Essay/Term paper: Edgar allan poe

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy Essays

Edgar Allan Poe


Edgar Allan Poe was born near London on the 19th of January 1809. His mother was
an actor and his father was a doctor. When Poe was 2 years old his father
disappeared. His mother, who was seriously ill in tuberculosis, took Poe and his
sister to Richmond, Virginia. Poe's mother died soon after this. The two
siblings became then separated and Poe was taken care of by the wealthy family
of the Allans. Due to Mr. Allans work the family had to move to England, where
they spent five years. In 1826 Poe started at "The University of Virginia".
Although he was a good student he didn't succeed due to his gambling, fighting
and drinking. When Mr. Allan found out about this Poe had to finish school and
start working in Mr. Allan's tobaccoshop. After some time Poe moved to Boston
where he started publishing his small poems and short stories in newspapers. In
1827, Poe's first book "Tamberlane and other poems" came under the pseudonym of
"A Bostonian". These poems were very influenced by Byron and showed a youthful
attitude. Later the same year he joined the army. He succeeded there and In 1829
he signed for an officer-training. This was the same year as he published his
second book "Al Aaraaf, Tamberlane and minor poems" but this time under the name
of Edgar A Poe. Before he left his training he got financial help from the other
cadets to publish his third version of the book, although Poe called this book a
second version. In this book there are famous poems as "To Helen" and "Israfel".
These poems show the musical effect that has come to characterize Poe's poems.
Later Poe moved to Baltimore to live with his ant. There he married his cousin
who was only 13 years old. Then Poe moved to New York to become famous, but with
almost no success. Poe had after 1837 his best period with his greatest works as
"The murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) and "The fall of the house of Usher"
(1839). Poe's wife passed away in 1847, and Poe took it hard. Yet he continued
with his writing until he died the on 7th October 1849 by alcoholic poisoning.

Edgar Allan Poe was mostly known for his analytic and criticising analyses. It
was them which gave him respect as a critic. Poe was influenced by the British
18th century's romantic horror short stories. That is why he wrote those. He was
also very influenced by Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling and Conan Doyle. Especially
their early works, before the had found their own style. Poe was fascinated by
the mystical and the unknown. He was also interested in the human subconscious
and why a human being react in a certain way at a certain time. His stories are
often about dark castles and castle-ruins which often have secrets buried deep
down in the walls where they have been for centuries. Most likely in a moonlit
desert landscape. Magical experiments and hypnosis play a big part in Poe's
works. Many people thinks that Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first detective
story writer with the short story "The murders in the Rue morgue", where the
detective Monsieur Dupin solves a strange homicide case where a giant monkey is
the murderer. This short story is a bit different because there is for example a
three-page laying out about algae and mosses in the story.

Poe had a rhythmic and floating language in his texts and to show this, I have a
couple of excerpts from the poem "The Raven". There are also examples of the
mystical that often is found in Poe's productions. The poem is written in four-
-stroke iamb.

The Raven

" Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

" 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 morrowvainly 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 name Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me
filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before."

" 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."
" 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;
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;
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door
Perched, and sat, and nothing more."

" 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!
Qouth the Raven, "Nevermore."
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 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! "

I think this is a good poem. It is typical for Poe. When you read the poem you
can directly feel the rhythm. The characterising details are also in the poem.
The moonlit landscape (1). The unnatural (2). The mood is also well hold up. It
is really unpleasant and frightening. One can really feel the person sitting in
his chair in a cottage somewhere.

One is sitting and waiting for something to happen when there suddenly is a
knock on the door… Nobody there. Nothing but the terrifying silence and the dark
shadows. The poem is good and I assume that it is the mood that makes it worth
reading.

I have also read the short story "The facts in the case of M. Valdemar". It's
about a person who's friend is called Valdemar. Valdemar is very ill. He's got
consumption. Valdemar's left lung is all clogged up and his right lung is almost
in the same condition when we meet him. The main character (The person P––)
wants to cure Valdemar by using mesmerism, a special sort of hypnosis. Valdemar
is taken to P–– and the treatment is begun after Valdemar's approval. At the
beginning Valdemar's condition is improving but after a while he falls into a
coma-similar condition where the only words that Valdemar can say are that he is
dead or that he wants to die. Valdemar dies in the end of the short story after
being "sleeping" for seven months. In this short story we can find good examples
of Poe's character. The person P—wants to use hypnosis to improve a dying mans
condition. Hypnosis is very typical for Poe. There is also a good atmosphere in
this text. It's a bit spooky to read this short story, when the only thing one
can hear is how ones brain is imagining Valdemar lying on his bed, dying, and
the only sounds are Valdemar's rattling breathings and his attempts to
communication. This short story is, like the poem "The Raven", good if I may say
what I think.

I have also read the short story "The fall of the house of Usher" and I'm going
to write about of it. I chose it because it's the most famous short story
written by Poe and It is said that it is the best too.

The fall of the house of Usher

I've read "The fall of the house of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, It was written in
1839 and the main theme is horror. It's about a young man who is visiting his
old friend from childhood who has become seriously ill. The man is staying there
to keep his friend company and he is reading books to entertain the friend. One
doesn't get to know the main character because he doesn't speak about himself.
The only thing that is obvious is that he can ride but it's irrelevant. The old
friend is called Roderick Usher. He is very nervous person when the young man
arrives. He also got a hereditary decease that makes him extremely sensitive. He
can only eat food with no or little taste, wear clothes of a certain cloth and
the smell of flowers and sunlight makes him furious. He also got an abnormal
regret. One doesn't get to know Roderick's sister either except that she is even
more ill than Roderick. The house where the Ushers live is an old castle with
grey and miss-coloured walls overgrown by mould and mosses. But the house looked
like it could stay up for several years from now because the walls hadn't begun
falling apart. What one almost couldn't see was a fissure which made its way,
from the roof, down the wall in zig-zag direction until it disappeared in the
sullen waters of the moat . These early descriptions of the castle is important
to build up the grey and sad atmosphere. The castle tells the reader that the
people who live there aren't rich too. As I just said is that the atmosphere is
built up by describing the castle that the young man arrives to.

Poe uses sentences like "I looked upon the scene before me–upon the mere house,
and the simple landscape features of the domain–upon the bleak walls–upon the
vacant eye-like windows–upon a few rank sedges–and upon a few white trunks of
decayed trees…". But the description of Roderick is also helping to put together
the impression with sentences like: "The silken hair, too, had been suffered to
grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than
fell about the face." The whole story is about Roderick who has become isolated
in his castle and there he has grown extreme sensitivity to senses. I think that
Poe is trying to tell people that they shouldn't isolate themselves. They will
then become like Roderick where the only thing that matters is his sister that
passes away after some time. Along with that the sister dies, everything falls
apart. I really mean fall apart then. Just after that the young man has left the
house everything falls into pieces and it is suddenly obvious that the framework
was weak although the house looked table.

I had major expectations when I started reading this short story and I was not
disappointed. It was great. The atmosphere was very realistic and the story was
good. The ending comes as a surprise. It isn't at all what one can expect. As
the matter of fact I liked all the short stories that I have read that Poe has
written. He is really a great horror-writer. Maybe the best. But Stephen King is
also great.