Edgar Allan Poe

Late 18th Century

• All his loved ones left him. -Themes of death and loss in The Raven, Annabel Jee, Ulalume, and the Tamerlane. -Poe’s father left the family and his mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe died in 1811, when he was 2 years old. -His fiancée also left him and got engaged to someone else. -He was married to Virginia (his cousin) but she passed away in 1847 due to tuberculosis.

• Poe’s orphan father disapproved of his aspirations to become a writer. -Poe struggled with financial problems. -After high school, he went to University of Virginia in 1826, but dropped out within a year because his step-father refused to give him money.

"Darkness there and nothing more" (line 24)

• Gloomy setting
• Overall darkness to the writing and content
• A woman's death

• “broken... spoken” (line 61)
• “agreeing… being… seeing” (line 51-52)

Supernatural:

Talking raven

Extreme Emotion--> loneliness/grief for lost love

Repetition ("nevermore")

Explores self-torture, loss, grief, and insanity

• The Raven shows Gothic themes “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December/And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor”(Poe 7-8).

Edgar Allan Poe

By:

Aleena, Jahnavi, and Sabine

• Individualism

• Power of Imagination

• Dark emotion

Individualism

Power of Imagination

"Dark" Emotion

Romanticism

Life of Poe

• Parents- David Poe, Elizabeth Poe
• Siblings- Henry, Rosalie, Edgar

Supernatural

• Died at 40 on October 7 1849 in Baltimore. The reason for his death is still a mystery.He was found unconscious in his room. No one really knows the reason for his death.
• Some think that: -Drunkenness killed him-liver failure -Someone kidnapped him, and beat him. -He had a nervous breakdown due to too much depression.
• He knew he was going to die. -Before dying he told doctor to tell his mother-in-law about the death. He used to overdose on opium. -He was fed up from his love due to loneliness.

Gothic

• Horror and mystery tales.
• Everyone left him.
• Whoever he would try to get close to, either died or left him. Like his mom, then his fiancée, and then his wife. He loved them all but later on his mom and wife died and his fiancée left him.

Dark Emotion

• American romantic poet
• Focused on personal feelings
• Born on Jan 19 1809 in Boston.
• Died on October 7 1849 in Baltimore

Supernatural

• Afterlife
• Existence of God

Gothic

Loneliness

• Poe's fear of losing his wife

Ann Radcliffe

E.T.A. Hoffmann

John Allan

Poe's Work

Stylistic Analysis

Repetition

Poe's Legacy:

Shapeshifter by Gary Hughes

Poe's Legacy:

“Already Dead” by Charlie Huston (2005)

• Horror novel
• Adventures of a vampire
• Mysterious zombie epidemic stemming around New York

Similarities:

• Themes of death and the Gothic.
• Mystery of who the cause of sickness is vs. mystery of who the raven is/where it came from.

Differences:

• Happy ending

Poe's Legacy:

Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle

• Strong emotion- orphan, apple company
• Unusual- talking raven vs leaving company
• Supernatural- demon raven vs Job’s death
• Biography of Jobs vs the strange event in poet’s life

Poem: The Raven

Gothic:

Setting (nighttime/dark colors/raven)

Suspense--> play on human emotions

Foreshadows his wife’s death

Poem Analysis

Gothic

Exotic

Human Condition

• The Raven explores the human condition

• The Raven shows an interest in the exotic -“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 lamplight 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!”(Poe 103-108).

"'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/It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—'"(Poe 91-94).

More Than A Poem

Supernatural

Interest in the Ancient/Long Ago

Dark Emotion

• The Raven is more than just a poem.

• The Raven investigates the supernatural

• The Raven shows emotion. “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain /Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before”(Poe 13-14).

-Poe’s mysterious death vs The supernatural demise of the protagonist

-Wife dies two years after poem is published --> protagonist’s lover dies

-Both end up in despair afterward and it leads to their death

-“And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming/And the lamplight 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!”(Poe 105-108).

• The Raven shows an interest in the long ago “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting/On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door”(Poe 103-104).

To conclude...

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” Poe Museum. Poe Museum, n.d. Web. October 27, 2015.

Swan, Ed. "Analysis of "The Raven" by Ed Swan." "The Raven:" Inspired Work or Method-driven Masterpiece? N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. <http://personal.palouse.net/edswan/ravencrit.html>.

"Poe's Life." Poe's Life | Edgar Allan Poe. Poe Museum, 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2015. <https://www.poemuseum.org/life.php>.

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.