2. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)  This daguerreotype of Poe was taken in 1848 when he was 39, a year before his death.

3. Edgar Allan Poe  Life of Poe  Born on Jan. 19m 1809 to unsuccessful touring actor parents (Elizebath who died in 1911 and David Poe who died in 1910).  Adopted by his parents’ friends the Allans, but bad relations with John Allan  Entering Virginia University in 1826 and turning into a drunkard, gambler and drug addict

4. Edgar Allan Poe  Entering West Point in 1830 and breaking with John Allan finally in 1831  His elder brother died in 1831 and his idiot younger sister died soon  His cousin wife Virginia died of breaking of her throat blood vessel in poverty in 1847  Poe died of cerebral haemorrhage after a heavy drink on Oct. 7, 1849

5. Edgar Allan Poe  Poe’s literary position  Forerunner of western decadent literature  Forerunner of aestheticistic literature  Explorer of abnormal psychology  Father of psychoanalytic criticism  Path-breaker of American detective novel  Father of modern short story

6. Edgar Allan Poe  Emerson dismissed him in three words “the jingle man” ( 打油诗人 ) ， Mark Twain declared his prose to be unreadable. And Whitman was the only famous literary figure present at the Poe Memorial Ceremony in 1875.  Not accepted before French symbolists like Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867) and Mallarmé.

7. Edgar Allan Poe  Literary features of Poe  Motifs of Poe’s poems and stories:  Love  Beauty (supernatual beauty)  Death (often of a woman, a lover)  Terror  Neurotic diorder

8. Edgar Allan Poe  Poe’s gothicism  Decadent content  Grotesque images  Abnormal psyches  Melancholy  Supernatural elements  Other gothic elements (deserted castle, old temple, dark and gloomy cellar; stone coffin; dead woman; hero of abnormal psyche)

9. Edgar Allan Poe  Poe’s literary contribution  Aestheticism  Principle of beauty  Principle of unity and concentration  Careful choice of diction for desired effect (the musical effect of words themselves)  Negligence of so-called truth and social, political and moral suggestions  “Pure poetry” or “pure art”  Unity of effect and atmosphere; content in service of artistic effect

10. Edgar Allan Poe  Principles of short story writing  Short enough to finish at one sitting to aquire desired effect on the reader  Attractive first sentence  Abruptness of last sentence  Concise; devoid of tedious statement

11. Edgar Allan Poe  Poe’s dream technique  Disgusted with science and materialism  Desire to break away from earthly bondage into a dream land for spiritual consolation

12. Edgar Allan Poe  Theories of literary criticism  Literary works are self-containted  Forerunner of New Criticism

13. List of Poe’s Works  Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque 《奇异怪诞故事集》  “MS. Found in a Bottle” 《瓶子里发现的手稿》  “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” 《毛格街杀人案》  “The Fall of the House of Usher” 《厄舍古屋的倒塌》  “The Masque of the Red Death” 《红色死亡的化妆舞会》  “The Cask of Amontillado” 《一桶酒的故事》  The Raven 《乌鸦》  Israfel 《伊斯拉菲尔》  Annabel Lee 《安娜贝尔 李》  To Helen 《致海伦》  The Poetic Principle 《诗歌原理》  The Philosophy of Composition 《创作哲学》

14. Edgar Allan Poe  Reading of The Raven  What is the tone of the poem?  What is the effect of the words like “tapping”, “napping” and others ending with “-ing”?  Who is the speaker thinking about?  What kind of image is the raven? Does this bird image change through the poem at least in the mind of the speaker?  Do you notice the repetition of the words “no more”, “never more”? What effect does they create?  Do you notice any gothic elements in the poem? What are they?

15. The Raven (1845) Left by Gustave Doré Right by John Tenniel

16. Stanza 1  Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, 1 While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.‘ 2

17. (1) Forgotten Lore  may be about the occult or black magic

18. (2) Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens  at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickens's novel, Grip makes a noise and someone says, "What was that – him tapping at the door?" The response is, "'Tis someone knocking softly at the shutter."  Dickens's raven could speak many words and had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe emphasized the bird's more dramatic qualities.

19. Stanza 2  Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Nameless here for evermore.

20. Stanza 3  And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more,'

21. Stanza 4  Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, `Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; - Darkness there, and nothing more.

22. Stanza 5  Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more.

23. Stanza 6  Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. `Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore - Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; - 'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

24. Stanza 7  Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door - Perched upon a bust of Pallas 3 just above my chamber door - Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

25. (3) Bust of Pallas  the bust of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom

26. Stanza 8  Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven. Ghastly grim and ancient raven 4 wandering from the nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!‘ 5 Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

27. (4) The Image of Raven  In Norse mythology, Odin possessed two ravens named Hugin and Munin, representing thought and memory.  The raven also gets a reputation as a bird of ill omen in the book of Genesis. According to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark. It learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately return with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed on carrion forever.  In Ovid's Metamorphoses, a raven also begins as white before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lover's unfaithfulness. The raven's role as a messenger in Poe's poem may draw from those stories.

28. (5) Plutonian’s Shore  The use of the raven — the "devil bird" — also suggests the above-mentioned black magic.  This devil image is emphasized by the narrator's belief that the raven is "from the Night's Plutonian shore," or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld (also known as Hades in Greek mythology

29. Stanza 9  Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door - Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as `Nevermore.'

30. Stanza 10  But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered - Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before - On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.' Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

31. Stanza 11  Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, `Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore - Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore Of "Never-nevermore."'

32. Stanza 12  But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore - What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

33. Stanza 13  This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore!

34. Stanza 14  Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. `Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

35. Stanza 15  `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! - Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted - On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore - Is there - is there balm in Gilead? 6 - tell me - tell me, I implore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

36. (6) Balm in Gilead  a reference to the Book of Jeremiah in the Bible: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" In that context, the Balm of Gilead is a resin used for medicinal purposes  suggesting perhaps that the narrator needs to be healed after the loss of Lenore

37. Stanza 16  `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore - Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, 7 It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

38. (7) Aidenn  word for the Garden of Eden, though Poe uses it to ask if Lenore has been accepted into Heaven.  In Stanza 14, the narrator imagines that seraphim (a type of angel) have entered the room. The narrator thinks they are trying to take his memories of Lenore away from him using nepenthe, a drug mentioned in Homer's Odyssey to induce forgetfulness

39. Stanza 17  `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting - `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

40. Stanza 18  And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore!

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