Edgar Allan Poe

1. Edgar Allan Poe “Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” Edgar Allan Poe Presented by: Olivia Pinkston

2. Basic Background Info • Born Jan.19, 1809 • Parents separate 1810- Father Splits • 1811- Mom dies of T.B.- Poe is fostered by Allan Family (Mrs. Allan very nurturing, Mr. Allan distant) • Age 6 Poe is sent to school in England by age 11 he is back in states to continue schooling • Edgar excels in athletics during school days (was said to have swum 6 miles in the James River in VA.) • Attends VA. University- end up dropping out due to lack of fund and no help from Mr. Allan • Poe joins the Army under name Edgar Allan Perry- gets ranking of Sergeant Major-eventually discharged • Mrs. Allan dies of T.B.- Poe and Allan reconcile for a short while then it goes back to distance, and Allan refusing any financial assistance when Poe is in need • Mr. Allan dies leaving money to illegitimate children and nothing to Poe

3. Basic Info • Seeking family Poe moves in with Aunt Maria Clem and her then 8 yr old daughter Virginia • Poe and Virginia marry when he is 26 and she isn’t even 13 (falsified documents saying she was 21) • Poe and Virginia were a happy, fun, devoted couple despite Poe’s inability to properly provide • Poe was said to be his own worse enemy when it came to his career (he sounds bi polar) • In 1842 Poe and Maria were watching and listening to Virginia singing at the piano when Virginia started coughing up blood. • 5 year struggle for Virginia fighting T.B. in which Poe was a caregiver for her- he would suffer from bout of helpless rage during this time • After Virginia died Poe would be seen at her grave all hours day and night crying until he fell asleep. • Poe viewed women as his salvation- so eventually started to look for another wife and was courting several different women all at once • Was engaged to Helen Whitman (ended when her mother asked Poe to basically sign a pre-nupt) and Elmira Shelton ( a former Fiancée) during the last years of his life

4. His Mysterious Death • Poe disappears for a few days in 1949 • Is found in Baltimore delirious, and some say where some other man’s clothing, looked almost beaten. • “In the early morning hours of October 7, Poe calmly breathed a simple prayer, "Lord, help my poor soul," and died.” (taken fromhttp://www.poemuseum.org/life-death.php)

5. Alone (1830) Al Aaraaf (1829) The Angel of the Odd--An Extravaganza (1850) Annabel Lee (1849) The Assignation (1834) The Balloon-Hoax (1850) The Bells (1849) Berenice (1835) The Black Cat (1843) Bon-Bon (1850) Bridal Ballad (1837) The Business Man (1850) The Cask of Amontillado (1846) The City In the Sea (1831) The Coliseum (1833) The Colloquy of Monos And Una (1850) The Conqueror Worm (1843) The Conversation of Eiros And Charmion (1850) Criticism (1850) A Descent Into the Maelstrom (1841) The Devil In the Belfry Diddling (1850) The Domain of Arnheim (1850) A Dream (1827) Dreamland (1844) Dreams (1827) A Dream Within A Dream (1827) The Duc De L'Omlette (1850) Eldorado (1849) Eleonora (1850) Elizabeth (1850) An Enigma (1848) Eulalie (1845) Eureka--A Prose Poem (1848) Evening Star (1827) Books and Poetry List taken from http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/eapoe/bl-eapoe-complete.htm

6. The Facts In the Case of M. Valdemar (1845) Fairy-Land (1829) The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) For Annie (1849) Four Beasts In One--the Homo-Cameleopard (1850) The Gold-Bug (1843) Hans Phaall (1850) "The Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour" (1827) The Haunted Palace (1839) Hop-Frog Or the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs (1850) How To Write A Blackwood Article (1850) Hymn (1835) Imitation The Imp of the Perverse (1850) The Island of the Fay (1850) Israfel (1831) King Pest (1835) The Lake. To -- (1827) Landor's Cottage (1850) The Landscape Garden (1850) Lenore (1831) Ligeia (1838) Lionizing (1850) Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq. (1850) Loss of Breath (1850) The Man of the Crowd (1840) The Man That Was Used Up (1850) Manuscript Found In A Bottle (1833) Marginalia (1844-49) The Masque of the Red Death (1842) Mellonta Tauta (1850) Mesmeric Revelation (1844) Metzengerstein (1850) Morella (1850) Morning On the Wissahiccon (1850) The Murders In the Rue Morgue (1841) The Mystery of Marie Roget (1850) Mystification (1850) The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1850) Never Bet the Devil Your Head (1850) The Oblong Box (1850) The Oval Portrait (1850) The Pit And the Pendulum (1842) The Power of Words (1850) A Predicament (1838) The Premature Burial (1850) The Purloined Letter (1845) The Raven (1845) Romance (1829) List continued

