Edgar Allan Poe Activity

Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts and he died on October 7th 1849, in a Baltimore hospital. Poe lived for a long and stressful life for forty years having problems and accomplishing different things. Poe’s parents were named David and Elizabeth. He had two siblings, Henry and Rosalie, but unfortunately they had to be separated when Edgar was two. Poe’s parents split up and shortly after that Poe’s mother died. Poe was sent to live with Mrs. and Mr. John Allan, a well off high classed family. Poe went to good schools. He learned Latin and French, math and history in school. He  was a very bright student. When he was about 17 he went to the University of Virginia and did well there. However all his life he had drinking problems and was expelled from school a year early. After this he went to join the US army and did well. Then he wanted to go to West Point and he got in but only stayed there for a short amount of time. After his army experience he went to New York City to start writing poems and stories. He married cousin, Virginia who was many years younger than him. He had a rough start with his writing. Journals, story writers and poem editors soon found out about him and he was writing articles and journal entries and poems for newspapers and other publications. He loved writing poems so he became a poetry writer and he wrote fantastic poems. Most of them were very dark. Here a some great ones: The Raven, The Tale Tell Heart, The Haunted Palace and he wrote lots more!  His wife Virginia died and he was very depressed. At the end of his life he traveled a lot and visited friends and then he passed away. Poe’s death was mysterious and no one knows how or why he died. One of the big questions in his life was how he was a great writer in Horror stories!

Poe is one of the most popular horror story writers in America. This is because he writes his poems and stories with great vocabulary and grammar and content. His stories are so good because they give you a picture and keep you intrigued. Most of his poems/stories are morbid and I think that may be because he lived a very sad life and when he writes he expresses his feelings. One of my favorite poems is by Poe and it’s called The Tale Tell Heart written in a first person narrative. This poem is about a man who hates an old man’s eye and thinks it’s evil. The man who hates the evil eye is crazy and wants to kill the old man so he never has to look at that evil eye again. Throughout the story he waits until the right moment and kills the old man. Poe’s stories are very simple but the language is expressive. Poe’s writing in this story makes me feel a little disturbed and a little sad but at the same time very interested. Some of my favorite parts in the story show that he is a great writer.

Here is an example of a simple paragraph that gives the reader a good idea of what the story is about. From this paragraph the reader can understand that the narrator is crazy.
– from http://poestories.com

“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture –a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually –I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.”

This paragraph describes the narrator’s final night and the intensity of waiting for the right time to kill the old man.

“Upon the eight night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door.  A watche’s minute hand more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers-of may sagacity.  I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not to even dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.  I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled.  Now you may think that I drew back–but no.  His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, for fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing on it steadily, steadily.”

I think Poe is great at writing horror poems/stories. I’ve read many of his stories and my favorite one is The Tell Tale Heart. The background of Poe’s life is chaotic and it’s astonishing to read well written stories by him because he had a difficult life. I don’t think Poe is someone to look up to as a person but as a writer I think he is very talented. I like his writing because it is gloomy.

The title of The Tell Tale Heart is appropriate because at the end of the story you understand what the title means. I get from the title a feeling of karma because a heart can tell on you in many different ways. In this story, the heart tells on the killer.  At the end of the story the killer becomes worried that the cops will find out about the dead old man and he starts thinking that the dead man’s heart is alive. The killer becomes psychotic  because he hears the heart beating and his guilt forces him to show the cops the dead man.

I think Poe gets his plots and characters from his life. This is because all of his stories are sad and his life was sad, dealing with family issues, his alcoholism, and his difficulty keeping a job. He was orphaned and then adopted so maybe in some of his stories he uses his past. Poe was a successful writer and this is because his writing is very detailed and suspenseful. Since it is written for adults the grammar can seem complicated at times for a young reader. Once the young reader understands the story he/she will realize how good Poe’s writing is. Because he writes in an old fashioned way it can be difficult to understand the story. That’s part of the fun for me to figure out what it really means. I also think he was successful because most of his stories were horror and he was especially good at that.  Poe is a great writer and I would like to read more of his stories to learn his writing style and just for fun!

I think Poe will be remembered  for a long time! Unfortunately he had a tragic life and died at an early age but he was a gift from God! He will always be someone to look up to as a horror story writer!

Here is a link to a picture of Poe from Flicker and its BY jadc01