

Psyche - “Goddess of Soul”

To Helen In the first stanza, Helen is compared to a ship. In the second stanza, Helen is compared to a water nymph. In the third stanza, Helen is compared to the statue of Psyche. Do you think the three comparisons are in consistence?

Conclusion Poe’s “To Helen” is a controlled lyric cry which evokes in the mind of every sensitive reader an idealization of pure, ageless beauty in art.

Rhythmical Pattern and Rime Scheme The poem is deceptively simple in rhythmical pattern and rime scheme. Iambic tetrameter Trimeter Dimeter

Annabel Lee

Written in 1849, two years after the death of his wife, the last poem Poe wrote, it has since become one of Poe's most popular works and the culmination of Poe’s lyric style in his recurrent theme of the loss of a beautiful and loved woman. An elegy An idealization of Poe’s wife: Virginia

Questions for Consideration Different from the sense of beauty in To Helen, in Annabel Lee, there is a sense of mournfulness, a sense of idealization of the girl Annabel Lee and her love with the speaker, which is the dominant mood throughout the poem. How is it achieved?

IT was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. Annabel Lee

I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me; Yes! that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we, Of many far wiser than we; And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Assonance Resemblance or similarity in sound between vowels followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables. Assonance differs from RHYME in that RHYME is a similarity of vowel and consonant. "Lake" and "fake" demonstrate RHYME; "lake" and "fate" assonance. Consonance The repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words.

Internal Rhyme: (Rhyme of words within a line of verse. In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white)

It is strengthened by the tension between the sense of idealization and the tragic fate of the girl, the coexistence of opposite, contrary elements. the Ballad qualityBallad quality Devices of sound are used to govern the moodDevices of sound within the poem and unify the poem. Analysis

The Ballad Quality The opening of the poem Repetition of phrases It suggests that the love is such an ideal one that it has become a popular legend which is cherished by people for generations.

Devices of Sound -- the Unifying Force  Repetition Repetition  Alliteration  Consonance  Rhyme Rhyme The echoing sound effect---- meaningful and suggestive. (the speaker’s haunting memory of his beloved girl)

Intermittent repetition creating the effect of a lyric refrain (A phrase, verse, or group of verses repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem)

The Use of End Rhyme: The even numbers of line in most stanzas rhyme with a long vowel sound /i: /. It produces a sense of monotony and strengthened the sense of solemnity in the poem. It suggests the inseparableness of the love between speaker and the girl. The Use of Internal Rhyme: The speaker’s lingering memory of his beloved Rhyme

Rhythmical Pattern  Anapest  Iamb  Spondee

Rhythmical Pattern alternation of anapestic and iambic rhythms ( imitative of the waves of the sea)

Themes  Memory and Reminiscing  Love and Death

Style Six stanzas ranging from six to eight lines each, with the rhyme pattern differing slightly in each one. Repetition and rhyme creating the qualities of unity and a pleasing musicality

Using a melodious narrative form, the speaker laments the death, many years ago, of his beloved young bride Annabel Lee. His loss moves him to state that envious angels caused the girl's death to "dissever" (separate) the young married couple. He tells briefly of her funeral and entombment "in her sepulchre... by the sea." The narrator then reveals that he has been unable to accept their separation. Since her death, he has spent night after night at her tomb. It is an astonishing example of the immortality of young love.

The Raven

This poem has been considered to be one of Poe’s best poetical works and maybe his most famous narrative poem. In the 108 lines, the poet creates an unhappy, unresolved young man, who sits in an elaborately furnished room, trying to find peace from sorrow in his books and conducting a curious dialogue with his midnight visitant, a black, deathlike symbol---- the raven, which is used consciously to convey the bitterness, distress and desperation in the poem.

Features of The Raven Allusions and images Variation of tone Repetition

Poe uses allusions to some classical places, as well as certain kinds of images to create an unforgettable, yet inaccessible lover “lost Lenore”, who is often identified as Virginia, his wife. Allusions and images

Variation of tone The Poem is characterized by its dramatic variation of tone, which starts from mournfulness, and then progresses to delight, and eventually to madness under the steady one-word repetition of the talking bird.

Poe also likes to use insistent or cumulative repetition for effect. In this poem the raven’s repetition “nevermore” reflects a basic anapestic rhythm that becomes stronger and more pronounced like a drumbeat as the poem reaches its emotional climax. Repetition