7. A Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1850) Tamerlane (1827) The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) The Thousand-And-Second Tale of Scheherazade (1850) Thou Art the Man (1850) Three Sundays In A Week (1850) To -- (1830) To ----- (1829) To F-- (1835) To F--S S. O--D (1835) To Helen (1831) To Helen (1848) To M-- (1830) To M.L.S. (1847) To My Mother (1849) To One In Paradise (1834) To the River (1829) Ulalame (1847) A Valentine (1846) The Valley of Unrest (1831) Von Kempelen And His Discovery (1850) Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand In A Sling (1850) William Wilson (1839) X-Ing A Paragrab (1850) Scenes From 'Politian' (1835) Serenade (1850) Shadow--A Parable (1850) Silence--A Fable (1837) The Sleeper (1831) Some Words With A Mummy (1850) Song (1827) Sonnet Silence (1840) Sonnet to Science (1829) Sonnet to Zante (1837) The Spectacles (1850) The Sphinx (1850) Spirits of the Dead (1827) Stanzas (1827) The System of Dr. Tarr And Prof. Fether (1850) Tale of Jerusalem (1850) List Continued

8. Poe was the first to write detective novels ( never really put that together) the first was The Murders in the Rue Morgue In the book there are a series of gruesome murders taking place and our French Detective C. Auguste Dupin is investigating A man Le Bon an acquaintance gets arrested for it leading Dupin to question some of the facts the police have ignored Shrill voice (heard by people at time of attack) unidentifiable Mode of entry (windows man couldn’t climb to) The beating of victim not done by human strength Hair removed from vic was not human hair The actual murder very unexpected (a razor blade wielding orangutan) (photo taken from http://www.northrup.org/photos/orangutan/ ) The Murders in the Rue Morgue

9. The Purloined Letter • C. Auguste Dupin is back in this mystery • A letter is stolen from royal apartments • Police know who took it but can’t find the evidence when they do the search of the Minister D’s place ( a month goes by) • The Prefect goes again to Dupin for help • Dupin produces the letter at this 2 meeting dumbfounding the Prefect • Dupin explains basically that one must think like the suspect in order to solve the mystery • The police failed to search the most obvious spot which was a sort of line of letters hanging up. The police were looking in every secret nook and cranny but failed to look there • This was a different kind of story for Poe (no violence, no death)

10. The Masque of the Red Death • A plague is spreading across the land • Prince Prospero tries to shut out the plague • Has a masque ball decorates each room in place with single colors • Black room with loud clanging every hr clock and red windows • At midnight new guest arrives in a corpse like mask with markings like the victims of the Red Death, death shroud, • Prince is outraged chases the guest down to the black room (guest isn’t stopped from roaming to each room other guest scared) • Prince dies as soon as he tries to confront the guest • Other guest go to attack the Prince’s murderer and there is no one underneath the costume • Everyone dies (you can’t run or hide from death. Death comes for us all)

11. The Black Cat • A whole lot of crazy going on here • Narrator opens telling of his sanity • Marries young, loves animals especially a Pluto his black cat • Narrator starts drinking becomes violent towards wife and other animals leaves Pluto alone • until Narrator believes cat is avoiding him then cut out on of the cats eyes for retaliation • Cat does avoid him then and the Narrator hangs it from a tree • Day after his house burns down but one remaining wall has the black shape of a cat burn in it • Narrator finds another black cat this one with a bit of white on the neck (late the white is described as looking like a gallows)

12. The Black Cat continued • Narrator almost trips down the stairs when new cat gets in the way and decides to attack it with an axe, wife defends the cat end up with an axe in the head • Narrator buries body behind wall of basement, cat is gone • Police come, he was going to get away with it until he started talking about the craftsman ship of the walls and taps the one where is wife was buried behind and the police hear the disappeared cat’s yowling

13. how he relates to what we’ve talked about in class • Poe seems to share some commonalities with Hemmingway • They both explored death in their writings and if and what was the afterlife • They were both drunks • They are both thought to be bi polar which can go along with being drunks (most bi polar individuals will self medicate with alcohol)

14. Bibliography • "Conspiraciones." : La Predicción De Edgar Allan Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • "Edgar Allan Poe - Full Episode | TV-14." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • "Edgar Allan Poe Timeline." - A Timeline of Events during Poe's Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • "10 Awesome Facts from the Biography of Edgar Allan Poe." Download or Read Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • "Curiosity." Discovery Channel. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • "Collected Works - Edgar Allan Poe." Collected Works - Edgar Allan Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. • Poe, Edgar A. New York: Doubleday, n.d. Print.